25/10/2024 – The Rambling Sloth 🦥

I went to bed at 7.30pm and I’m sure I was asleep pretty quickly. I was shattered after all the histrionics 😆 I do get myself into some state at times.

The alarm was set for 1.45am but I woke at 12 for the loo, thankfully I went straight back to sleep so I felt fairly refreshed by the time I got up.

I had my shower last night so all I had to do was get dressed and finally decide which trainers I was wearing…. That’s been the tough decision all week. I know, I hear myself 🫣

I’m not proud of the anxiety that I feel at times. I’m pretty ashamed of it. I’m angry at the ridiculousness of it but I feel compelled to share the bad with the good.

I want you to know that none of this comes easily to me. If that helps one other person feel less alone with anxiety then it’s worth it.

As soon as the alarm goes off I am relatively calm. There are nerves but it’s nothing like the fear of the last few days.

In the doing I am calm.

The overthinking is over and I just have to get on with it.

Craig had said he’d get up with me. He was fast asleep and I consider waking him but decide to leave him. He gets up at the last minute and sees my rear lights disappear out the wrong end of the village. I just missed him.

The wrong end of the village is because there’s a road closure on the sat nav. I have worried about that all week too.

You just have to take the diversion.

It took a bit longer but I left early enough to allow for it.

The drive was quiet and very dark. I say quiet but there are still a surprising number of vehicles out on the motorway by the time I get there.

I’m conscious that I am body scanning all the way over looking for signs of fear, unwell, anything that might let me down. I try to stop that.

I drove into Plane Parking car park at 3.27am and was through security by 3.50pm.

We walked through a a very long random corridor and I only realised later that it was because nothing was open yet! We bypassed duty free.

A Ryanair early flight can’t be faulted. They had us on board and ready to go with a half hour to spare. I’d forgotten how tightly packed in the seats were. Ryanair have threatened me with a middle seat since I booked because I didn’t want to pay. I got one… but it’s not the worst.

I’m writing this from way above the clouds. It’s a beautiful sunrise 🌅 but my middle seat won’t let me near it. I never thought that through 😆

Landed just about 8.30 uk time and 9.30 Italian time… straight through passport control. I say straight…. We zigzagged like a zigzagging crazy thing…… but no hold ups at all.

The only hold up was the bus I’d booked through Ryanair. We didn’t leave the airport until 10.40 but I guess I’d have been glad of that if I’d had hold luggage.

The bus from Bergamo airport takes around 50 minutes into Milan.

I am now excited. Finally!!

It’s very dark and misty but lovely and mild.i got the best hug from Melanie when we met.

It’s 6.25 Milan time and we have walked all afternoon. We went to Maruzella Milano for lunch.

This id a huge dump of photos just now as I’m exhausted!!