Travel Plans

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellow, 

Plans are afoot in the house.

Caro is travelling up to Auckland tomorrow. This is extremely bad timing as I'm sure you heard about the "weather bomb" that went off at the end of last week. 

There were near-apocalyptic tales from friends of ours. One couple from Tauranga got stranded at the (cancelled) Elton John concert and had to walk through knee-deep water back to their hotel. 

But Caro has to go - one of her friends in Auckland has had a tragic death and Caro wants to go to show support.

The story is awful - the friend is part of the London backpacker scene of which Caro was not really a part, but they have got close since we emigrated. They've gone away for girls' weekends together and on one of those visits, Caro met the fiancé.

And last October, he caught covid which turned into long covid. His brain fog didn't seem to lift. In fact it seemed to be getting worse and worse. He was having trouble texting, then finding the right words in conversation was an effort for him. Then he lost the ability to speak at all and became paralysed down one side. 

The doctors surmised that the virus had attacked his brain, causing polio-like symptoms. Strong anti-virals were ordered from the USA, but were too much for him, it seems. He passed away last week. 

So it's not just the friendship, but the suddenness at which happiness turned to tragedy that has really shaken Caro. And me too, actually. 

Even though I didn't know Caro's friend well, and had never met her fiancé, just the notion that life can turn so terrible so quickly is sobering.

As for me, I've got a similar journey to make. I've been planning on visiting my dad but was unsure when to go. We're all still in the dark as to how chemo will affect him (he only just started) but my sister recommended that maybe I come over in March. 

I figure it will be the first of a few such trips so I put a lot of thought into how to schedule it so that:

- It's not too expensive
- I do not feel like I've been shat out by an elephant on arrival

Consequently there are a lot of stops. A LOT. I'll be able to stop off and sleep in Sydney and Dubai, breaking the trip into 15 hour chunks instead of one horrific 30+ hour one. 

I business analysted the EFF out of it. A lot of research took place. There may have been a spreadsheet. It's strange how doing all this colour-coding and assessing and comparing allowed me to forget WHY I was doing it. It was even sort of fun.

But it hasn't all been work and planning. Caro's friend Clodagh came to visit in the afternoon and we went to the Waterfront cafe for lunch. Today's blip is of the scenery in between rainstorms. 

But no "weather bombs". Thank goodness.

S.