Things are quite, quite mad here - which is Paris until Sunday, then Tallinn until Thursday, then probably off to Tasmania on Friday. I say probably because of course we are still waiting for a signed contract plus approval for my airfare. Meanwhile I am going mad trying to decide what to pack, as I have no idea what the weather in Tasmania will be like, plus stressing about the flight, because we all know how much I love flying - not!!! One of my colleagues yesterday gave my manager a rather good description of sitting next to me on the Easyjet flights to Belfast, which I endured twice a week for eight months. I hoped it might make them change their minds about sending me, but no luck so far.

My readers are correct in thinking this whole thing is quite crazy. I don't think I could go much further from Tallinn than Tasmania, and I love the phrase from Kathryn's Mum, "from the sublime to the corblimey"! Apparently there is an urgent short-term need there, and of course I don't need a work permit, so that makes it feasible. I am still being told by all my colleagues how lucky I am, and how they want to go! And now I am also being told my my sister that I really must come to New Zealand while I am there, which is neither cheap nor quick from Tasmania, given that there appear to be no international flights from Hobart. I am actually going to turn the tables and suggest she come to Tasmania instead, thank you again, Kathryn, but I am fairly sure that there will be a lot of reasons why she can't....

By the way, our Special Snowflake thinks people who don't like flying are silly - I think she means me again! Whereas I tend to think anyone who likes sitting inside a giant tin can wedged against strangers is silly, it's really not my sort of thing. It's actually really funny, there is another guy from work who is going on holiday to Thailand about the same time as I am leaving for Hobart, and he is so looking forward to his flight - he has a really cheap flight and is only taking a small cabin-sized backpack for a month's holiday, and the whole idea makes me shudder, but then he is at least twenty years younger than I am, and I am sure that he doesn't have to worry about whether his knees will ever work properly again. This is the thing about Snowflake, she assumes that everyone is like her, without thinking that people's situations may be different.

With all this stress I have not been stitching much, except on the plane on Wednesday, when a nice flight attendant admired my very nearly finished La-D-Da "Act Justly". This one WILL get finished pre-Tasmania, because I have a few things from Nashville that have arrived and cheered up an otherwise horrid week. I will take some photos when I can, some things are quite nice, I am very taken with the LHN pin bed and pillow, which I think may be the first start of the bunch. By the way, "Mrs Waddelow" is recommended to be done in one strand of reversible cross-stitch, that could be interesting!