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ravenI'm feeling a bit depressed. I shouldn't be, but I am anyway; reading through my flist, my friends are all happy and Christmassy, and well, everyone knows how much I hate Christmas. Most of all, I hate it at the moment because everyone wants to be with their families on Christmas, and that means I have no friends and nothing to do except work.
I am at home, finally. I had a long, horrible day yesterday; it began with my getting up in Palam at six in the morning after four hours sleep, and going to the airport in mild fog that got thicker as we went along. The visibility slowly dropped to zero, and the everyone, strangely for India, was slowing further and further down until we were crawling, watching the trees and traffic loom appear like photo negatives in the grey. When we we reached the terminal, my mother went to check in. I sat by the departure board, which is not one of the electronic ones you get in Europe; it clicks over manually with pleasing clickclickclick noises. And I'd previously though that this was something you only see in cloying movies about being home for Christmas, but when I was sitting there, every flight on the board made the clickclickclick noise at once and shifted to "Delayed. Delayed. Cancelled. Resecheduled. Delayed. Delayed. Delayed", etc, etc, you get it. My personal favourite was a flight to Kolkata that was now apparently "Indefinite".
Ah, that wonderful fog. I made some inquiries. The fog was now so thick that all incoming flights were being diverted, and the one from Munich had been sent to Chennai and would have to be sent back. Chennai is very very far from Delhi. Very far. If you want to fly there domestic, it takes you nearly three hours. When my mother got back from checking in, it had become pretty clear that our 9.55 am departure flight was now going to be departing at two o'clock.
Four hours later - four long, boring, hours sitting in a departure lounge, unable to sleep and terminally bored - we were told the incoming flight wasn't comning until half past three.
At half past three, we were told five o'clock.
Seven hours' flying time after that, I landed in Munich. The flight itself was unremarkable, mainly because the attendants and crew were all apologised out and were simply sorry for existing at all. Munich was a shock to the system. It is, after all, in Europe, and that's always a jolt after India. It couldn't be more different, because, well, it's clean. It's organised. The floor gleams, the windows are transparent and there's no exposed wiring hanging from the ceiling. Most of all, it's silent, what with that British-and-European habit of not shouting in public places. It was almost worth the headache of rearranging my connecting flight.
We were lucky, actually; there still was a flight we could take (most of the other passengers were being shifted to hotels for the night) and I got to Manchester eventually, having been travelling for more than twenty-four hours and very much ready to go home. Our luggage didn't come. I didn't get pissed off, I was tired. And here I am now, safely home, and I've had some sleep and I'm feeling better, but now I'm sort of feeling that all I wanted, after Silchar, was to come home, and now I'm here all the things that make it home - like warmth and your own clothes and my friends - are conspicuously absent.
I guess I'm still tired. I was writing about what happened in India, I remember; I'd just got up to Ahmedabad. More on that shortly.
Edited to add: I'm not doing Christmas this year - I didn't fill in the card polls or the wishlist meme, I'm being deliberately Scrooge-ish because I can't face it all this year - and yet, regardless, people have sent me cards.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gamesiplay, flickgc, thank you very much. Your cards were among the few bright things yesterday. Also, I have a card from Sarah, and am unsure if this is apestaartje or mettanna. In the absence of a Belgian postmark, I suspect the latter. Thank you, too.
I am at home, finally. I had a long, horrible day yesterday; it began with my getting up in Palam at six in the morning after four hours sleep, and going to the airport in mild fog that got thicker as we went along. The visibility slowly dropped to zero, and the everyone, strangely for India, was slowing further and further down until we were crawling, watching the trees and traffic loom appear like photo negatives in the grey. When we we reached the terminal, my mother went to check in. I sat by the departure board, which is not one of the electronic ones you get in Europe; it clicks over manually with pleasing clickclickclick noises. And I'd previously though that this was something you only see in cloying movies about being home for Christmas, but when I was sitting there, every flight on the board made the clickclickclick noise at once and shifted to "Delayed. Delayed. Cancelled. Resecheduled. Delayed. Delayed. Delayed", etc, etc, you get it. My personal favourite was a flight to Kolkata that was now apparently "Indefinite".
Ah, that wonderful fog. I made some inquiries. The fog was now so thick that all incoming flights were being diverted, and the one from Munich had been sent to Chennai and would have to be sent back. Chennai is very very far from Delhi. Very far. If you want to fly there domestic, it takes you nearly three hours. When my mother got back from checking in, it had become pretty clear that our 9.55 am departure flight was now going to be departing at two o'clock.
Four hours later - four long, boring, hours sitting in a departure lounge, unable to sleep and terminally bored - we were told the incoming flight wasn't comning until half past three.
At half past three, we were told five o'clock.
Seven hours' flying time after that, I landed in Munich. The flight itself was unremarkable, mainly because the attendants and crew were all apologised out and were simply sorry for existing at all. Munich was a shock to the system. It is, after all, in Europe, and that's always a jolt after India. It couldn't be more different, because, well, it's clean. It's organised. The floor gleams, the windows are transparent and there's no exposed wiring hanging from the ceiling. Most of all, it's silent, what with that British-and-European habit of not shouting in public places. It was almost worth the headache of rearranging my connecting flight.
We were lucky, actually; there still was a flight we could take (most of the other passengers were being shifted to hotels for the night) and I got to Manchester eventually, having been travelling for more than twenty-four hours and very much ready to go home. Our luggage didn't come. I didn't get pissed off, I was tired. And here I am now, safely home, and I've had some sleep and I'm feeling better, but now I'm sort of feeling that all I wanted, after Silchar, was to come home, and now I'm here all the things that make it home - like warmth and your own clothes and my friends - are conspicuously absent.
I guess I'm still tired. I was writing about what happened in India, I remember; I'd just got up to Ahmedabad. More on that shortly.
Edited to add: I'm not doing Christmas this year - I didn't fill in the card polls or the wishlist meme, I'm being deliberately Scrooge-ish because I can't face it all this year - and yet, regardless, people have sent me cards.
gamesiplay, flickgc, thank you very much. Your cards were among the few bright things yesterday. Also, I have a card from Sarah, and am unsure if this is apestaartje or mettanna. In the absence of a Belgian postmark, I suspect the latter. Thank you, too.
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no subject
on 2005-12-23 12:40 pm (UTC)That sounds like an extremely unpleasant airport wait. I feel for you all!
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on 2005-12-23 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-12-23 12:44 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-12-23 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-12-23 12:46 pm (UTC)I don't celebrate christmas myself, I just haven't had much heart in it the last few years. I'm fine with other people being happy so long as they don't expect me to, because these days I can't promise anything. So we don't have the christmas CD on when we decorate the tree, and we avoid the christmassy music channels and christmas programmes (except delia smith as we make fun of her something chronic)
The thing I do have to be excited about this year? Doctor who :') For the first time in years we have Who again :)
xx
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on 2005-12-23 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-12-23 07:28 pm (UTC)xx
no subject
on 2005-12-23 12:48 pm (UTC)This year my dad lost his passport and my other uncle and aunt are maybe getting divorced and we have to stick around and watch the fireworks. And spend a lot of time with my extended Irish family. The men are all manly and heterosexual and the women are all housewifely, and my non-Catholicism (and by extension my father's culpability by marrying a half-Indian foreigner) is always hanging in the air.
Bah, humbug. I haven't spent a Christmas in England for so long that I'm not sure what to do. It's all so tasteful in Holland. :( Even when things do get too tacky, I don't understand enough of the language for it to sink in.
Sorry, I didn't mean to monopolise your comments space. But no, many of us do not want to be with their families this Christmas. (I like to love them from a distance at this time of year. Like, across the Channel, maybe with the landmass of France separating us...)
no subject
on 2005-12-23 07:27 pm (UTC)And also, I didn't know you were Indian! Okay, a quarter Indian. But there are no other Indians on my flist and I want some. Squee.
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on 2005-12-23 01:28 pm (UTC)And by GOD do I NOT want to be with my family at this festive season. I am here through sheer guilt-tripping from my mother. (I am also wandering around to Simon's at some point, which involves two Christmas dinners and two lots of Festiveness. Oh, god.)
Actually, sod it. Can I come now? Are you THEEEERRREEEEE? Answer your PHONE!
no subject
on 2005-12-23 07:27 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-12-23 04:08 pm (UTC)And you're welcome! I purposefully didn't fill out anybody else's card meme, or do the wishlist meme, because I knew I'd be too busy and too down this month until I got home. But I did manage to get your card and a few others out, because some things I just can't sacrifice to my stupid moods. :)
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on 2005-12-23 07:31 pm (UTC)It was a lovely card, and I owe you a decent Christmas package once you get back to college. :P
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on 2005-12-23 05:29 pm (UTC)I'm glad you're home safely. And we can do the telephone thing if it would cheer you up. This evening, tomorrow evening, Sunday evening, any time...
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on 2005-12-23 07:32 pm (UTC)I'd love to talk to you. It's been too long.
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on 2005-12-23 07:07 pm (UTC)But at least we have the new Who ep to look forward to! ::hugs::
no subject
on 2005-12-23 07:33 pm (UTC)