Road Trip

I've got a couple of days left before I leave for New York-and so much to do!! I wanted to start preparing last week - but, hey, I'm the world's biggest procrastinator.

I've been finding it really difficult; we've had a lot of rain in the last week-of course, this is England, after all!! I normally don't mind rain (as long as I'm not caught without an umbrella when I need to be somewhere), but my balance is badly affected.Still, it isn't as bad as it was last year.

I'm quite amazed that I am doing this: going abroad, when I don't really know how my body will react to air travel (not to mention airline food!!). My friend is staying at my place while I'm gone (a little holiday of her own), so she gets to hear the neighbor from Hell - that will be interesting. It really isn't that gripping.

I've already rung the airline to tell them about taking all my meds and my nebulizer, needles and syringes onboard. They did say I should only carry what I need to nebulize on the plane-but I said that I need to carry everything, just in case my suitcase ends up in Brazil and I'm in New York, in deep doodoo without my drugs. That didn't go down too well, but we will see what happens when I get to the airport. They did tell me to arrive three hours before my flight-because going through security is very, very slow.

Personally, it's a pain, but I would rather security be tight (and slow) than sit on a plane that decides to explode halfway there!!

I remember flying back from New York to Heathrow many years ago. I sat in a window seat, and there was a woman sitting next to me who was gripping the armrests so hard, her knuckles went white-so did her face. I asked her if she was okay...and she said she is terrified of flying, but her daughter just had a baby, so she wanted to see her family. I remember asking her not to throw up if at all possible-because that would make me throw up, and we would probably have an epidemic of puking.

So, we took off from JFK, and we weren't in the air for more than twenty minutes when there was a loud bang. I looked out the window-I sat just behind the engines-and I could see smoke everywhere-and flames-the engine was on fire.

I did say many times that I am not exactly tactful-so I won't have a shot at joining the diplomatic service, that's for sure!!- so I called the stewardess over and said "oh, look, the engine is on fire" - very coolly, as if I was requesting a glass of water - but I was loud enough to give my seatmate a case of the vapors. She looked, turned even whiter, jumped out of her seat and ran back to the toilets, and that was the last I ever saw of her. Meanwhile, the stewardess turned white, and there was a plague of white-faced people who looked like they wanted to cry. All I said was, "well, don't worry, all we can do is crash, nothing we can do about it. Anyway, it isn't the take-off, it's the landing that'll kill you".

I was a lot younger then...and I'm sure everything will be absolutely fine. I'm still okay about flying; I just don't like the tedium of eight hours in the air, hearing screaming children and inhaling other people's stale farts. Charming...!!

I wish it could be like Star Trek: just beam me up in London, and beam me down in New York!!