When you think things can’t get worse

I left you yesterday, whilst sitting at Agen train station, waiting for my next train at 4.15pm, which would get me to Toulouse at 5.45pm…plenty of time to get to the airport (by the bus) for an 8pm check in (to Malta) and 10.20pm flight.

The afternoon continued in the way it had started…this train was delayed (actually left at 5pm). I settled in for the hour and a half journey, ate a couple of my snacks and hooked into some sudokus!

This was a bit of a milk run train and stopped at a number of little towns, people (normal ones) got on and off…then we pulled into a station called Montbatuon (I think) and a lot of people got off…I kind of ignored the activity, and kept doing what I was doing…I noticed the train hadn’t started moving, and took stock of my surroundings and realised I was the only person left on the Train…a little anxious I gathered all my bits and stepped out just as a conductor was walking past, who duly informed me the next train to Toulouse was on Platform 1. I was on a deserted platform 3! This then meant a flight of steps down (under the rails) and a flight of steps up (lugging my 20kg suitcase) to join the throngs on platform 1 all going to Toulouse…I had 15 minutes to spare and as the train pulled in, I scrabbled for a seat with my luggage! Off we went 7.30pm looming which was the time we pulled into Toulouse station…

I raced out, suitcase in tow, towards the airport bus shuttle, yay one was there, but just as I was crossing the pedestrian crossing…it pulled out and took off…ok if I waited another 20 minutes I would be cutting it fine for the 8pm bag drop time(Ryanair is kind of tight with this)…so I booked a bolt taxi…only to find the pick up point was from where I had come at the other end of the station, and my taxi was 7 minutes away! Are you getting anxious yet? Well suitcase, backpack and I ran to meet my ride. He was, thankfully, rather an aggressive driver and got me to the airport – Hall B as per my ticket – at check-in time!

A slightly familiar ground, I headed straight to the Ryanair “B check-in, I was first and very relieved. The relief, once again turned to anxiety, when 20 minutes later I was still first and alone! I could see travellers further down the terminal checking out a board, so off I (and all belongings) trotted again!

Good move…this time the check-in was actually in “D”! A kilometer through the terminals and joined the expected Ryanair queue…,finally ridding myself of the 20kg suitcase! The airport alerts say allow an hour and a half to clear the customs area, so I headed straight to get through to the other side…this actually only took half an hour, and while I personally wasn’t signalled out, my backpack was! Duly unpacked and repacked, I then found out my plane was delayed an hour – now not leaving until 11.20pm…it was now 9.30, and the gate number was not displayed for another hour! So I hung out with all the other people on a wooden slat bench (no comfy chairs in sight)

Around 10.30pm the gate number came up…gate 5, toput you in the picture, there are 60 gates at this airport and yes I was at the 60 end…another 20 minute brisk walk through endless corridors…

Getting rather weary, I was certainly looking forward to getting on that plane and shutting my eyes for the 2.5 hour flight!

No surprise! The 11.20pm departure time kept getting pushed out and everything in the airport was closed (at 11pm) my fellow passengers (and kids) all looking rather forlorn!

Finally we lifted off at 12.30am…which meant landing in Malta around 3am. No question on arrival, I ordered a bolt taxi!

With these you see the number plate on your phone order – think mine was a black car, first three numbers GLY… it came really quickly, I loaded my bags in the boot and jumped in the front…then a chap got in the back and I thought maybe it was a rideshare thing!!! But realised I had hijacked someone else’s taxi! So I apologied profusely(even though I didn’t really care) gathered my bags once again…and waited for my ride! Arriving at the apartment around 3.30am!

Unpacking not an option, cold shower not an option (had to turn on the hot water) cold beer an option to unwind! I stepped out onto the terrace and my heart sank…I knew there would be a bit of dust hosing to be done, but the watering system has failed sometime in the last three weeks and I was staring at three dead citrus trees (and a number of other very sad plants)

At 4am I thought I’d better get to bed before the sun rose (6am) for at least a couple of hours sleep! Which I managed until around 7!

Then started with the terrace clean up…sweeping , cutting, hosing and watering – I have a big job ahead to bring these babies back to life! Of course by now the sun was hitting the front terrace and I stripped off to bra and undies, while hosing everything and myself!

The trees now look somewhat thinner!

A cool shower, a shopping list, and I headed to the garage to reconnect the battery to Vivienne (car) and start her up…she behaved well! So I decided to take her to the supermarket as my list was a little larger than envisaged…and the thought of carting bags of groceries down the road (after yesterday) was rather daunting! Just as I was about to pull out, the ground floor neighbours passed so I got out to say Hi, then Adelina(the old lady from across the road) flung open her door with a big smile on her face…she had been waiting and heard the garage door go up!

I spent the next quarter of an hour with a quick catch up and finally made it to the cool supermarket!

Home now and watching tennis maybe nap time!

Just to put a positive spin on yesterday’s misadventures…the cloud cover stayed all day, so the temperatures did not climb to heatwave status…and Ryanair did not lose my bag!!!