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We left Sheffield on Thursday at lunchtime and headed down towards Heathrow.

We had had a notification from Qantas telling us that our plane, headed for Sydney, had been delayed from 20:30 to 23:30. This was worrying. It meant that there was no way that we would meet our connecting flight to Melbourne in Singapore.  However, the text message from Qantas told us that they were aware that we had a connecting flight and they were monitoring the situation.  I wasn't really worried.  I knew they would get us home. Even if eventually!

The car, however, had to back at its home in Heathrow by 16:00. I didn't want to pay unnecessarily for an extra day. There had already been too much profligate splashing of cash.  We were determined to deliver it on time, even if it meant a long wait at the airport.

Tabitha suggested that the airport might be quite busy. Although travellers from a week or so earlier had been reporting eerily quiet airports, it seemed quite possible that people would be trying to get back to their various homes before international borders were closed.

And so it was.  It was bedlam at Heathrow.  No one at all was taking the idea of social distance remotely seriously.  We arrived at the checkin desk more than half an hour before it opened and there was already a lengthy queue, waiting cheek by jowl.

Eventually we were checked in, through to Melbourne.

Oddly enough, it took almost no time to get through immigration and security. No idea why.I had expected a long wait.

We holed up in an airport pub while waiting for it to be time to board.  Again, no sense of keeping a distance between people.  The tables were very close together. I would have found them a bit too close even under normal circumstances.

Eventually we were on board our flight and off we went.  A good flight. Uneventful. I even managed several hours sleep.

As predicted, we missed our connecting flight in Singapore. Qantas had it all under control. Boarding passes for passengers to Melbourne and Brisbane had already been printed out. All we had to do was go and collect them. They put us back onto the flight to Sydney and then onto a hopper from Sydney to Melbourne.

The upgrade that we had  been given to Business Class from Singapore to Melbourne was honoured on the flight from Singapore to Sydney.  Our luggage went all the way from London to Melbourne by Business Class, even with the extra flight thrown in :-D

It was bedlam in Singapore too.  The Australian government had summoned its citizens and residents back from overseas and citizens and residents who had been intending to return in the near future had heeded the call.  Aussies from all around the globe were on their way back.  The Qantas staff at Heathrow, at Singapore, in Sydney, and on all three flights were magnificent in what must have been very trying circumstances and in the face of the imminent grounding of the fleet. You would never have known there was a crisis if their demeanour and professionalism were any indication.

In the meantime, Lindsey and Ian had been pondering how we would get from Melbourne back to Mount Helen. Government advice is to travel by private car if at all possible. I had bought return ticket on the airport shuttle but they required that returning international passengers wear face masks. I didn't have any face masks and couldn't get any.  So Lindsey volunteered to drive my car to the airport. We met her in the car park - at a safe distance! Then she joined Emily and they went away in Emily's car.  I picked up the car key from the bonnet of the car, where she had placed it so we could stay at a proper distance, and drove Jim and me back to our place.

And that is where you now find us. We are in a mandatory 14 day quarantine. When we arrived back in Australia we had to fill in forms that said we agreed to self quarantine for a period of 14 days from yesterday and to give the address where we would be and a contact phone number. Fortunately, I have well stocked freezers and pantry. Lindsey had picked up perishable goods for us and a few pantry staples that we might run short of. Also, we qualify for priority online supermarket deliveries. Online supermarket deliveries are largely suspended at the moment so the frail, elderly, disabled and vulnerable can have priority, including those who are in mandatory quarantine. I filled in an online form and was added to those who had been approved. If we run short of things and Lindsey isn't available to shop for us, I can order online. Assuming there is anything available to order - although I believe that things are starting to improve on the panic buying front.