Last flight back of 2014 and non-piano

What joy - I woke up and there were only four and a half hours of the 11h30 hour journey left. Result. No fights on the plane. No significant turbulence. It was almost as though something bad had to happen later....

We only arrived an hour late at 8am in Paris. After passports I asked about getting to Terminal 1 where the lounge was as we had five hours to kill and we might as well do it in style. We got detailed instructions on how to get there and only after that did it dawn on us that Tan couldn't get there as she didn't have a Schengen visa. Oh bloody hell. Yes I could have taken the kids and left her but it wouldn't have been fair would it? It probably would actually but I decided against it as we are a family. The ensuing five hours cost us a good 50 Euro in food and drink and that Priority Pass dug itself into my skin to tell me how much it could have saved us. At least it would have done, had it been on me.

I'd taken it, my HSBC card, and my driving licence out into a slim wallet for travelling in what I thought was an intelligent way of not carrying my whole wallet everywhere. Unfortunately I couldn't find it. I went back to security but they couldn't either and after a long search I resigned myself to the fact that they were gone. At least I spent some time cancelling the cards and ordering new ones from Paris.

Tan pointed me in the direction of a piano in the terminal, just yards away from us. I would SO have liked to play Gladiolus Rag there, but I still didn't know the last two parts properly. I should have had the confidence to play Solace, but I thought if I did I should play something else afterwards and I hadn't practised enough. I was engulfed in my desire and fear to have a go on the piano but decided against it. Had I been single and the piano been a woman I would have gone for it, but my offspring weren't riding on this, so I let discretion take the better part of valour.

Next time that will be me

I don't regret the decision, but I have resolved that should I be in the same situation again (like I was a month ago in Besancon train station in France), I will never not play due to not being good enough. I have had the chance to practise in Pingguo, but not quite enough to play in public outside of Pingguo yet. But the one thing I have promised myself from the discomfort of not playing in the Paris terminal is that I will play when the next chance arises and it is suitable. I will at least be able to play Solace and Gladiolus Rag.

That was the regretful thought I had while we finally boarded the flight to London. Annoyingly we were delayed nearly an hour as two people didn't turn up and we had to get rid of their luggage. Much more annoyingly, for the second time this year, our luggage didn't turn up in London, despite the fact it had made it from Guangzhou, and we realised it had entered the void of Air France and Charles de Gaulle and we may never see it again. Never, never take that combination of airline and airport.

But we were back if our luggage wasn't. Da Yong picked us up and we got home in the early evening and that was it. The kids went to sleep, then we went to bed. It really is just a home from home, and that's what I like about it and why I can't wait to get back too.