Changing plans

I'd planned to do 'underpants on the head day' this coming Sunday. Perhaps the joke's wearing a bit thin but, on the other hand, I can imagine Andrew telling his kids about this strange Australian guy, long since dead, who started that tradition here. And then his grandkids changing the story so that the underpants were always on the head, even at the local supermarket. Stories have a way of mutating like that. Who knows; a century from now there may be a widespread belief in the US that all Australians wear their underpants on their heads!

Tonight over dinner I said 'I won't be here Sunday'. Andrew applauded (cheeky bastard :-) ). 'So you know what that means don't you?' They didn't twig. 'It means it's Underpants on the Head day' followed by the inevitable. Perhaps the joke isn't all that thin yet; after my wife stopped laughing she admitted that she thought it was well done. Even Andrew was grinning like a jackanapes.

Nope, on Sunday morning at the disgustingly early hour of about 5 AM I have to be at the airport, to go to Nice, France again. Actually, apart from the hour, I'm pretty happy about it. I'd concluded just this week that I was unlikely to be sent there again on the company dollar so to have a short trip drop out of the sky into my lap is just gravy!

Strangely enough, it just so happens that my sister and her husband are in Europe even as I write this, for her 50th birthday celebration. She's even going to visit Nice as part of her itinerary but I have no way of contacting her and I suspect that she'll be there somewhat after I've departed. No biggie, I'll catch up with her in Melbourne next month and we can compare impressions of Nice.

It's a short trip, arrive Monday Nice time, depart Friday morning. It's a public holiday in Nice on Monday and I arrive at the start of the day so that's even more gravy! You have to admit it, being on the French Riviera in summer does sound attractive.

Of course there's a downside. I get back to Phoenix late on Friday evening and on Saturday I get onto another plane, this time to the Philippines. A week there installing some old stuff, demoing some new stuff, getting emails sent back and forth that agree that we've implemented various features. All being well I'll be back in Phoenix at the end of August, just in time for my wife's birthday.

But even that return's only for a couple of weeks. Not that I'm counting but I'm off to Australia for a holiday in 33 days! To be precise, at the time of writing, it's 32 days and 15 hours until takeoff. But I'm not counting! :-)

For the record, this stay in Phoenix, of 26 days, has been the longest time I've spent at home since mid December 2004. But it's an interesting life and you wouldn't be dead for quids[^] would you?