A Slight Hiccup

I had periodically been knocking on wood during our trip because everything had gone smoothly, from the upgrade on the flight to Heathrow, to the incident-free driving on the other side of the road, to the places we stayed. Oh, and nobody ostracized us because of, you know.

Fate finally caught up with us on the journey home but in a mild manner, a refresher on how to deal with inconvenience. After a short flight from Glasgow to Heathrow, we tried to get on an earlier flight home, but it was full. No matter: our flight would get us in around 5:00 PM, in time to get home to feed the cats dinner and pick up a preordered meal from a friend in the neighborhood who is trying out his own mini-catering business.

I hate being trapped in a seat longer than a couple hours. My legs get restless, my back needs stretching, and I lose the ability to focus on what I’m reading. I’m terrible at napping, so I just have to endure it. After flitting between the murder mystery I’m reading on my Kindle and NYT puzzles I had downloaded on my phone, I watched two movies in a row. That would put me within an hour of our arrival.

My desire to be home grew with every centimeter the image of our plane on the screen crept down the eastern seaboard: Nova Scotia, Long Island, Atlantic City. Kitties, Mama is coming! Potato pancakes with gravlax and dill, sesame seared Ahi tuna, sautéed green beans, and chocolate mousse, be ready to get destroyed!

Wait. Um, captain, I think you overshot our target. You’re going to need to make a u-turn. He came on the speaker and explained that we were going to have to approach Dulles from the northwest because of storms. Arrival time would now be 5:50. Okay, not so bad. We’d be a little late for our dinner pickup and the cats would have to eat later than they were used to.

Captain! You swung too far to the east. I’d say we’re very close to BWI at this point. Well, that’s where we had to land. Dulles was not allowing any planes to land in the storm. Our gem of a captain made his way through the cabin during the two hours we were stuck on the tarmac, keeping us updated and warmly and patiently answering our questions. BWI is not staffed to handle diverted plane-loads of passengers would have to pass through customs, so we had to wait until Dulles opened up again.

We finally landed at our original destination around 9:30, breezed through customs, and took a taxi home. Our friend across the street had fed the cats, and our chef-friend’s daughter had delivered our dinner. Most of the plants were happy, and the cats had been well looked after by one of my favorite neighborhood teens.

I’d say it’s been an overall success.