Bunny telephoned shortly before ten o’clock this morning. She had only just heard from the car dealership that her vehicle had been repaired and was ready to be picked up. “Would I mind taking here there now?”, she asked.

I had anticipated this eventuality when we first spoke of the matter yesterday upon return of the rental car. Accordingly I said to Bunny, “Meet me downstairs at the front of the building in 15 minutes!” I completed dressing (it was the compression socks that were giving me pause) then immediately hauled myself, stick in hand, to the car in the basement. Breakfast could wait. Then up the ramp and directly to the front of the building. My charterer was there as predicted. Within minutes we were off!

During the ostensibly casual (though undeniably festive) drive along the Appleton Side Road to the dealership in Carleton Place we together rejoiced in the fortuity of the early morning call from the dealership and hence the conclusion and squaring of the erstwhile obstruction prior to departure to the other side of the North Atlantic Ocean. Now, Bunny and I collectively sighed and agreed, she was set to go! All hindrance and complication had been removed. The waves had parted!

The intelligence was that Bunny was to be collected at one o’clock then head to the airport for an overnight passage to Paris. Then Morocco. Anyway you put it, it’s an exhilarating alternative to sitting at home and reading a good book. Or whatever. Travel – especially of that scope – is always electrifying. Exotic sounding names like Marrakesh and Casablanca contribute effortlessly to the persuasion!

It is a common attribute of travel that getting there and first tossing it about in your head are much of the fun. That of course is pretty much the identical credential of any outing or enterprise of an anticipated nature. But it completes the cycle. Were it all to happen without an interlude of any nature, I imagine that part of the excitement is unwittingly exhausted. But while the anticipation adds to the exuberance of the moment, there is no denying that succeeding as well to clarify and remove all remaining dust from the picture is a further benefit. Let us say it is (or was) the weak link in the chain, the one tiny mess which hadn’t yet been tidied. Irrelevancy can be so distracting!