BRRR!!

Today in Perth, the temperature was 21C, and as I ventured forth from my hotel in search of breakfast (because after waiting for the silly tart serving in the hotel cafe to get off the phone and finally look like serving me, she informed me that breakfast finished at 10am- despite the fact that it was then only 10:05, the breakfast buffet was still all set up, and if she had served me when I first walked in, it would actually have been before 10am... but I digress... needless to say, Maccas got a visit... and now I'm making you ill, gentle readers, aren't I? :-)

Anyway, as I was saying... as I ventured forth from my hotel in the Perth CBD in search of breakfast, the sky was clear and blue, the sun was shining and I was wearing a Tshirt.

(and even a text message from Avril, saying that it was snowing in Romsey didn't dampen (or chill) my generally warm mood :-)

The shuttle bus trip later in the morning was also very pleasant, with the sun sparkling off the river as we meandered around in the general direction of the airport, and things were generally rather lovely.

The plane trip home to Melbourne was cramped (what is it about men on public transport? Is there something programmed into the Y chromosome that gives them a genetic need to spread their legs as widely apart as they possibly can, totally invading the personal space of the person next to them?) but pleasantly uneventful. And the return trip unfortunately lacked the excitement of the wild turbulence we experienced on the way over to Perth.

When we landed in Melbourne, the cabin steward did the usual, "Welcome to Melbourne Airport, where the time is 7:10pm, and the current temperature is 4 degrees." Needless to say, a communal groan arose from all in the plane at this news.

One of the groovy things about Virgin Blue is that even at big airports like Melbourne and Sydney, they still have the facility to disembark from the rear door, which means if you are lucky enough to be seated in the back half of the plane, you get to walk across the tarmac for a bit, and then walk up an external staircase, to join the front half of the passengers halfway along the tunnel-thingy (air bridge?) before entering the arrival lounge. Tonight, it was so cold outside that my hands just about stuck to the stainless steel hand railings as I walked up the external stairs (and my breath was visible as I huffed and puffed up the stairs).

Welcome home indeed!
(can I go back to Perth now, please? :-)