Waking up

What is it like to sit for fifteen hours in the one spot?

On my flight over to LA, I was upgraded to premium economy, sipped champagne before take off, and compared my good fortune with my neighbour (just ONE neighbour!), who'd similarly got the bump. We thought Qantas was either trying to entice people to pay the extra, on future trips, and that there might have been a few cancellations in the business sector.

Coming home, I was way back in the plane, and sitting on the aisle. I used to prefer the window, because you could sleep with less chance of being disturbed, but now I like the freedom to get up and move around; and if you lift the arm rest, you can almost sit cross-legged, or curl a leg up under to sleep. Passing down the aisle to my seat, I saw my neighbour from the flight over (he'd been to a wedding in Cancun), going home to his three daughters under 3 in Adelaide. He didn't get an upgrade this time, either. I took my very strong American melatonin, and slept about five or six hours, I guess. Paul picked me up from the airport (bliss to not have to deal with one more taxi), and we collected Joel and went to tennis.

I thought this would be a good idea, but found, when it was my turn to receive a shopping-trolley basket of balls from Larry, that my legs and arms would just not move fast enough. The balls came so fast, though they had a strong wind behind them, and try as I might, I just could not get to them, or hit them with any strength.

This morning, I went for my walk along the creek, and saw the blue-tongued lizard under the wooden walkway. He looked rather pale, and very thin, and was obviously very sluggish, just coming out of hibernation, and putting his head into the morning sun. He looked at me through heavy lids, and I could see he wanted to withdraw back to safety under the bridge, but couldn't move his legs. I knew exactly how he felt.

What perverseness, then, to spend much of yesterday afternoon on the Qantas website, me in one room and Paul in the other, booking flights to New York for next year to take advantage of their amazing 2-for-1 sale, which ends tonight, and battling the rigours of the frequent flyer point system to book flights to London next September for our holiday in Italy. It was horrible to discover that all the cheap flights go through Sydney, which adds a couple of hours, including transit, to each trip. But on the other hand... New York! Philadelphia! DC! Boulder! London! Florence! Rome! And best of all, travelling companions!