It's been a year...

A year ago, last Thursday, I was strolling in the zoo, when I met a man who thought he knew the lot. He was laying down the law about the habits of baboons, and the number of quills a porcupine has got. I asked him 'what's that creature there?' he answered 'oh, it's a h'elk'. I might have gone on thinking that was true. If the animal in question hadn't put that chap to shame - and remarked:

'I h'aint a h'elk. IM A GNU.'

...

Not really.

But it was a year ago, and then I got carried away with Flanders and Swann, As You Do.

Starting over...

A year ago, having zipped shut (with difficulty) my suitcase containing an abridged version of my life's belongings, I found myself in Dublin Airport.

There you have it. My last view of home, sitting in an Aer Fungus 320 or something similar, heading out into the great blue yonder - except the yonder wasn't blue, so there wasn't any great farewell sight of Dublin to bring tears to my eyes. And it didn't really feel like I was leaving, so my eyes remained dry.

...I'm a gnu. I'm a gnu. The g'nicest work of g'nature in the zoo...

Sorry.

And to backtrack slightly to Dublin Airport again, Dad took photos of me going through security and put them on facebook, which was weird.

The flight from Dublin was late, so Heathrow was a mad dash, and finally after an insanely long time, I disembarked in Brisbane.

Australia.

It took 5 months to see my first (and only so far) Real Kangaroos, and so I'm convinced that it's a government ploy and they Don't Actually Exist. That was on my birthday, as a matter of fact, and not really part of this post, as it wasn't a year ago, was it?

In fact, it wasn't a year ago that I arrived in Brisbane either, because that was April 27th and today is April 26th, which was the day that I said goodbye to Whisper, and Sarah, and the Garbage Disposal Unit, and the McGbergs, and of course everyone else and I'm not naming you because someone is going to be upset about not being named, so it's easier just to not name a whole bunch of you and watch you fight. And cry.

And of course today, a year ago, was the day that I tried very hard not to say goodbye at the airport because I hate goodbyes, and Dad took pictures of me going through security, which was weird, and Mally was very brave (unusual).

And today, I'm sitting on an airplane, listening to Australian (mostly) voices on the radio, and it's perhaps a slight bit weird to be thinking about this. But, it is the same airplane as it was a year ago (different colour, bit newer) and the sun is shining, and really, it's okay, and it's worlds ago that anything was different.

And now I'm bored of waffling... so here is a picture of my last Tulfarris celebration before leaving...