Farewell England - The Journey Home and Finnish Christmas

"Farewell to ol' England forever, Farewell to my ol' pals as well...

Singing too-rall-li, too-rall-li, add-i-ty...

We're bound for Botany Bay"

Hopefully not 'forever'. Maybe we'll get back to England and see more things and meet our 'ol' pals' again but it was time to go home and land in the plane at Botany Bay, Sydney. However, this may have been easier said than done. The snow in England had caused chaos at Heathrow and we weren't very sure that our plane would be flying. We decided the only thing to do was to go to London and see how we go.

After breaking up from school we had three days of cleaning and packing, making the house ready for the Hodges' return and making sure our bags were the correct weight for the plane. All the time the snow came down outside and there was about 30cm of snow laying on the ground. Putting aside the worry of the plane taking off we weren't even sure if we could get out of our little lane at Trethawle! We had to go into Liskeard for some shopping during these days. I rode the mountain bike through the snow one day and had the surreal experience of riding down the closed fast lane of the A38 while cars gingerly passed me through the slush of the slow lane. On another day Stefanie and I walked in. It was a lovely sparkly, snowy day and there was quite a carnival atmosphere as people walked into Liskeard from the surrounding villages and were walking around Liskeard being careful not to fall over on the ice. It was all quite beautiful and very Christmas-y.

I rang a taxi to book him for our journey to the railway station the day before we had to leave and everything was very uncertain due to the snow. The taxi couldn't get out of his lane due to the snow, so we were told to wait and see if the snow would clear. On Tuesday 21st December it was time to leave. The snow had stopped overnight and thankfully Andrew, the local farmer, had used his tractor to clear the lane a bit to help cars through. I rang the taxi early to find out what was happening and encouraged by cars moving carefully up his lane he said he would 'go for it'. There was one very icy area on our lane that I was worried about but I told the taxi-man that it would be OK. Happily, it was. By more coincidence and symmetry the taxi driver was the same taxi driver that took the Hodges to the railway station to go to Australia!

So, we arrived at the railway station. Step 1 of this perilous journey achieved. The train arrived on time and left on time. Step 2 good. The train journey through the Cornish countryside and then into Devon and beyond was beautiful in the snow. We thought we had a lot of snow in Cornwall but it wasn't until we got to Exeter that we realised how much snow had fallen in the east of the country and why there was so much trouble at Heathrow. It was blanketing and feet deep.

We arrived into Paddington station on time and immediately caught the connection on the very crowded Heathrow Express train to Heathrow and then the bus to our motel for the night, the familiar Ibis Hotel that we had stayed at before. Unfortunately I mucked up the details of which bus to catch so we waited too long for another bus at Terminal 5. It was then that a Christmas miracle happened. We were lost, bewildered, cold and hungry. A man who looked suspiciously like Santa Claus (old, big white beard etc) asked out of the blue "where are you going?"

"We're trying to find Heathrow Central and then the 111 bus," I said.

"Get on the bus I get on and hop off at the next stop," he said.

From there the bus didn't take too long to arrive. We rode the bus awkwardly guarding our many big bags. We had been travelling for quite some time now and we were starting to get weary. We arrived at Heathrow Central safely and Santa Claus said a hearty "Merry Christmas!" to us, then I'm pretty sure he disappeared.

"Dad...do you think that man was Santa Claus?" Eleanor said uncertainly. We all laughed because we were all thinking the same thing.

"I think he was and he has just given us a Christmas miracle," I replied.

Eventually, dragging our bags across the ice we arrived at the Ibis Hotel. We checked in easily, threw our bags in the room and went downstairs for a beer or two and some dinner. We went to bad happy that our perilous journey so far had gone quite well. Step 3 was complete.

The next morning we had breakfast early and headed for the terminal as weren't sure how long the delays would be. I rang Qantas and they told me that our flight would be leaving. We arrived at Departures to be met by a line that was some 200 m long. We could see a lot of frazzled people and marquees had been set up to keep people sheltered or to help people who had been waiting too long. "My goodness, this is going to be bad," I said in front of the kids. I was thinking something else. It was then that we worked out how the departure system worked. We had to look at a big board to see our flight number and that told us which lettered entrance to use. We realised that we were in the line where flights were mostly going to Europe so we set off to find Entrance F for Qantas. We were met by no line and some people who were too cheerily asking people if they had a confirmation voucher for their flight. We didn't but I told them that I had just rung Qantas and they had said we would be flying so they were happy with that. It took mere moments to check in (so glad to get rid of the heavy bags!), seconds to get through security and then we were boarding the plane. This was a stark contrast to the distressed people we saw wrapped in silver space blankets who had obviously been at the airport a long time and looked like they had just about given up the will to live. Oh dear.

In no time at all we were in the air. It was as easy as that. Step 4 complete! The flight home was most pleasant. Stef and Eleanor (in the row behind us others) had a spare seat between them, we had good food and drinks and all the entertainment offered on long-haul flights. Stef and I watched a terrific Finnish film called Rare Exports which was a scary adaptation of the Joule Pukki (Father Christmas...literally Christmas Goat...story). Check it out if you get the chance. After some 13 hours in the air we arrived in Singapore. By this time, our internal timeclocks were all mucked up. Unfortunately, Stef left hers and Eleanor's boarding pass on the plane. I thought this was going to be a big deal and we would be stuck in Singapore but a quick show of the passport allowed another boarding pass to be printed. Thank goodness the passports weren't left behind! In the gate-lounge in Singapore we looked for a couple of fellow exchange teachers we had glimpsed on the plane but they weren't to be seen in the crowd. We had met them in Belfast. At that time, the man was dressed as a Leprechaun and Annie had danced the night away with him...but that's another story.

We left Singapore uneventfully and 7 hours later we were approaching Sydney over Hornsby and then dipped into Sydney Airport. Home at last. We were met by Stefanie's good friend Caitlin. It wasn't until we emerged from the airport that the Australian air wrapped us like a warm blanket. It felt good to be home.

Caitlin had enough room in her car for the kids and the luggage so Stefanie and I abandoned both and took the train and then our feet to Pymble where we would be staying overnight. It was a journey we were quite familiar with. Despite the fact the neighbours were having a loud, rocking party we slept quite easily. Step 5 complete.

The next day we had to get to Parramatta by train, find the Prior's bus to Broulee and enjoy the journey south. The luggage made the train journey difficult. So did the jetlag and the crowds on the train. We took some time to orgainse how we were going to get the luggage off the train at Parramatta. It was a difficult task but people kindly rallied to our rescue. The train pulled into Parramatta and within a blink of an eye some blokes had the luggage off the train and dumped at Stefanie's waiting feet. "No worries, mate!" one of them said in a thick Aussie accent that was quite unfamiliar to us after our year away.

We had trouble finding the bus stop for the Prior's Scenis Express. Fortune smiled again as in my wanderings I actually found the bus and followed it around Parramatta transport station to where it stopped. Stefanie hastily bought us some lunch items and then in no time at all we were off to Broulee. We arrived to be met by Ross and Joan at 8:10pm Christmas Eve. Step 6 and the journey home was complete.

We went to Joan and Ross's house for some dinner and to say hello to our Finnish friends, Lassi and Toula and Minna, Pekka and daughters Rossa and Sierri. Christmas Eve is Finnish Christmas time when Joule Pukki (previously mentioned but not quite as scary) comes to the house to give out presents. It was quite a surreal experience in a disorientated and jetlagged state. Towards 11pm Stef and I drove our familiar cars back home and we all went straight to bed tired but happy to be home at last.