I'm suffering from some serious jet lag - I hardly got any sleep last night. It may also be due to the fact that I'm recovering from an extremely stressful flight yesterday. Why the stress? Not the normal stuff - worrying about how well I've packed my luggage (nothing got broke or damaged, so I must have done a good job), worrying about how much my luggage weighs (it wasn't over the limit), worrying about how late I would get into Seattle (the flight was delayed by over an hour, but I still managed to get home at a reasonable hour), worrying about what my drive home from the airport parking would be like (not bad, even in the dark and not having had much sleep on the flight) etc. No my stress was entirely caused by the woman sitting next to me on the flight - who was an absolute nightmare (a total Karen), which resulted in this being one of the worst flight experiences I've ever had. She shouldn't have been on the flight - she was ill. So for 10+ hours, I had to endure constant chesty coughing next to me. It was unbearable. And perhaps the worst thing was that she didn't make any effort to turn away from me to cough - so I dread to think what kind of viruses I've been exposed to. If I develop a bad cough, or even COVID, then I am going to be so angry. I was sitting about as far away and as turned away from her in my seat as I could, but there is no way I could avoid it. And then there was the bathroom situation. She had the window seat, I had the aisle seat - so I had to get out of my seat every time she needed to go to the bathroom. I knew this was going to be a problem early on when she insisted on going to the toilet not long after takeoff when the seat belt sign was still on and the plane was still climbing - and she got shouted at by the flight attendants. Then throughout the flight (at least once an hour over a 10 hour flight), she had to go to the bathroom. It was ridiculous - she should never have been in a window seat. So for much of the flight, I feigned I was sleeping - when I could see out of the corner of the eye that she was waiting and wanting me to move. And then the dinner - the choice was between chicken and beef. I wanted beef. But we were one of the last rows to get served food in our section. And guess who got the last beef meal? Yep. Dang it. I think the flight attendants must have hated her as much as me - she was constantly turning the light on to get their attention, just so that she could get a glass of water or similar. I can't tell you the overwhelming relief I felt when the flight was over. I'm not sure how much more coughing I could take before I lost it on her. I did mutter something when she clocked me with her hand luggage when retrieving it from the overhead locker. What else about yesterday stressed me out? The check-in process at British Airways - I guess in an attempt to further reduce it's workforce, now you can entirely check in without any human interaction. Well almost - I couldn't because I required extra identity checks. So I ended up in a massive queue for one of the few non-self service check in desks. And then arriving in Seattle, they have totally changed the process for international arrivals. Now you pick up all your bags before you go through passport control. It's very weird - and no one checked my US customs declaration form, which seems like quite a serious flaw. After all this, I wasn't sure what to expect when finally getting home. Fortunately all the snow and ice had long melted away. I wasn't sure what kind of tree debris I would find on my driveway - any big limbs? Fortunately not. But I did come back to something worse. One of the overhead cables going into my house had come loose and was hanging dangerously over the driveway. I was just about able to drive around it (courtesy of driving on some very muddy grass) to get my car up to the house - but less than thrilled that my landlord hadn't noticed this and done anything about it. A closer inspection this morning - in the light - reveals that I think it is the internet/TV cable that has come down. But, very fortunately, I haven't lost connectivity. So, all in all, it was a very stressful day yesterday. I expect I shall fall asleep on the sofa tonight a long time before the new year countdown!
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