Corona Virus Pandemic Packing and Posting! 14th March

How everything changes in an instant! Watching the news last night, and various other notifications on the internet, we had a deep and meaningful conversation about the various possible scenarios. We decide that the best option was to go home asap.

We spent hours and hours (about 4 and a half) waiting for a “call back”to speak to someone from Qantas. They were actually very helpful once we got to speak to someone, and have altered our flight to Tues 17th March leaving from Glasgow via British Airways, connecting at Heathrow to Qantas then on via Singapore to Perth. The journey will take us about a day and a half (much longer than our original flight on 8th April) but it was all that was available so we took it.

We went to bed very late but neither of us really slept much - minds like washing machines at the moment. So when we got up this morning we were very tired.

Thankfully Vince’s cold has pretty much come to nothing, with just the occasional cough. I am also feeling better, still a little itchy in my eyes but otherwise fine.

We got straight into things, packing and sorting, including things to take home, things to post home, things to leave at Willie McLeod’s for the house, and things to pass on to Alan.

It was a busy morning, and Alan’s face looked sad when we called him inside to explain our hasty departure. We also let Lorraine know and to sort out the balance for the extra wood and power, we owe her 100GBP.

We called Qantas in the hope of upgrading our seats to Business Class, after discussing last night how long the flight will now be. We were on hold for 5 and a half hours, but eventually got through. However, because I’d used points in the original booking it needed to be points to upgrade. I could purchase more points but they don’t appear straight away, so you risk loosing the seat and ending up having spent money for nothing really. The Frequent Flyer centre doesn’t operate on the weekend so the people we spoke with (a lady and then at my instance her male Manager) were unable to assist other than to say they will note the issue for further attention and they will also put a note on our booking explaining we were confirmed upgrades but were unable to proceed due to the Frequent Flyer centre being closed until Monday. He suggested that we speak with the check in staff, and if there are seats available they can upgrade us for FREE! So although we didn’t get what we were hoping for, our efforts may result in getting to go Business Class for free - even better. At the very least we have a flight to get home asap.

We headed off to Waternish, to Skye Skyns, and saw Mike, to get our sheepskin quad sent home. Then we went back into Uig and stopped at Rankins to pick up a birthday card for Alan and a bottle of Ledaig, his favourite whiskey. I had intended to also post some items home, but the post office in Rankins shuts at 1.00pm and this was around 2.00pm so we will have to do it on Monday in Portree on the way off the Island.

We got home and it was back into it packing and cleaning. Alan popped by and we gave him a load of dry goods from our pantry. He is coming for lunch tomorrow, so we will give him the perishables then along with his birthday gifts.

It’s been full on I can tell you, and I still need to battle with Malaysian Airlines tomorrow to try to get a refund on the almost 800 GBP we had to pay for extra baggage (just to get to the normal 30kg they only give 23kg) and extra leg room seats. I hope they are not too difficult I am feeling very stressed and worn out today.

We let all out Skye friends know that we won’t be able to make catch-ups etc and that we are sorry to not get to say goodbye properly to each of them, but this has all happened very suddenly.

I spent most of the afternoon and early evening scrubbing and cleaning the bathrooms and mould in the porch area. As well I had to clean all our outdoor gear to ensure all mud etc is gone - we don’t want customs and border protection stopping us.

Dinner was just left over Chilli con Carne and some fruit. An early night is in store for us both, hopefully we will sleep better tonight. Knicky-Knacker-Nooed!