Flight plans. But not mine alas!

The weeks just fly by these days. I blink, they're gone and I'm left wondering what it was I actually managed to accomplish.

A lot of nothing methinks!

Monday. I'm home sick with a headcold. A bad one, and the medication takes a while to kick in. Like up to 48 hours. Sigh. I'm discovering that day time television doesn't offer much by way of viewing and my selected viewing is Magnum PI. Rockford Files. Knight Rider. Gosh, The Hoff was easy on the eye back then. The Teen has a friend over this afternoon. He is here quite often when she visits. She is happy because I've told her we will take her home on the weekend. One of the friends brings me in a drink. Apparently it has a name which I have forgotten, but involves vodka, raspberry and lemonade. It's making my head swim.

Tuesday I'm home sick as well. Arrrrgh! I spend a lot of time sleeping. Getting to the end of the day and things are calming down a little.

Wednesday is crunch day. Do I go to work or the doctor and get a medical certificate? Well, it's only a cold and they can't do much to help me. Except give me the certificate. I go in and snuffle and sneeze my way through the day. The sneezing has calmed a bit from yesterday and I'm dosing myself on the cold tablets pretty regularly. My workmates don't seem particularly impressed to see me for some reason. I'm getting a lift with Zman so make myself stay for the whole day.

Thursday I decide that no, I'm going to stay home again. I'm still sniffling and they don't like sick people in the office! I should have stayed home yesterday. I've let work know that I will be away for the rest of the week. I didn't even bother to get out of my jammies. The bed looks tempting and I sneak back under the covers for a couple of hours.

We decide that we would head up to take the Teen home a day early. She's excited and can't wait. We plan to leave at midnight and I think I'll have a shower before I go to bed rather than at midnight. MOTH announces that he'll go for a bit of a kip before we head out. And there goes my option for a shower... *he's a VERY light sleeper. if i wake him, he won't get back to sleep* Somehow or another the Teen and I talk, facebook, chatter some more, watch television and now it's midnight. Dang. I've not had any sleep. MOTH is up and now I can have my shower.

I get first driving shift so I get to go through the city. With Karen of course. Danged if I'm doing that unassisted!

The trip is kinda long and boring. By the time you add in rest stops and driver changes, it clocks out to about 8 hours on the road. Jerome isn't travelling as well as he did the first time. I don't know if it's because it's night time or not. He's restless and calling, although in his harness but not the carry container.

At some point I see something standing on the side of the road. Or is it moving? *my eyes are shot for long distance. middle distance is ok though* We get closer and it's a dingo! Wow. First time I've seen one outside a zoo. He's long and lean, very sleek with a red tinted coat. Beautiful in a predator like fashion.

Friday I'm weary from lack of sleep. We visit with mum for a short time then head in to town to drop the Teen off home. She's happy to be back and tells me her housemate is too. We catch up with the Elder on the way and she joins us for a trip back to mums. I elect to go with her and MOTH heads off to visit friends while he's in town. He'll come back later. We go a different way and boy, there's some work been going on in town. Back roads! Linking suburbs! And landscaped and supposedly scenic too. Amazing. *but i'm not moving back!*

Mouse comes out to visit. It's good to catch up. Day's end and I'm falling asleep on the couch. I'm off to bed, but in typical fashion when I tuck myself in I'm not sleepy anymore.

Saturday night and we're out to dinner at the local CBD restaurant. We're waiting for first course and there is the Teen's best friend! He's come in with his family for a party, but he's not staying.

MOTH has mushroom soup for starters, the rest of us wait for mains. Mum chooses a chicken dish, Dad has prime rib, MOTH has chosen sole and I have beef medallions. They come as two, layered with something that may have been a type of mushroom and swiss cheese. No veges! I was disappointed because it was supposed to come with prawns as well. Oh, wait, there they are. There are two of them, hiding on the top of the medallions. MOTH loved his fish.

Dessert was worth the wait. A trio of chocolate mousse. White. Orange. Dark. Melt in the moth divine. The orange tasted like jaffa! It's almost a struggle to get it all in, but I managed. Whoo!

Sunday we're homeward bound. We leave mum's around mid morning with a quick dash into town to say goodbye to the girls. We drive the Elder over to pick up her car - left for the night at Sub's brother's place - then head off to see the Teen. She has a house full of friends who've crashed there for the night. We're introduced all round. We meet Pukas, her new squeeze. He's little!

We're on our way and have decided to head back via the Burnett Highway. To see how it goes. We're told the way is narrow, but you miss a lot of the heavy traffic.

Karen is fine with this until we hit the turn off and leave the main Bruce Highway. Then she is terribly confused and keeps trying to send us back to the Bruce. MOTH is having none of that and ignores her pleas to perform a u-turn when possible.

She's getting on my wick. He mutes the sound and we continue on our way. We've not gone this way for some time and are a little unsure. But we manage. Turns out to take about the same amount of time. MOTH has saved it to the trip log so we are hoping that next time we head that way, Karen won't be quite as upset. One day he'll surprise me and actually follow her directions.

Slightly used and disgruntled GPS anyone?

It turns out that yes, you do miss a lot of the traffic. The way is much more scenic as you pass through several small towns, and see the occasional house on the hill. Wild flowers colour the side of the road. We're cruising and coming toward us is a little old car from the vintage era *well, maybe from the 50s or 60s* and towing a caravan from the same time period. And they colour match. We pass a hotrod parked outside a store. It's powder blue and the roof is black vinyl. Someone has a Ned Kelly mailbox complete in his classic pose with two guns raised. It's been raining lightly as we near the end of our journey and for a brief moment, we can see a triple rainbow. It's beautiful.

I think we might go this way next time we head north. Which isn't till Christmas time thank heaven!