Some people are glass half full and some are glass half
empty. If you look at the glass as half empty you will anticipate the worst,
and prepare for every eventuality. If you are preparing to travel to catch an
international flight where being late means missing the plane, perhaps glass
half empty is the way to go. This goes someway to explaining why Carly and I
left her place (Buttaba Hills in south western Lake Macquarie) at approximately
2.40pm to catch our flight that was due to depart at 9.45pm. Gary was taking us
and he is unashamedly glass half empty. It was hard to argue that there could
never be an occasion where the F3 freeway would become blocked, impassable or
some other unforseen tragedy would not occur. It was all totally possible.
After an uneventful trip down the freeway we, of course,
found ourselves nearing the airport at 4.40pm, some 5 hours before take-off.
Carly was not looking forward to spending that amount of time at the airport
and came up with a brilliant solution. Our beloved Newcastle Jets were due to
play at 5.30pm – all we needed was a pub, a sports bar or a club! After some
aimless driving around the back streets of Mascot and surrounds, with the help
of Rhys’ GPS app, we discovered the Alexandria-Erskineville Bowling Club – a
true “Crackerjack” establishment. It was packed but there was room for us to grace
the Bistro and, after some gentle encouragement to the management, the Jets v
Mariners was soon showing on the large screen therein. If you have not caught
up with the outcome of that game, let me assure you that it was a cracker and
close right up to the end…even the 6 minutes of extra time required. Too close
in fact to leave for the airport at the appointed time of 6.30pm, the time
required to get us to the airport at the regular 3 hours prior to departure.
This is where the glass half full kicks in. We are so close
to the airport…what could go wrong? The website says we only need to be there
90 minutes prior to departure…let’s watch the rest of the game. And aren’t we
glad we did? Jets won, it was a 10 min cruise to the airport and we were checked
in by 8pm in plenty of time. So, the moral of the story is that a glass half
empty was great because we got to watch the football in the first place, and a
glass half full allowed us to watch it all – a perfect compromise!
Carly was getting a bit apprehensive, having suddenly
realised that she would be leaving behind numerous loved ones, not the least of
which was her husband of 18 months, for 7 whole weeks. The football was a good
distraction and the time constraints also determined that there would be no protracted
goodbyes at the airport. So, after a brief but heart-felt kerbside farewell, we
left Gary and Rhys to find their way home back up the freeway and we proceeded
thru the usual checkpoints, arriving at our gate well before boarding. A long
and tedious flight of 14 hours followed (Gee it’s hard going back to economy
after being in business!) that was as uneventful as one could hope for.
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