I was on my way back to Scotland, and I must say, this time I was feeling a bitty sad to leave South Africa, as the little cottage was just begging me to come and put it back into it's former what must have been a lovely state.
First I had to go to Pretoria to visit with my eldest sister Lida, as it is too far too drive down, and too expensive to fly frequently, so I visit with them when I leave, and again on coming back.
It was a good flight, This time with British airways, as I was not feeling up for the long flying time if I flew with Emmerates. If I fly with them, it is also impossible to visit my sis, as they fly direct from Capetown to Dubai, and I then had to also drive the almost seven hundred kilometers to Capetown in my small Spark, and that on our dangerous roads is a bitty hazardous.
The flight itself was okay, except that when the plane was filled up, I was elated for about three minutes, as the other two seats next to me was still unoccupied, and visions of a good night's sleep flitted through my brain! But this blissful state was rudely shattered when there was a sudden spurt of activity in the front, and when I saw the hostess coming down the isle with two minors behind her, my heart just sank into my tummy, as I well knew that the only empty seats were next to me!
This hostess asked me with an angelic smile if I would just keep an eye on the two, a young English girl of about eight who was visiting her dad, and a black boy of about ten or eleven, and call them if anything was amiss! Bally cheek, but I am quite goodhearted, and said okay, yes, righty ho, I will see to them, but if I knew what awaited me, I would have made a run for it.
The young girl was a real sjeike madam, very knowledgeable about flying, while it was the boy's first time, and he was immediately taken in hand by this girl, who taught him all about western manners and behaviour, while he sat with a fearful expression, I think wanting to also run away from this young missy!
When the food came, the boy had a bit of trouble with opening his cutlery, so she grabbed it from him, and showed him with great enthusiasm just how it should be done.
The boy then started directly with his main dish, and on seeing this the little girl was horrified, and leaned over me, almost upsetting my tray, grabbed the starter, and told him in motherly tones that it is wrong to start on the main dish, and didn't he know that, and then to crown it all, she took his napkin and arranged it on his chest by tucking the one corner into the neck of his t-shirt!
The poor boy was by now so flustered that he couldn't get one morsel to his mouth, so missy made a few tut-tut sounds, and showed him how to hold his fork, as according to her, he was definitely not up to standard when it came to using the utensils correctly. By this time I could see that the boy was hugely upset and close to tears, so I told him to eat with his spoon, as that was much easier, and thinking that I myself sometimes have trouble eating in a plane, I sympathized with him.Young miss was horrified when she saw him gulping down his food using the spoon, but by this time I had decided that it was time to butt in, so I told her that as it was his first time on a plane, he was too tense to eat properly, and could she leave him for a little while, at which she frowned and tut-tutted some more, but left the poor boy to finish his dinner.
If I had earlier wishes of a good sleep, that idea quickly evaporated into thin air, as Missy, now fortified and apparantly finished with teaching her young pupil about table manners, started on me! She was very intelegant, asking about my life, and telling me about her life, living with her mother in South Africa, and now on her way to visit her dad. She never stopped, even after I begged her to just let up, for both the young boy and self were yawning our heads off. She never did! Stop, I mean, and was a bleary eyed me who sipped the coffee the hostess started serving when daylight started to show.
Then the lesson in table manners was taken up again when the breakfast came, but I tried to shield the youngster from his do-gooder by sitting forward so she could not really see him, and he finished his whole breakfast with his spoon. I was very glad when we landed at Heathrow, and even more so when I reached Hammersmith where I was staying for two nights in Protea House before getting the train to Stirling!
I was looking forward to my friends, and to my roamings in my little black Panda!