It’s nearing midday and I’ve successfully made it from Birmingham to Paris, and I’m about to board another flight… because I’m off to Asia for the first time! Already I’ve braved some long queues, happily watched the arrivals gate for half an hour, made friends with the 5 year-old kid in front of me (‘I’m six in a week you know’), checked that I still have all my belongings about a gazillion times, and had fun trying lots of perfume testers in the duty-free area.
Last night my parent’s made a special mock-Christmas meal to say goodbye, complete with Christmas crackers, white wine, and Christmas pudding (which I got to set alight). Mum even served me the portion of pudding with the 20p piece in it. 🙂
My family are delightful, and being back for such a short time has made me feel like time is slipping away a little bit. There will be a time when the strange conversations that are had at our dinner table morph into something a little more like adult conversation. No longer will such claims as, “My brain is so big it’s in another dimension that scientists haven’t discovered yet”, be made. And, as much as this ending may seem desirable to me now, I’m aware that our conversations are very much of their time and that one day I may actually miss them!
We also played a game of Articulate last night, in which: James described a surgeon and then said “ok like that but summin’ nature idk” (the clue was sturgeon), the description of “going at a slow pace” was met with the passive aggressive guess of “Nathan-ing” and “goose was described as “like a duck?”. (Not to mention “Dara O’Briain” being a suggested answer to the description, “The person who discovered the potato”). It was my first and last family game of the Christmas holidays! 😦
I’m clearly not the only one getting a little sentimental over my going away. This morning, Nathan got up at 5am to come to the airport with us, and he had left this out on the table for me:
What a sweetheart! ❤
Having said all that I have, I’m hugely excited about what’s ahead- getting to see two new countries, meeting with friends, and celebrating Christmas and New Year in different places. Thank you to my parents, if you’re reading this, for letting me disappear on you, driving me to the airport, making sure I have something to unwrap on Christmas day and cooking the roast dinner for me especially. And thanks to Chris, for giving me ‘Christmas in a box’, I’m really looking forward to the Christmas cake!
Will give you an update on my travels at some point soon-ish (WiFi availability dependent), but, until then, best wishes with all your festivities, wherever they are taking place and thanks for making it to the end of this very hurried post!
thejoyofrachel 