Have surfboard will travel!

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17th Nov - Day 1

The day started trying to convince Cally that the small space she had crammed into wasn't really suitable for such a fat cat! Pretty unsuccessful and only biscuits could drag her out briefly. The day dragged on as I just wanted to be moving and starting my epic journey. So with some trepidation set off extra early to pick up my luggage and the infamous surfboard. By this time the heavens had opened and continued to be open. Managed to get the surfboard in the car, diagonally and balanced on the passengers seat head rest. Decided to leave a little early, to compensate for the rain and the fact I'd hit the M25 at rush hour. Good decision as the road was heaving and the torrential rain slowed everything down. The surfboard in the meantime refused to stay in position and kept landing on my shoulder. After a while I just gave up and put up with it. Overtaking and changing lane was really dangerous as the surfboard was blocking my view, so there was more than an elementof move and hope! Despite some slow moving traffic hit Heathrow with no real problems. But then made the big mistake of following the signs for Terminal 4. Ended up getting totally lost and ended up driving all the way around the complex until I finally found the short stay car park. After that it was plain sailing. The left luggage office was just inside the arrivals hall, so in the end only parkedfor 5 minutes. Then made my way to the secure parking which was busy and I drove like a maniac, hitting curbs and cutting people up, but made it in the end. Had to wait a while for a transfer bus, now this guy was a maniac, worse than young Mark! Got back to the terminal in plenty of time and found out they were checking my flight in early despite the new flight time. Total result, so got rid of the surfboard and said goodbye till Sydney, what a relief. The flight had been delayed even later, so meeting the connecting flight in Sydney would be a problem, but would worry about that later.

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