Fallen

(12/7/25)

Well, despite my very late night, I was up before 6 AM and ready to start the day. G alerted me to something that happened in the garden overnight. The eucalyptus tree outside my room, which was regularly pruned by the previous company, is now so overgrown that one of the branches fell off! We had to take a picture for posterity. :))

It's a big day today. It's my first summer holiday since 2019, there were a few last things to do in the flat, the biggest of which was to meet with Nara's friend to hand over the key to the flat. He will look after it until Nara's return, later this month. Mahendra came and helped get our suitcases down. We soon secured a taxi and were on our way to the airport when we hit a massive traffic jam. Our ten-minute ride to the airport became nearly half an hour. No problem, we still had enough time to check in.

We discovered at the desk that we were well below our baggage limit (argh!) and the kind lady asked if we'd like to check in one of our cabin bags. The immediate answer is, "Yes, please",  but with the way they were packed and the contents (a laptop in each bag), we couldn't take advantage of her very generous offer and had to manage them for the rest of the trip. I have to say, BA has the most generous baggage allowances.

Dubai airport was heaving, but good to know that G's e-gate worked for her this time. We had a fantastic flight - relaxed and stress-free, and because it was a day flight, we got to see a lot of what we were flying over, including Alexandria in Egypt! G took loads of pictures, which I will add as extras after I've edited them. :))

Immigration at Heathrow was a cinch as G came into my queue with me. Then to baggage collection and to the car hire depot, where we have come away with an MG3 hybrid! I am so excited. It is the first time I've driven a hybrid, and having an automatic makes it so much easier to manage being on the other side of the car and road!

We called in at Merrow Services to get the bare essentials. They threw in a bouquet of roses for us. Unbelievable. They had too much stock and, rather than waste it, were allowing every customer who came in to pick a bouquet to take with them! Something more to thrill me. Now we have fresh, cut flowers at the start of our holiday!

We were at the Lodge by 8 PM. YAY! There was little time to take it all in as we were both tired by this stage, but I have to say, it looks good, thanks to the help of our friends who visited a couple of weeks ago to get it ready for us. The spiders who came out to establish their webs soon after they left are going to get the shock of their lives. ;)