All good things

Well that's it. 1711 miles. 7 cities. 5 hotels. 5 countries. 5 trains. 1 boat. 1 taxi. 151 hours since my flight was first cancelled. 60 hours since I started my journey home on Monday morning.

I know it's not exactly Tom Hanks in Castaway, and I know there are folk who are still stranded and in worse position than me, but my front door was the best thing I've seen in a long time. It was a long, tiring experience that I'm certainly in no rush to experience again.

The ferry ride was a bit dull, after me nearly missing it this morning. Not much to do on board. At least I had a cabin. I seemed to spend most of the 8 hours comatose! It's been a tough few days.
It didn't help when it took them at least 35 minutes to get the foot passengers off. I guess they were overwhelmed with foot passengers compared to their normal service, so were not really prepared for it.

It was also errie to see Belfast City airport so quiet, even though planes had started flying today. It was in view for a good 45 minutes and even though it's not usually Heathrow level of busy, it was rush hour and I would have expected to see a handful of flights in that time. There were none.
Things are obviously not quite there yet, and it definitely vindicates my decision to travel home by land & sea.

The taxi driver was a hoot coming home. He told me his plan for world governance. Apparently the best thing to do is for Europe to stop trading with the rest of the world, unless they join the EU!! Not sure if he's got my vote if he ever stands... A good bit of light relief anyway.

Ben had planned a wee party for me. He'd drawn a welcome poster for the front door and another one in the house. He'd even wrapped up his favourite toy to give to me! He made sure mummy had plenty of daddy's favourite food ready when I arrived. And of course, mummy made sure the champers was on ice!

Nice to see the neighbours giving me a welcome wave too - thanks guys!

The Ulster Star photographer came round tonight. I'm sure I'll look like a demented manaquin in the photo. We'll see when it's published tomorrow.

I just want to thank everyone for all their nice comments, positive thoughts and prayers over these past few days. Thank you to anyone who has helped Emma while I've been away. Thanks to the girls at CWT who looked after my travel and did a fantastic job.
I've got loads of comments from folk who have enjoyed reading this blog. I'll post a few more in the next day or two to fill in some of the blanks.

There's no place like home.