The trip...so far.

Song of the day: “Little Things” by (this is a tad embarrassing) One Direction. I mean, seriously: A boy band?

So, let’s get to the important stuff: the Trip. Yep, I survived it. It was a close call for a minute there, but all in all we came through the “ordeal” undamaged.
At the moment I am sitting in the middle of a massive lawn, a pond with a spigot spraying cheerily in the center, trees swaying gentle in what is called a perfect English summer, sun, some clouds, fresh, but warm, my bare feet in the grass, my bum slightly moist and birds screeching through the music I have on on my computer. Bliss, I tell ya. I can’t remember the last time I sat in REAL grass like this. I’ve been walking barefoot basically from the moment I got here which is a pure pleasure for my poor foot. It’s been so grateful it hasn’t complained once today.

But back to the beginning.
Wednesday we had to get up at five in the morning—this is not something you wanna be late for after all—rush through the morning routines and be on our way to work at a quarter to seven. We were, the three of us, little sister, me and big brother so we could get everything packed up and ready to leave for the airport in time. We made it in spades, the only hiccup was that the owner of the animals we were transporting still had to say his goodbyes, which took longer than anticipated…luckily I did calculate that in, and the deadline of departure was five minutes after we drove out of the gate. There we were, one dog on my lap, two more in the back, big brother in a van with the luggage and six cats. Luckily we were being driven, otherwise that might have been a problem.

We arrived at the small airport with about five minutes to spare, had to wait for fifteen for the handlers to arrive, not to mention the pilot (Simon) and his steward (Tim). Then the real difficulty started. Customs. Aaaargh. Seriously, try moving six nervous cats from one travel box to the next, so the boxes could be run through the X-ray, and that while I was waiting with a 100 pound invalid dog, and two scared lapdogs…poor darlings did great, though. They walked their leads, didn’t pull, and the big lug was lying on this huge trolley while he was taken from Land Rover to airport van. Big brother did a quick trip to the bathroom, and then we were on our way to this tiny tin can that they called an airplane. Is a jet plane supposed to be with propellers? Anyway, it took about half an hour just to fit all the luggage into the tiny tail hold, and the seats that Big Brother and I didn’t occupy. Then there were the cat boxes, the big dog who gratefully plonked down in the middle of the aisle where we’d put his most comfortable pillow. Next big brother and I got in with the two teeny doggies…well big brother did. Since there was only a commode on the plain, no actual room for it, the steward suggested I go back to the terminal for a quick wee. I did…not that it helped much, I fear.

Flying a small plane is very different from a big one, I tell ya. Take off took a while, we were in a queue of sorts, and since we were still on the ground, it was rather hot in the back where big brother and I both sat with our feet propped up on the opposite seats, big lug under our knees and using our feet to keep two cat boxes on the seats. It was interesting, I’ll say that much for it.

Lift off felt like we were sitting in a wet rag. The thing seemed to be pulled up by two ropes attached to the wings, and rather than pulling both at the same time, they went one at a time…much like swimming the crawl, or something. Both of us got downright giddy from it, the cats screamed, the small dogs shivered in our laps, and the big lug…well, he laid his head down and went to sleep. Lucky bastard.

Although longer than my poor bladder found comfortable, about an hour and a half into the flight I was starting to feel “restless”. We got a nice lunch, though, egg sandwiches and cheese sandwiches with lettuce and cherry tomatoes, and a big dish filled with fruit. Added to that we got soda and coffee…which, in the end, didn’t make me any more comfortable. Hah. Steward Tim was very nice, though. Took the time to explain any questions we had, prepared our “orders” and basically made himself indispensible.

Anyway, flying over Spain took about an hour and a half, then we did a bit of ocean, France, which was slowly getting greener, I tell ya. And then, at long last we reached the coast of England, where we got this lame arse route that took us all the way to the most eastern coast while we were guided toward the airport. It was marvelous. There were clouds (not to mention turbulence) but also sunlight, so it was like some glorious movie while we slided (hobbled) down through the clouds. Landing felt more like dropping onto the tarmac, but what the heck, it was a grand adventure, and a row of three cars with flashing lights were waiting for us.

There was a whole reunion thing of owner and animals, but that’s private so let’s move it along to us saying thank you and goodbye to our crew. Turns out that in the aviation world, we were known as Noah’s Ark because that was the biggest amount of animals transported by charter, ever. Hah. Then it was rushing to the bathroom for me, which was a massive relief, and then an hour’s drive to the new home of the animals. The remainder of the evening was a bit of a blur, seeing as it involved getting the animals settled, eating a selection of snacks, standing outside and looking at the GREEN, getting a tour of the place (very nice) and then sitting down for supper.

Supper was a tad too spicy for me, but the wine was delicious so you can imagine what state I was in when I finally conked out in the guestroom. So far I have only forgotten one thing (almost forgot my blouse when we got on the plane, hah) which is a packet of something that no woman likes to be without during that certain time of the month. Yikes. But I had a couple, so I managed to hold out until the next day to go fetch some at the supermarket.

Didn’t sleep well that first night. For some reason I woke up my usual time, which means an hour earlier over here, and couldn’t get back to sleep. Helped out with the animals, unpacked boxes and suitcases, and then went to town…a friend took both big brother and me out for lunch, after groceries, which was nice. Though we had a bit of rain yesterday, the weather has been nice…and big brother flew home without incident.

I had a wee bit of a panic attack after he did, nothing new there. Apparently I’m doomed to suffer from that whenever I’m away from home for the first, or second day. After that, it becomes a bit easier, thankfully. I’m a whiner, you know. Hah.

Did some cooking, which is always a pleasure. Nothing keeps you quite as occupied as thinking of menus…and writing a blog, of course. Went for an hour's walk, trekking straight through deserted (green) paddocks and rows of trees. Got a little lost, then found my way again and plucked flowers on my way back to the house. Nothing is quite as relaxing as arranging flowers, is it?

Which just about sums up the trip so far. Won’t stay too long, I suppose. The animals and their owner appear to be managing just fine, so let’s see about getting a flight back.

Gotta go.

Review for "The Secret of Sanctua: A Bengt/Tian Novel"

Since I can't find the time to write a blog this week (I might a little later on, but then I'll be in the UK, hopefully) I'm going to post a review of a book I read last week.

The book is from Indie published Teresa McCullough, and I had fun reading it. In my own star system of 1 to 7 stars this one rates a solid 5


* * * * *


The basic plot: Two very different people sharing a single life, and have for such a long time that they have made peace with this somewhat unorthodox arrangement caused by very powerful magic. The classic “Ladyhawk” idea? Not quite. There are some interesting twists and turns, not to mention memorable distinctions.

The world: Contemporary with some fantasy elements. There are weres, sorcerers/witches and vampires but still it is the basic world that we all recognize.

The characters: I found myself liking Bengt and Tian, the characters McCullough created, despite the fact that both were a little too casual about the “who wants to live forever” drama they could have experienced. This is personal taste, however, I am sure that there are people who would deal with such a possibility far better than others. These two magically bound characters (they were titled a Dual) were described to have regretted or mourned certain dramatic events in the past, and yet I could not feel the emotional backlash, which was a bit of a pity. In my reading I prefer to feel what the characters feel, rather than be told. But there are many readers who do not and rather keep it matter of fact.
Perhaps the characters’ acceptance was very accurate in regard to the fact that they were very old and had gone through all that emotional trauma long before the story commenced. Also, from a romantic point of view, neither of these characters were romantically inclined, which, to a romance reader like myself, was a tad disappointing. Whatever the case, McCullough managed to hold my attention throughout the read and kept me going straight to the end for the sheer pleasure of finding out where these characters would lead me. Well done.

Writing style: Concise and easy to follow sentence structure. Personally I would have enjoyed McCullough to have taken a little more risk in her sentence structure, more of a rollercoaster ride, rather than the merry-go-round’s steady rhythm, if you get my meaning, but that is personal taste again. On the overall I could not find fault in her writing and enjoyed the ride, which is definitely a plus.
I only came upon a handful of typos at most, which is admirable for an independently published book.

End conclusion:
I really enjoyed the story McCullough created with this original-to-me concept. Technically it was well put together, and thought out into the tiniest details, kudos to the author. I recommend the story to readers and hope that they find pleasure in this story as well.

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That's it. If you're curious to read it for yourself, (and support the arts, so to speak) here's the link.
The Secret of Sanctua: A Bengt/Tian Novel