agwat kindly saw me off at the Sydney airport. An hour and a half of the third book of the Tawny Man series and I was descending into sweet Melbourne.
Christina, nuwishas_tail and sleazemonkey met me at the Melbourne end. There’s an advantage to having a friend who’s 193cm tall. I could see nuwishas_tail from halfway down the corridor from the plane, so I started bouncing up and down and the three of them started bouncing up and down. Big group hug and then off home.
Someone suggested we should stop for supplies so Jack could eat and I would have mixers and stuff for breakfast. I got a bit waylaid in the supermarket to the annoyance of Christina and Josh, but we made it back eventually. My vespa, Astrid, was waiting for me in the yard!! Wasn’t expecting that. Thanks orethule! Turns out she’s been serviced and everything but I still have to get her scratches tended to (my fault, not Ruth’s, just for the record).
Upstairs and inside to find that there are balloons and streamers all through my house, the word ‘welcome’ spelled out in rose petals (!!!) (thanks, sleazemonkey) and stunning bunches of purple flowers next to my bed, on my dining table and in my bathroom thanks to frou_frou and drzero. Wow!
Spent the next few hours gabbering and sifting through my piles of gear for prezzies and things to show people. It was a little surreal being back here.
Then this morning I woke up seized with a passion to rearrange my entire study, so after a bath in my own bathtub (heaven) I set about dragging books off shelves and dismantling furniture. I now have a harem space for lounging and reading. I’m leaning back on cushions with the laptop, listening to RRR. We may not be friends anymore, but Jonathan still knows how to put on a radio show, I have to say. No point in denying myself good music, right?
Thank you to everyone for making me feel so loved.