A Mad Dash

It sounds easier than it was. Picture the scene, myself sitting in a wheelchair with no leg rest,
surrounded by two airport orderlies that were to push me through and take my bags, my agent
and her family as well as my friend laden with all the food stuffs from my fridge in my g appartment. The race was on. But, how to let them go quickly and efficiently in the rickety chair
that I was sitting in.

Holding my laptop on my lap, I had an idea on how to hold my leg in the air; I took the thick strap of the bag and looped it around my leg, put the computer on my lap, holding on to it tightly
whilst putting pressure on to my hands to hold my leg up in an upright position! A quick hug, kiss and thank you to my friends and away we went. Passport control was relatively easy, but
the security check proved to be long, annoying and extremely thorough. The culprits of this
hold up not being my shampoo, that they quickly removed, or my perfume, that they let me
keep, but the party hats for my grandaughter and candles that had been thrown in at my request into the suitcase!

Having already had a small overnight case packed on the first visit to my appartment by my
helpers, on the second return trip I requested that some presents that were allocated to a
special corner in my appartment, for my grandaughter accompany me on my journey, as well
as camera (I needed to take pictures of her) and my computer. This of course entailed leaving
behind clothes, make up, jewellery, books, relevant telephone book etc.... for my only thought
was not to arrive empty handed and to write a list of all my work in Beijing and to whom it
should be allocated to, as to leave no problems for the scheduler behind!

After this frustration and trying to keep my leg held high, restrain annoyance at my pushers
who every time I said ouch! would immitate me, but were doing a good job and were in their
innocence, just trying to keep my spirits up, we arrived at the check in desk situated next to the
plane doorway. Now, I would once again have to transfer myself, my computer holding my leg
up by its strap on to a very narrow looking wheelchair that would escort me to my seat on the
plane, through the narrow aisles. This did not look like fun!