Gone

Mr L set off on his travels yesterday. Reluctantly.

It must be almost four years since he last went in to the office. Which means it has been that long since I had to iron a shirt for him. I actually had no idea whether I still had an ironing board, or if we had ditched it when we moved North… It all came together in the end and I had a nice neat pile of freshly laundered and ironed clothes for him to pack on Sunday afternoon.

Stress was beginning to get a hold of the poor chap, so I suggested taking the dogs into the bay and just breathing it all in and storing it up for accessing whenever needed ove the coming week. A good decision; it was a stunning evening and we all had fun.

As it had been such beautifully sunny evening, Mr L had concerns about potential for har… and thus we set the alarm clock for an early hour. If we found it to be misty, he was going to go for the early ferry instead of the ‘plane. There was no mist and I got an extra hour in bed 🙂

There was a wobble from Mr L at the prospect going on such a small ‘plane, but he got on with it. Later reports showed that although he didn’t enjoy the take off, once they were up there he thought it was terrific.

Time to board
Time to board

It is a very small ‘plane, isn’t it? It’s an Islander, operated by Loganair, and in Highland Park livery.  Eight passenger seats, I believe, and with a 15Kg baggage limit in operation – doesn’t leave much room for clothes after packing the work laptop!

The Islander
The Islander

The reason Mr L didn’t enjoy the take off was the rapid acceleration, which makes him feel a bit odd. You can see that the ‘plane certainly throws up some dust…

Short takeoff
Short takeoff

So, that was it -  off at 08:59 Monday. Landing at Kirkwall a few minutes later, to find that the bus to town wasn’t there. It was 12 minutes late, which was a bit of a blow as he had 8 minutes connection time for the bus to Stromness… which was actually also late so he did manage to catch it but that led to stress all the way to the ferry, where he arrived just before the check-in closed. Phew!

There seem to have been no more worries – the train from Thurso arrived in Inverness at tea time, allowing plenty of time for a pub meal before the sleeper left at 20:38.

I had email at 07:50 today to say that Mr L had arrived at his office. He hasn’t managed to ‘phone yet so I don’t know how the 4am connection in Preston went.

Three days in work now, leaving on Thursday afternoon and getting back here mid-morning on Saturday (all being well.) A real shock to the system after twenty years or thereabouts of working at home.