D DAY -1 ENGLAND 5 JUNE 2008

It's D Day -1 . . . D for Departure Day. I finish work tonight and we leave tomorrow to drive to Southampton docks; it's about a five-hour drive. I'm starting to get a bit apprehensive now: Will work survive without me? Will all my silly mistakes surface while I'm gone? They always do whenever anyone else goes on holiday; you think you've covered all questions that could crop up, but somebody always finds one . . . and these past two weeks have been a trial. Tom got an infection and antibiotics, then a huge reaction to a bug bite, they think, so more pills which reacted with first pills and his face became very swollen so we were rushing to & from doctors & hospitals. Then the garage door broke. Then I broke the key in the shed padlock so I couldn't cut the grass which because of the warm wet weather was now taller than Elle. Then somehow I injured my hand - bruised the tendons in my palm - so back to hospital. Then to top it all while sweeping the floor I misjudged the distance, hit the table leg and rattled my already sore hand with the broom handle. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at that point; anyway, the treatment for my hand is ice pack & elevation. Tom said that won't be a problem from Saturday as one g&t = ice pack, and drinking while relaxing will provide elevation. Tonight will be a flurry of activity: packing my clothes & cameras. Tom's were done yesterday and I will pack the car on Friday morning after I've dropped the dogs off at their holiday home. Mahri is so excited she is hyper; last night she kept running up & down the room and performing drop kicks & handbrake turns on Tom's tummy or any bit of me that got in her way. Elle was running 'round the table with a toy growling like mad 'cause Mahri would stay still, and Mr Mac became glued to my leg.

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