Thursday 30th November finds me sitting on the lounge room floor surrounded by clothing, presents, toiletries etc and two suitcases.  Packing the large one first I make sure all the presents are well protected by padding them with shirts, socks etc.  Putting the full suitcase on the scales I find I still have 5kg left before I reach my allowed 20kg which puts a smile on my face, I can now pack a few extra things that I knew I could leave behind, shampoo, conditioner etc, these things I can buy when I get to England.  Satisfied at a job well done, I hit the bed at 1am totally exhausted.
 
Up for work at 5.45 for my last day and the anticipation of a few drinks tonight.  I get a phone call from Brad, my travel agent informing me there had been a mix up with my flights and Singapore Airlines  had me stopping overnight in Singapore, departing Sunday evening for a Monday arrival in England.  A spanner has now been thrown in the works and Brad is faced with many phone calls to ensure I arrive in England, as planned, on Sunday 3rd December.  It doesn't matter where I land as long as it's somewhere in the UK, Manchester being the main objective, but if that is not possible, anywhere else that has a train service will do fine.  Brad calls before I leave work to let me know he is still trying to get me to Manchester and to call his office just before closing time for the latest news.  Heathrow airport in London is the best he can do for me, so now it's a matter of getting online and making a few calls to England to arrange for transport from Heathrow to Warrington, normally a 4 hour train journey from Liverpool St Station.  A call to Heathrow assures me I can get a train from the airport to Paddington Station on my BritRail pass, good, no extra to fork out at this  point.  A call  to Virgin rail then completes the itinerary for my journey northwards, which is; express train from Heathrow airport to Paddington Station.  Train to Euston, bus from Euston to Northampton, (there are track works being done and the trains are being replaced with buses), train from Northampton to Crewe and a bus from Crewe to Warrington.  Satisfied that all is in order, I can now go and have dinner with dad and Iris and ask if I can borrow their very large suitcase.  I don't really fancy dragging 2 cases around on trains and buses.  After a lovely dinner I head home with the large suitcase only just fitting in the boot of my car.  I drop that off home, call Tracey and then head to Matt's for drinks at 9.30. 10.30 seems like a good time to get back home and start packing the case, and get a good night's sleep, yeah, right, another late night but I guess I can sleep on the plane.

Saturday morning dawns, a warm and muggy day.  I am up with the birds, got a load of washing to hang out  so my jeans are dry to pack.  Off to Matt's armed with the spoils of the fridge that are too good to throw in the bin.  A 9am visit to the travel agency for my final flight itinerary and to get a new battery put in my watch to replace the one that died during the night.  At least it didn't wait till I was half way across the world.  I acquired two little passengers on this short expedition but when it was time to drop them home so I could finish up at home they volunteered their services, I just think they wanted to spend some extra time with Nan before she disappeared.  Travis retrieved the stool from the bathroom and set himself up at the sink to wash the dishes, sorry Trav, but I have to move you while I get the dish washing liquid out of that cupboard you're leaning against.  Whilst Trav is keeping himself busy in the kitchen sink, Gemma is filling up the recycling bag and Nan is bringing in the washing, all except the jeans, wouldn't you know it, the pockets are still wet, but then, why should today be any different, pockets just aren't meant to dry at the same rate as the rest of the jeans.

The work is now all done, Gemma packs the rest of Nan's cold beers in the cooler bag for  daddy to keep cold ready for Nan's return.  Strict instructions to have the fridge stocked with cold beer and a carton of milk seemed reasonable enough.  After dropping the kids home it was time  for last minute checks, all applicances turned off at the main switch.  Phone ring volume  turned down and the house secured.  Double check, triple check, quadruple  check, yes, I have all my paper work, passport, camera, nothing left now but to wait for Matt, Shaz and the kids to load me and my luggage into the car.  
 Half way up the street Matt asks the obligatory question, are you sure you have got everything?  Tickets? Passport?  Yeah, they're in my backpack, I think, stop the car, check the packpack, yeah, of course they are right where I said they'd be, funny how you are so sure yet you still doubt yourself.  And so my adventure begins.