Silver linings

So I finally get to Heathrow, make it through passport control and pick up my bag remarkably quickly. I find my coach stop back to Reading. I wait. An Italian man asks me about where to buy a ticket. I am very helpful and friendly to him. I wait some more. I realise the last two buses have not come. I call my man and the coach website says last coach went 15 minutes before I ever had a chance of getting to it. The Italian man never came back to tell me that I was waiting for a bus that would never come.

I check the London underground. None are working. There are buses into London, but no trains back out of London. Most people I know are out of London visiting family. There is no way for me to get home except by taxi.

I call my insurance people to ask if they'd pay for a cab. The people I need to speak to are not available until 8.30am tomorrow morning. They cannot help me. What is the point of Platinum cover if they are not there when I need them?

I feel discouraged. I speak to my man and he tells me he will drive three hours to come and get me. My heart lifts. I find a 24-hour cafe with leather sofas AND decaf tea AND soya milk. And, it would appear, wifi access, though somewhat pricey. I am not stranded after all, and I am sitting here with tea and chocolate cupcake. Shortly I will do some work I need to do before the end of this week.

Although none of what happened today is quite how I would have liked it to be, I am okay and I will be home by midnight or shortly after. Nothing disastrous has happened. I am just tired and slightly disgruntled. I am grateful that things are not as bad as they could be.

I am smiling. :-)