The Big Holiday - Arriving Home

Cruise down Milford Sound, New Zealand

The blogs from my holiday aren’t in any particular order (as you may have noticed!). I’m just writing the more recent stuff first while it’s fresh and I’ll do a blog later on the actual holiday.

In real-time, today is the first day in my new job, but I’ll get to that another week. I expect to run out of steam fairly quickly on things to say about Zurich, so I’ll milk my holiday first for what it’s worth and tell you about my Zurich move later. Back to my NZ trip...

Anyway, after my over-long journey, I finally arrived home at 3am. The person on security took my case to my flat for me, switched my water back on, and switched my electricity on.

It was quite strange to see my flat again; it looked both strange and familiar all at once. I’d asked to have the flat cleaned, so it was looking orderly, which was a relief.

In Istanbul, I felt a cold developing, and actually I fell asleep before the plane even took off. On arriving in my flat, I thought I’d dig out the cold medication that I’d bought on my way to NZ as I thought then that I was getting a cold. It was annoying to buy medications in Zurich as they are so expensive there (also you can’t self-medicate like you can in Egypt, as the pharmacist informed me in a superior tone when I asked for melatonin for my jet-lag). As it turned out, the cold never materialised, but it seemed to be now.

Consequently, I turned my attention to my suitcase and as I went to open it, I saw some white stuff leaking out from the edge of the zip. This was not good. I assumed it was toothpaste, but when I opened it up, I realised that it was the tin of sealer that I’d bought in NZ in the hope that it would sort out the problem with the wall in my bedroom (see 22 Dec 2013: Egypt - First Time Coming Home for the story and 31st December: Settling In for a picture). The tin (like a paint tin) had got dented during the journey and somehow it had leaked.

The runaway sealant was selective as to where it went, choosing my most expensive cardigan and one of my favorite dresses. And a tiny speck landed on my new possum slippers. Fortunately, my new jacket was in a bag and the sealant went over the bag and not the jacket (and the bag cleaned up OK, unlike the cardigan and the dress). But it could have been worse; the rest of the sealant was covering the zip to the suitcase and the suitcase was going to be binned anyway.

I was too tired to do anything about it and stumbled into bed. I woke up a few hours later and then realised the consequences of the security guy switching on the electricity. I’d assumed the electricity would remain on in my absence. All the meat in my freezer would be ruined. I thought the flat had smelled a bit peculiar.

After binning all my meat (and in Egypt I feel really bad about throwing away food) and doing two lots of washing, I was too tired on the first day back even to try to get the internet working (and that means I must have been really tired!). Safi took me to Senzo Mall; it was strange to drive on the right-hand side again. In my absence, Senzo Mall had erected a fence around it (for security I guess) and the dirt short-cut between the two sides of the dual carriageway now had some temporary surfacing on it as if it intended to become an official turning at some point. Nothing stays the same when you go away! I purchased some internet usage and got some basic foods.

The second day, I switched on my laptop and it informed me that it couldn’t start Windows because a driver was missing. Huh? Everything was fine last time I’d used it, what had happened? That was my third disaster on arrival – first the leaking sealant, then the rotten meat, and now the striking laptop.

I tried starting the computer again half an hour later, but no luck. I attempted to force it to open Windows regardless, but my hopes were dashed as it wouldn’t let me get past the login page.

Safe mode got me onto Windows (phew!), but the internet wouldn't work. Nevertheless, it was progress.

Finally, on the last attempt, everything functioned, but for an internet junkie such as I am, it was a stressful hour. I was nervous about whether this fiasco would be repeated every day into infinity and whether there’s an underlying issue.

However hard I try, however hard I plan, no return to Egypt is ever trouble-free! Something always has to go wrong.