If you are anything like me, you must have all your birds lined up well in advance or your bills increase, your feet grow webs, feathers fly and you end up with ‘down’ syndrome. Donald has nothing on me.
A few years ago, an ash cloud in the U.K. left my friend and I grounded in Somerset en route for Ireland. We had the trip, the flights, the car hire and the accommodation all booked. My dreams of encountering a ‘P.S.-I-Love-You’ look-alike without a wedding ring went up in smoke. It’s no wonder I’m allergic to dust.Mother Nature had sneezed and not even anti-biotics would sort her out. We returned to SA with flight refunds and holiday credits.
I’ve been waiting to book my trip to Australia with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter for months. Several sizeable ducks needed to be arranged before this could happen; my granddaughter needed to be born and she complied on 15 September; she required her own identity document, unabridged birth certificate, South African passport (complete with the cutest baby photo) and Visa for Australia. Everything is planned for February, hopefully before the teething kicks in. We booked our flights this morning with four and a half weeks to spare. Now the rest of the planning can proceed towards take off. I’m not expecting to hook up with anybody Irish during my holiday, but in the words of the Scottish poet, Robert Burns, “The best laid schemes of mice and men …”
PS - Gerald Butler is Scottish too.