It's a long trip

Well I am here in Blighty, with Pauline still back in sunny Oz! Today is Christmas Day and it's very cold, but it's the white christmas I wanted - you can't have one without the other!!!
It is a very long trip back here to the "mother country".  My plane from Melbourne to Doha was delayed and eventually left early Tuesday morning. But the fact the plane left was a miracle, the other flights to London were cancelled.  When I first walked onto the plane I thought "wow! I know why this is called the world's five star airline" it was very impressive and I was rather excited. However, the stars rapidly fell away as I walked through to economy.  The worst thing that can happen to a traveller on a long haul trip is to sit near a baby or small child, there were three on the front row of my section. So I have to thank the man at the Sony Centre in Melbourne who convinced me to buy noise cancelling earphones for my MP3 player. I did not hear a peep, a squeak or a squawk!! As a consequence I managed about 5 hours sleep, which is a real achievement for me!
Because of the delay leaving Melbourne I had only 50 minutes in Doha airport before boarding the next flight to London. Again a miracle, the previous flight from Doha to London was delayed so long that it was taking off as we were going through the gate to board ours. Again I must thank the man at the Sony Centre because sat next to me this time was a 21/2 year old boy with his dad and his mum and baby brother were in front of me.  Again I managed a couple of hours sleep.  We were served breakfast on this flight and it was damn yummy!!! Best scrambled eggs ever.
London!!! I was ready to cry, I really believed that once I stood back on english soil that i would be a mess. Thing is with travelling on your own - you have to keep it together. And Heathrow equalled chaos. People everywhere - actually complaining people everywhere!! I kept my mouth shut because not only was my plane flying it was on time - yes the miracles continued the London to Manchester flight was flying as scheduled, first Manchester flight in days. People had been sleeping in Heathrow airport waiting to get home. I felt guilty but relieved all at the same time.
I walked out of Manchester airport 32hours after entering Melbourne airport to a very welcoming face. It's a surreal experience that i still haven't got my head around, or maybe it's the jet lag. I have been longing to return here after 25 years and it feels like I was here just last week!