Ok, I have to say, I'm loving this ... right here (as Mr. Durst would say). I'm on an Airbus 319 on the way to Copenhagen and I'm above cloud 9. By all accounts I've just had an awful morning, but it has actually made me feel happier about where I am right now.

Packing took longer than I excpected (I mean, I started last Monday and would have thought I'd be done by the following Wednesday, but noooo), so I ended up going to bed at... ooh, I dunno 1.45? 2? and getting up at 5.15am to finish it off... which is less sleep than I care to imagine. Finished packing about 20 minutes after we wanted to leave and about an hour before I wanted to be at Heathrow... it was gonna be tight, on a good day. But today wasn't a "good day". As soon as we got on the M25 we hit a queue that went on forever 'cos someone had had an accident and then someone else had one in the ensuing tailback... I got to Heathrow about 5 minutes before the plane was supposed to leave. Needless to say, I didn't get it.

Any other day and that would've really rained on my parade. In fact, it nearly even did today. But sat in a traffic jam, I remembered how much I've gone through to even get to Sweden today- accomodation applications getting mislaid, not being able to find work for months... this was a hiccup. Not only that, I KNEW God wants me here- this was not going to stop Him. I'll be honest, as I write this, I don't know whether to laugh or cry... best not do either- British stiff upper lip n' all... :)

So there we are at the airport and I have a ticket for a plane that's already left. I go to the ticket sales desk and they tell me that I have a non-transferable ticket and that they shouldn't give me another one. But that they will anyway; go to the check-in and see if you can get a standby ticket. This I do and "that shouldn't be a problem- there should be plenty of spaces on that plane. And there are; I'm in a row on my own.

So I have a little sit around, read my "Pre-arrival Information" distributed by the uni so I know if anyone's gonna meet me in Lund, now I'm arriving about 2.5 hours later than I expected, and yes they are. Good. A wander through to the departures lounge and lookie-lookie, a chap reading the above mentioned brochure. His name is Nick and he's from California. And there's another guy called Tom from Canada. AND another Melvin from London... weird. I wonder how many people there were going to Lund on the other plane.

All summer when things have gone wrong, the thought that God has a plan for me and that I'm in it has kept me calm in some pretty unnerving situations. In the car on the way to the airport, it happened again. Ok, I left late but of all times there could be 2 accidents on the M25, they were both when I needed to get up it fast... If I'd left 20mins earlier, we could've been IN the accident. If I'd been 20 mins earlier, I wouldn't have the bond of having caught the same plane as these 3 guys. Crazy thoughts.

I don't think it's a coincidence that I'm on this flight or that we got stuck in traffic.

Oh, and to top it off- leather upholstery in the cabin... mmm... ciabatta, kit kats, muffins and fruit salad for lunch, and I'm not only feeling fine (I don't travel very well sometimes), but I'm in a really good mood.

That said, my ears tell me we're about to land. Time to go.