It's All Over Now

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So here we are then. Tired; nearly midnight local time, therefore almost 2 in the morning as far as my body is concerned, but not ready for bed. Our last day of leave is tomorrow, so no panic about preparing lessons immediately.

This morning was quite calm. I had thought I'd be lying awake, thinking about what needed to be done, and the timing of it all, but no, I slept well and long. We got the futons out airing on the balcony, stuffed a bit more stuff in the suitcases, then moved them out of the room so we could vacuum, so the packing and cleaning were underway before we'd even had breakfast. Did a wash of towels and mats (missed two) and we even had time to sit and twiddle our thumbs.

We went out for lunch at 11.30, and the timing was perfect. With no rushing or slowing down to kill time, we got back and did a final pack up and check and whatever else needs to be done at these times, and we left the flat as planned at 1.15, to catch the Narita bus from a stop near the station (but about 250m closer to home, thank goodness) which was due at 1.40. Plenty of time, no rush, no fuss. It really surprises me how smoothly we can prepare for travel these days. It seems like the sort of thing that should always cause stress and arguments, but apparently we have some kind of a flow and the routine usually works well.

Check-in and flight went to plan. The flight was about 10 minutes late taking off, but arrived about 40 minutes early.

When we got back home, our house-sitter, Nhi, was ready to give a report, and Whittaker was sitting at the top of the stairs yowling down. He got closer eventually and when he finally came close he was very happy to receive some jolly good ear-rubbing. Unfortunately a dragonfly came in while the doors were open, and for most of the night he's been yowling up at that, in hunting mode, including a couple of leap/climbs at least two metres up the curtains. But we haven't seen Chester yet at all. Nhi said she barely saw her the whole time, and it was only because the cleaner said she'd seen Chester on the days she'd been that Nhi could believe that she hadn't lost our cat.

Well that was our holiday, good and done now. Thank you for reading. As I said, this was as much a diary for me to remember the details as a newsletter to let you know what we were doing, and the dual purpose sometimes made for a less than sparkling read, but there you go. We can edit it later. You got the first draft.

I'm yawning too much now. I think I'm ready to end the day. Goodnight.

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