Out to Newcastle

Yesterday I had my appointment with the Protocol agency. It was quite nerve-wracking and despite how lovely and friendly they all were, I suddenly had this moment of absolute panic where I asked myself, 'What the hell am I doing here???' All I can tell myself is that when they were giving me the interview they were giving me the worst case scenario of things that can happen in schools. I mean, some of the things they said were common sense. Obviously touching the students is bad. And no, you don't get involved with the students or facebook them or have relationships with them. But what was a little bit concerning from what I can tell, there seems to be a bit of a 'sue them' culture so I have to be extra, extra careful about what I do - accidentally drop a book on a students foot - kid says that it was intentional because he is  a little shit and tells his parents then... lets sue her! Argghhh. So my motto while in schools is to be very mindful and no butter fingers for me! I am sure I will be fine but crazy thoughts had begun to circle by the time we had finished. I still haven't had a good nights sleep. I think that is part of it. I can't wait to go to bed and wake up in the morning with no interruptions in between.
After the interview, Hayley met with me. She had taken a half-day so that she could look after the poor lost kiwi - and I was lost. We went to an Italian restaurant for 'dinner' (that cracks me up. Dinner at lunch, Tea for dinner). It was beautiful and Hayely admitted to spending a small fortune in there over the years and it is easy to see why. We then went down to The Baltic art museum where they had a display by Jim Shaw called the Rinsecycle. That man has some strange ideas. Kind of quirky and a bit freaky when you really start paying attention to his art. Poor Hayley had forgotten her boots so she was walking around in the rain and freezing cold wearing little ballet shoes. I offered to piggy back her. Hahaha. Obviously she has not had enough exposure to the Deb and Cherie craziness. Who cares that we are grown adults...
We spent a few hours in the museum before heading back to the bus where it took an hour to get back to Consett. It was so warm on the bus and as cold as it had been in Newcastle it was brassmonkeys in Consett. The wind was cutting. When I got to grandads the first thing I did was put my PJs on then wrap up in blankets.
I am looking at trains up to Scotland for next week. Weather is a little bit 'warmer' and the snow is melting slowly.

30 hours of travel later...

I have landed... and it is cold.

I love the snow. It is majestic and beautiful and white (except for those yellow patches). However, as I sit here writing on day one I am questioning my love of the cold. I was just getting used to the warm humidity that is Auckland and now it feels like I have been plunged into the deep freeze. It is different. Perhaps it wouldn’t be quite so cold if grandad’s house was just a little bit warmer. I just went to the loo before. First horror: sitting on the FREEZING toilet seat. Second horror:  having to wash your hands. Grandad is of the old ‘turn off the hot water cylinder’ era so I have to wash my hands in water that is about 1 degree above freezing. I was even contemplating using my purell instead.

However, what I do love about the snow here is the smell. Not of the snow but of everyone who has coal fires burning. There is a unique smell that always without fail reminds me of being five and being here. I also love how white and magical it all looks (again, ignoring the yellow patches). Grandad’s back garden is absolutely packed with snow and the ground outside is almost knee-deep. I am not even exaggerating. He had a path that has been dug out for him but that is it. Everywhere else there are sort of walking tracks that have been made from packed snow but there is so much fresh stuff that you just want to jump in.

I arrived into Newscastle a little before 3pm, 4 hours later than expected thanks to fog in Dubai. The flight itself was okay except for this disheartening moment when the pilot came over the speaker and said in Sydney ‘The flying time is 14 hours to Dubai’. The idea of being stuck in the confines of the plane for 14 hours was not what I wanted. I wanted to sleep. I think from the ancy looks of others that a few wanted a smoke. It took me a few hours to finally nod off and even then, I only slept for around 2 hours then was wide awake again. It wasn’t until the last 6 hours that I finally was too exhausted to even care about turbulence. We spent half an hour circling the airport in Dubai, unable to land due to fog. When we finally did land I wasn’t too worried. I still had an hour before my next flight. Of course, I didn’t realise that the gate I was to get to was literally a train ride and a small hike away. I hoofed it over to gate C – far, far, far away – and they were boarding. I thought ‘Great. I made it. I am on the home stretch. I just need to get on this plane, we will take off and then we will arrive.’ How easy. How foolish. In what is surely becoming a tradition, we were all loaded onto the plane, the doors were secured and then the pilot told us that we were 30^th in the cue and it would be around 2 and a half to 3 hours before we could leave. Did I care? Nope. Why? Because, as the plane had been loaded with passengers I had been scoping out the free seats. I secured myself I row of 4 all to myself, lay out and watched movies and slept. Best – flight – ever! When we did eventually take off, 4 hours later, I lay back and enjoyed. However, there was one minor setback. You know when you are flying and you get wind because of the air pressure. Well, it is really hard to be anonymous when there is only so many people on the plane and most have a row to themselves. A few times I looked about to check that everyone had their headphones in and an airhostess wasn’t nearby. I couldn’t help it! Don’t judge me! You weren’t there!

So, after all of that I arrived to the welcoming committee of Grandad, Uncle Jim and James. It was lovely. I got all bundled up to head outside and went to greet the cold.

We got all the way back to Consett and I had my face glued to the window for most of it. I couldn’t believe how much snow there was and the first thing I did when I got out of the car was make a snow angel. Uncle Jim had reminded me that the last time there hadn’t been enough to make one, so with no further egging needed, I dumped my backpack in the snow, stripped off my jacket and gloves and literally flopped back there and then. I couldn’t stop laughing. I struggled back up and with a back covered with snow, I headed inside, shaking it off as I went.

Today I went for a walk around the main street. I bought a pair of calf-high slippers, a warm nightgown and, of course, a corn beef pastie. I also got some Aero hot choc. and some fruit. I also got a couple of top-up vouchers so now I am sorted.

It is supposed to have another massive dump of snow tonight and tomorrow. I might actually get to see snow as it lands. Of course, I will also have to see how the weather fares regards heading up to Scotland. Hopefully the trains and buses will be running... watch this space.