A very welcome glass of bubbly at VC Bird International Airport
On the night she won the French Open in 2015, her 20th Gran Slam Singles title, the incredible Serena Williams celebrated by having a Chinese takeaway and then watching the Little Mermaid on her laptop in bed. Now not many people know that! I only do because I watched the documentary “Serena” on my flight back to Antigua. And have you heard the news? She is apparently twenty weeks pregnant. Which means she won the Australian Open back in January without dropping a set while pregnant! I flew back in Economy, as it was a Virgin flight and I don’t know anyone who can pull strings and get me upgraded the way I do in BA. But, strangely enough given that it’s Easter, the cabin was only about twenty percent full so I had four seats to myself. Lubbly jubbly!
Needless to say, I stretched out and slept for a couple of hours. It’s only just dawning on me how exhausted I am; it was a very hectic four and a half weeks. I was so grateful to the various friends who put me up, plus the Sister, of course, and the Prima in Ibiza. She’s actually the Daughter’s prima*, but same difference. Having nowhere to stay is the price I’m paying for renting out my UK property but what can you do? Needs must and all that. Hopefully that will all be rectified soon as a buyer for Avocado Cottage has appeared . Fingers crossed. Meanwhile, it’s nice to sleep back in my own bed and have my own things around me.
And what was extra special……….my fab friend B was waiting for me at the airport with some pink champagne. What a mate she is! I really landed in style! (See below)
So, in my four and a half weeks My sleeping itinerary read as follows: Gatwick, Upminster, Dunstable, Clacton, Rainhill, Clacton, Ibiza, Romford, Southwater, Clacton, Southwater, Gatwick. It was so lovely to see people, especially my Cousin D, whose mum, the wonderful J died a couple of days before I arrived and will leave a huge hole in the heart of our extended family.
It was also great to catch up with my dear friends S and B who I hadn’t seen for a while and who are very kindly selling my car for me And a highlight of the stay was seeing Nephew the Younger as the Lion in the Wiz. He was absolutely brilliant- and that’s not his Auntie talking! I sincerely hope he’ll keep on acting because he really has got talent.
While I was in Ibiza I heard that an old friend had died. Unfortunately his funeral was the day after I left so I couldn’t go but apparently there were only about thirty people there, which makes me sad as he was someone who was involved in tourism in Ibiza for years and years and who knew everyone, so it’s a shame the turnout wasn’t better. RIP Santi Vidal.
Post Ibiza I had a very serious hospital appointment but thankfully I was given the all-clear. “You’re a very healthy woman down below,” I was told. I almost kissed the nurse-practitioner and the consultant. I danced all the way back to the bus-stop. Yes, you read that correctly, bus-stop. I got around using public transport which was good in the main. Except last Saturday. Last Saturday was pants. I had to get from Southwater to Clacton and Southern drivers were on strike and there were no Greater Anglia trains between Liverpool Street and Ingatestone because of work on Crossrail. So, dear M drove me from her house to Gatwick Airport where I went Thameslink to London Bridge, Jubilee Line to Stratford, Central Line to Newbury Park, replacement bus to Ingatestone and then Greater Anglia to Clacton where the Sister picked me up. Is it any wonder I’m tired???
So, now to settle back into my writer’s routine in the peace and quiet of Avocado Cottage. I must finish my two writing projects that are on the go but which have been sorely ignored and abandoned for the longest time. I also had long chats with a couple of actor-writer friends while I was in UK and now have another idea for a play buzzing around my head which I want to get down on paper. So it’s off with the tourist hat and on with the writer’s thinking cap. Watch this space.
*prima: Spanish for cousin
