The cattery sent me this photo of Tika yesterday. Miss this puss so much!.
It’s a silly thing, perhaps, to have a flight depart at 1.10 in the morning - but admittedly its do-able and the notion of falling asleep as soon as the plane departs, can sustain one through the tedium of airport departure lounges.
That was until I walked into the airport and saw my flight was now delayed significantly, by two hours, and I would absolutely miss my connecting flight from Kuala Lumpur, and would therefore also miss my flight from Muscat to Cairo. I was so tempted to have a hissy-fit. But I didn’t have the energy.
Great start.
And so, here I am esconced in the clutter of white round tables and plastic chairs, outside the McDonalds, while various limbs poke out from gaps as people recline further and further along their make shift two-chair “beds”.
Delayed flights suck the big turnip.
There is not much one can do about these things though, and maybe the silver lining is a day in KL or not as much lay-over in Muscat. Usually by that point I am beyond caring. The big leg of this journey up to Cairo, was through to KL - at nearly 12 hours. The others were short hops of 6 and 3 hours respectively. Spending an additional 5 hours (and having not even left the country yet!) in an airport is my idea of hell. Especially after a long day.
I wish my cat were here. I miss that guy. I keep wondering if I will somehow be reunited with him one day, and if so, whether he would still remember me. I have never loved an animal so much. Why I am even thinking about my cat at this point is also a sign that at this juncture, I am tired, cranky and already over it. A guy speaks in Hindi at the next table - animated and gesturing to no-one; a cleaner scoots around with one of those long broad mop things that never seem to leave a trail but miraculously make everything disappear. There are sporadic interjections announcing calls to action for people whose bloody planes ARE leaving on time - “flight blah blah is now boarding at gate blah blah”. Lucky buggar’s.
The guy in the table next to me accumulates more chairs upon which to extend his long lanky frame - he is now fully reclined along three plastic chairs.
No one gives a shit.
I wonder if these people, like me, are on the delayed KL flight. I had grand intentions of finishing three articles but then realised I left all my hard drives behind - all except my new SSD (which I must now try to format), so I have no access to images and therefore no way to complete my articles. Ah well - there is always April, when I get to go through this thrilling torture of travel, all over again on my short two week ‘holiday’ in the Antipodes to see my daughter graduate with her Honours Degree. Well worth the pain, I say.
I glance over at the departure board and notice the flight is open for check-in just as my phone pings me a notification of the same. Let’s get this darn show on the bloody road.
I pack my things back onto the trolly and I cannot get downstairs fast enough.
Hopefully Malaysian Airlines can inform me as to the damage at the other end - will I get to Cairo on January 20; will the world continue to spin? These and many more questions will be answered soon.