Saturday, October 31, 2009

Did I give you a flight?

Sometimes the smallest frames hold the largest views. Incidentally, my daughter took this photograph - and many others as I was enjoying the view of the inside of a paper bag for most of the journey!


Fasten your seat belts. Could all passengers please remain seated whilst the aircraft is taking off and landing. Thank you.

I've been avoiding posting since I returned from my research trip to South Island - what, I hear you say, you were away? Well, here I am again and I have so much I want to share with you all about my trip, but so little I can, alas, as I want to stuff as much of what I have discovered into my novel as my plot allows for.


Please keep your seat belts fastened as we seem to be experiencing a little turbulence.


It's been peculiar, to say the least, being back in Auckland. I have a huge stack of reading material to get through, plus hundreds of photographs to label and scrutinise. I have maps and memoirs and, curiously, memories of my own to sift through and work out what is valuable to my story and what is merely of value to me.


This is your captain speaking, to notify you that we will be landing shortly. We are currently (bunch of numbers) high and with a wind speed of (bunch of numbers), I hope you have had a pleasant flight on behalf of Too Small for Sense and Comfort Airways and I wish you an enjoyable and safe remainder of your journey.



And I have to catch up on blogging and general real life as I know it.

Thank you for choosing to travel with us and I hope to see you all again soon.

13 comments:

Golden West said...

Your daughter took a great photo - if you look into the great beyond, you can see the curve of the Earth! Glad to hear your journey was fruitful for your novel. I look forward to hearing about it!

catdownunder said...

I do not do well in turbulence either!

Andrea said...

Glad you had an enjoyable and productive trip! This is a very witty post - as always. Travel can be a great way to clear your head and provide inspiration.

Rachel Fenton said...

Thanks, GW, I'm glad she took some pics, else i would have missed some wonderful views!

Turbulence aint the half of it, Cat, it's when I had to beg bags from my fellow passengers that I felt truly humiliated!

Travel is also a great way to clear my stomach, Andrea! Glad the end was worth the journey!

Anonymous said...

My son took exactly the same photo as we flew over the South Island in July!

Good luck with sorting through the research. It was clearly productive.

(And of course we noticed you were gone.)

steven said...

i have passed up on a few opportunities because of the possibility of turbulence. i take little comfort in the reassurances of others. its effect on me mentally and physically is enough to render me useless for some time. too bad though as i love the take off and landing a lot!!!! steven

Rachel Fox said...

I'd wondered where you were!
x

Rachel Fenton said...

Oh, cool, Donna! Thanks. My blogging may be sporadic for the next few months whilst I sort through everything.

Steven, you like the taking off and landing but not the bumpety bumps!? The travel sickness pills I took rendered me pretty useless, but didn't stop me being sick! Strange. Also, I believe I may be an=mong a select few (seeing the positive side of it) who get taxiing sick - you know, when the plane is just slowly trundling along and turning around, at about ten kmph!

Ha! Ta very much, Rachel!

Vanessa Gebbie said...

What a great photo... and it made my stomach flip, hearing about the trip! Hope the experience was inspirational though, and loads of good luck with the wiritng!
Im coning to NZ in 2010... can't wait! tell those mountains not to move....

Rachel Fenton said...

Hi, Vanessa, thanks.

2010 is very soon - you are most welcome to call in for morning/afternoon tea, sick bags, painting! Or the low down on tourist free beauty spots (but, of course, all NZ is beautiful)!

Anonymous said...

My first time at this interesting blog and I felt the need to share an announcement made years ago by an American pilot: "We hope you have enjoyed flying with us as much as we have enjoyed taking you for a ride." ~Miriam

Rachel Fenton said...

Glad to be of interest, Miriam! I really enjoyed your guest blog at Tania's. That's a very funny captain quote! Thanks for sharing, and for stopping by!

Rachel Fenton said...

Glad to be of interest, Miriam! I really enjoyed your guest blog at Tania's. That's a very funny captain quote! Thanks for sharing, and for stopping by!