"I've Still Got Time.......!!!!!"

I'm sitting at the airport waiting to catch my plane back to Melbourne.  I only got back to Canberra late yesterday morning.  As Gerard Whateley once wrote to me, "these are punishing times".   I've arrived at the airport a good 20 minutes before boarding, and am actually sitting with a glass of red wine.  I had toyed with the idea of catching a cab, but in the end, drove the faithful Dan, it just seemed simpler.  And simple is pretty good right now.

My trip to the airport tonight, despite the fact that I've had a busy day today, is in stark contrast to my drive yesterday morning!  I felt like Mr Incredible (from the Pixar movie "The Incredibles"), back in his Super Hero days, when rushing from one rescue to another, looking at his watch, before exclaiming with delight "I've still got time"...

Yesterday morning I dragged myself out of bed in the dark again, because I was supposed to be going to the beach at 6.45am with It's a Dundeel.  In theory this allowed me plenty of time to spend at the beach, before driving to the airport, aiming for 8.20am to make my 9.20am flight in plenty of time.

Only problem?  The horse I was going to the beach with was going with other horses.  And they were running late.  I bit my lip, and twisted my hands while watching the time tick away.  7am...  7.15am...  7.30am..  I start checking Apple Maps, to work out how long it took to get from the beach to the airport.  Bugger me...  35mins...  Really????  By the time we set off, with me ducking in to refuel the hire car on the way, I arrived at the beach before the float at 8am...  And I knew at this point I absolutely didn't have time!!!!  But having gotten up early, and waited around for an hour, I was going to kill someone if I didn't take a single frame of a horse splashing in the water.  

So I waited patiently (hah!  I hear you laugh, you don't do ANYTHING patiently, let alone when you know that this could mean you'll miss your plane!) for the horses to appear from the carpark, which they finally did, photographed them doing 2 laps of the beach, and then hightailed it out of there.

The way there thankfully I didn't get too many red lights, and probably I made pretty good time, and went from "I'm going to miss my plane" to "I'm going to miss the bag drop off" in my mind, before skidding into the carpark almost 35 minutes before the bag drop closed.  I got held up by some man driving at an excruciatingly slow speed, before flinging the car into the park and literally running into the terminal.  

It is at this point that I again pledge my eternal love and loyalty to Qantas, who checked my bag in despite it being closed.  See, this is why I fly with them, because when I bugger it up utterly, they still look after me.... 




















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Legacy of Eight Carat: From the Vault Volume I

Image
We have been back in lockdown here in Victoria. Lockdown 5.0 to be precise and as a result it made us go back to feeling like sad sacks.  After having seen off Lockdown 4.0 a teeny tiny bit triumphantly, where we saw off both Delta and Kappa variants (evil beasts that they are - curse you stinky COVID - curse you), we had literally only just gotten back to work before being very suddenly plunged back into Lockdown 5.0 after the visit of those very nice removalists.   'Thanks very much!!!!' we all shouted indignantly!!!!  A key difference with Lockdown 5.0 was that half the country also into lockdown at the same time which made us feel slightly less sad.  The Victorian Government doesn't muck about anymore when it comes to outbreaks.  Their reaction is swift and severe and not at all namby pamby.  I just wish the same logic would be applied to Sydney which continues to deteriorate, much to my dismay.  This week we took our first tentative steps out of ...
Read more

Vale Sadler's Wells - champion stallion dies in Ireland.

Image
One of the most important racehorses, and later stallions of our time, the great Sadler's Wells died in Ireland on the evening of Tuesday 26 April 2011.  He died at Coolmore's Tipperary Stud in Ireland, his home since his retirement in 1984.  The stallion was retired from breeding in 2008. His legacy worldwide is immense.  He has left sons and daughters,  and three of his stallion sons, in Galileo, Montjeu and High Chaparral, are leading stallions in the Northern Hemisphere.  In Australia, Galileo and Montjeu had less success, however the impact of High Chaparral was immediate, and immense.  While the horse still has to repeat the success he achieved with his New Zealand bred runners, from which the Group 1 winners, and champion So You Think, were conceived, High Chaparral is still leading the Australian General Sires Title with only a couple of months of racing left. In Europe, Montjeu and Galileo have both sired Epsom Derby winners, in Authorized and Ne...
Read more

The physical drain of riding horses

Image
Most people agree that the life of a jockey is a difficult one.  There are a handful that rise to the top, and do extremely well out of the Sport of Kings.  The vast majority however struggle with their weights, and do their best to avoid and/or overcome injury.  Anyone who has ever been pelted off a horse would know that it doesn't tickle!  And of course the older you get, the more it hurts!  We used to fang around on our ponies, bareback, in headstalls and leadropes, never wearing a riding hat.  Completely fearless, and I am sure that on the odd occasion I parted company with my horse, I used to bounce.  In fact I rarely used to fall off, unless the horse came down as well, I guess all those years of galloping around bareback meant my balance and ability to swing my body with the horse was pretty good.  I'd like to say that I could still ride the same, but age and the maturing mind catches up, and you start thinking of the consequences of 'what...
Read more