We are now in the UK. We have been here two nights now and waking up at 4am each morning. Hopefully we will be over that very soon and waking at a normal time.
Our first night we were at friends house so had to be very quiet at 4am. Laying in bed waiting till we heard people moving about before getting up.
Last night we stayed in a pub across the road from the church where the funeral service and wake will take place around midday today.
Getting here was a bit of an adventure which began with Qantas cancelling our flight out of Canberra. We were due to depart 5.10pm and the aircraft was parked up at the gate but no boarding announced we waited and waited and eventually got a text message which simply said your flight has changed. We waited a bit longer and then went to make enquiries and they said there was a mechanical issue. We then told them we were checked through to London connecting with Emirates out of Brisbane and we wouldnt be there in time to make the connection. I started to cry as I said we have to get to London for a funeral. They said they were looking into it. They later paged us and said we were now going on an Emirates flight out of Brisbane 2 hours later.
We left Canberra at 7pm on the same plane that had been sitting at the gate since before 5pm. The one they said had mechancial problems. I was so angry. It was clear they had simply held over the 5.10pm flight till 7pm as the 7pm wasnt full.
When we got to Brisbane and transferred to International we had to go and see Emirates staff as the boarding passes had us sitting in different rows. I asked if there was any possibility of sitting together for bereavement reasons. They moved someone and we were seated together.
We arrived in Dubai in ample time to connect with our original flight from there to Heathrow. In fact we had about 4 hours wait. I didnt mind that at all. Would rather that than miss another connection. It is a gigantic airport. Took an hour from when we got off the plane, via the stairs to the tarmac, onto a bus, a longish bus ride and then a train ride and then a long walk to our gate.
When we got on the next flight we heard an annoucement from the cabin crew to say that there would be a delay as a passenger had become ill and needed to be medically evacuated from the plane and their luggage located and removed from the flight. That took about 45 mins maybe a bit more.
Finally we were off. It was a good flight into London and only took 6.5hrs but then we circled the airport for about half an hour before landing.
We then went and collected our hire car and fortunately didnt have far to drive. We stayed overnight with friends in Cobham where Colin grew up. It's very close to London and Heathrow.
We are now catching up on emails etc while we wait to get ready for the funeral. We are going to the private cremation first, followed by the church service. Colin has prepared a eulogy to read out at the service. Hopefully he will be able to get through it. After the church service there will be a wake at the Duke of Wellington pub which is a lovely old quintessential English pub.
We are staying in another pub across the road from the church and the pub so it's very simple. I wanted to take any stress out of the day for Colin. Apart from driving to Leatherhead for the private cremation prior to the church service he doesnt have to drive anywhere again today. It's all walking distance from here.
