TABI Tarot Conference | 2016 | The Saga of my lap top bag – Part 1

Published by Alison Cross on

‘Back to the ferry –
and don’t spare the horses!’

Although our annual Tarot gig in Birmingham didn’t kick off until Friday afternoon, my journey began the previous day as I decanted my son and dog up to my mother’s so that I could make an early start.

We arrived in sunny Airdrie at about 2pm and I sat with a mug of tea and chatted with my mum as Sonshine and the dog mooched about looking for things to do/eat.  At 4pm I was hit with the sudden thought: ‘hey where did I put my computer bag oh jesus I have left it behind’

Reader, you know that dream where you are going to sit an exam for which you have not studied ….or that dream where you are standing naked on a stage ready to dance a role that you have not rehearsed? Yeah? THAT magnified by ‘OMG-this-is-not-a-dream-this-is-a-real-life-clusterf*ck’

This was just about THE worst thing that could happen.  Everything that I needed for Conference was in that bag – my laptop, a cable that two of our speakers were going to use for their presentations, the TABI shop float of Β£30, 35 copies of the feedback form, all my Tarot decks …. I would rather have left behind all my clothes than my laptop bag.

Rigid with panic and hyperventilating, I decided to drive home and get it.

Which wouldn’t be a problem if I lived in Aberdeen or Carlisle or somewhere sensible. I live on a small Scottish island.  Therefore you cannot come and go as you please, you are at the mercy of the ferry timetable.

Despite fighting my way through rush hour traffic in Glasgow, I arrived at the ferry terminal to receive confirmation that if I crossed over to the island on the next boat, then I would be stuck on the island until the morning.

Which was useless: I was picking up one of our lovely speakers from her home in Glasgow very early on Friday morning.  There was nothing for it but to drive back to my mother’s house, shaking like a leaf and sporting sweat rings on my t-shirt the size of water wings ….

Not a wink was slept on the Thursday night.  Every time I was about to drop off, a bud of anxiety would blossom in my gut and flood my body with fury at my stupidity and anxiety about how I’d let people down.

And I had over 300 miles to drive the following day.

At 6am I was up and packed and ready to go.  The early morning fog burned away as I approached Glasgow and Mrs Sat Nav woman correctly directed me to the front door of Julia Jeffrey.

Julia is a lovely person – the artist behind the Tarot of the Hidden Realms and we were travelling down to the Conference together.

We loaded up the car with Julia’s treasures and set off for Birmingham. Despite my stupid in-car games (honed from YEARS of being stuck in traffic on the M8 in the morning) we had a pleasant coffee-and-pastry speckled journey down the country.

Amazingly, we made pretty good time and rolled into Conference Aston just after 2pm.  Sure, we did have a bit of trouble with Mrs Sat Nav Woman who directed us ENDLESSLY around two roundabouts right at the very end causing me to recklessly turn up an unnamed road….. only to realise that we were right at Conference Aston.

Half an hour later we were in the Apple shop buying the vital cable that had been left behind at home.  Lo, the situation that had caused me so much grief was put right in a matter of minutes.

Which court card best represented me as I drove about like a loony trying to put things right – Knight of Swords, rx?

Which court best represented me as I successfully purchased the vital cable in the Apple shop – probably a Pentacle, maybe the Queen (I was supporting other people, I didn’t need the cable myself)

What do you think?

Next:  The Conference itself!!!

Categories: Uncategorised

Alison Cross

The Tarot's Court Cards are my specialist area.Β  They talk to me. Not LITERALLY though ....

4 Comments

Bonnie Cehovet · 5th August 2016 at 2:41 pm

This would definitely be a worst case scenario for me! A true "OMG!" moment! I pack early, and am obsessive about checking and rechecking to make sure that I have what I need!

    Alison Cross · 6th August 2016 at 9:41 am

    Even though I had a hundred lists about my stuff, son's stuff, dog's stuff and Conference stuff, I failed to make one about THINGS TO PACK IN THE CAR. Which would have saved everyone – especially Caroline Blackler – a whole load of trouble. Poor Caroline had to sit up until about 1am printing out the feedback forms that *I* offered to do to save her time. I am such a clutz! But it most definitely WON'T happen again!

Carla Tate · 5th August 2016 at 5:23 am

Ha! So I'm not the only crazy lady who does stuff like this. πŸ™‚

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