I’m sitting in the Toronto airport waiting for a connecting flight home to Halifax in about 2 hours, three days sooner than planned.

Gate 44 Toronto Pearson

What I haven’t mentioned was that I travelled with my “mystery” cough hoping the change in climate and location might actually reduce the tightness and congestion. In fact the reverse happened – I reacted to the alpaca, lots of vegetation was in bloom so lots of pollen, the old house, formerly a barn for animals and hay made the cough slowly worse. I woke up Tuesday morning (yesterday) and said to Linda I thought it prudent to get back home as quickly as I could.

To make a long story short, Gianni drove me to Tarontino to catch the train to Florence. Linda called ahead and reserved a hotel room for overnight. I was able to upgrade my return flights through Air Canada (don’t ask about the cost – as my late father would have said “it’s only money!”)

This morning I departed Florence at 6:40am to Frankfurt, connected to Toronto and am now waiting to fly the last leg of the journey shortly.

I’m not sick, but the chest congestion and the coughing are dreadful. My usual maintenance rituals aren’t working so it’ll be off to the doctor tomorrow to see what’s possible to settle my airway down.

I was afraid to stay till Saturday concerned the situation would deteriorate to the point that I couldn’t travel. Figured it a good idea to get home while I was able.

I had a great time for the 10 days I was in Tuscany/Umbria. Loved all the shmoozing and  eating we did.

And that’s more than you wanted to know!