Tuesday, September 1

Irma went to work early. I got up at a normal time. Naa slept late.

Irma had let Sunshine out when she got up and he came back in as I got out of the shower. I watched him go to the kitchen to hunt for food and then closed the door.

Irma came back about 11:00 and we woke Naa. She got up sleepily and nervously, and we all had brunch. Irma and Naa went through her packing and her documents one final time, and then she played with Sunshine. We all waited in anticipation of the moment we would leave the house.

At 13:45 Naa carried her own bags to the car on the grounds that if she couldn’t manage them at home she wasn’t going to manage going through immigration and changing planes in Bangkok. Then we left for the airport. Sunshine had gone to sleep in its favourite cupboard by that point.

At the airport I met Samir, who was escorting his mother on her way to Calcutta. Naa took her bag and waited to check it in, and here she is doing it. In five minutes time she will only have her hand-luggage and she will be heading for the security check. We will wait to watch her until she is completely out of view. She and Irma will exchange Facebook messages until we leave the airport.

We will all talk on the phone once she is onboard, and there will be a further flurry of Facebook posts. On the way out of the airport we will stop at Richie’s Quality Hotdogs, one of the many new facilities springing up in the refurbished airport. I will notice that there is a second new Burger King as well. The hot dogs will be excellent.

I will go for a long walk and come back and read. Irma will already be sitting reading when I get home. The cat will wander around, and we will get ready for bed.

Just as we are getting ready we will realise we forgot to have dinner or supper.