Let’s start the day with a little confusion, Qatar have had “issues” with the flight to Australia, so Lagente called to say things with flights are in a state of flux, I’d say things are fluxed, but let’s see.

After that news I was trying to deadlock the bedroom window and dropped the window onto my left hand, nearly guillotined my left index finger off. But after a lot of phrases all starting with “Flux”, blood over the floor, blended with ice and tissues the blood flow slows, the throbbing pain settle, just a little. IDT ( the nurse) drops in and attends to some clinical work, I attend to finding pain killers. The end of my finger is looking a bit black and blue, I’ll probably lose the nail, but most importantly I think I’ll live.

We get to the airport in plenty of time, check in is fine, final correct weight is declared – me = 13.3kg The Navigator = 12.6kg.

Then the dreaded security check, this us Dubbo by the way, Genelle is fine, but i do have a red mark on my shoulder so I get the pat down, its skin, bone and a small amount of muscle, so not sure what the machine has picked up, maybe theres a ghost sneaking through with me. I dunno. Anyway then I have my back pack pulled apart and then have my Bose headphones inspected for explosives or drugs ( who knows?) , then I’m question sternly about my Gopro case, ” What is this implement?” Answer “It’s a GoPro camera”, Question ” What does this thing do?, Answer ” It’s a camera”, and ” So what does it do?”, Answer ” Have a wild hairy arsed guess!”

More comedy occurs mid flight. The blood drains from The Navigators face when the pilot advises us there is a “technical problem, bit it’s ok, no concern, just don’t be alarmed when you hear one engine working harder as we come into land” . Of course it’s all ok.

The Navigator then has trouble with her Opal Card, she has to top it up but the machine won’t take her credit card, so they send a 20 something year old over with her to “helpdesk” her through it.

Next issue is our Qatar flight has been cancelled from tonight to 7am tomorrow. They book us into the Stamford Plaza, swish joint, used to stay here on Elders years ago, a $40/person meal voucher and a refund for a taxi promised, but, we have to be at the airport at 3.30am. Then we have to stay a night in Doha (Qatar will pay we think), then fly to Rome via Brussells, with a 1 hour changeover in Brussells. The life of a jetset traveller ain’t that appealing I have to say.

So it’s grilled barramundi, some painkillers for the finger, a beer for the stress and an early night.

Ciao from Sydney – Pauolo