Friday 18 April 2014

The Joys of Travel (or Not Being Able To).

It's Friday evening.  The Family has left The Cottage having been fed and watered.  The decks have been cleared.  The dishwasher is on.  The place is tidy.  

Martin and David are on their way to Wellington accompanied by Wendy who will share the driving and drive the car back tomorrow.  Martin and David are supposed to be setting foot in Scotland sometime on Friday UK time.  As it is they will be leaving Wellington around 0700 tomorrow for a 7 hour stopover in Sydney airport.  They will all get about 4 hours sleep tonight.

Over the last few days I've started half a dozen posts.  Then something has happened that has altered everything.  Of course if you haven't got internet then you can't publish the post immediately and other things can come along and make that which you said irrelevant or completely out of date.  This week has been very much like that.  I had no internet (other than a weak signal on my iPhone insufficient to be of use for tethering the laptop) from Wednesday afternoon until this afternoon.

Yesterday the storm raged:  the continuation of Tropical Cyclone Ida which wreaked havoc up the north coast of New South Wales before wandering out to sea again and making a nuisance of itself over here.  We got away lightly with no damage although the wind and rain was the worst I've experienced here.  Some have had severe damage and the West Coast of the South Island has had lots of damage and Christchurch has had more flooding to add to its woes.   However Martin and David’s flight to Auckland was cancelled last night because of the weather.  The knock on effect was that they were still at home when they should have been on the flight from Auckland to Scotland.  There isn’t another with the same airline until Wednesday.

However after a full evening and a full day today negotiating with the airlines and the insurance company and with the help of their travel agent, they have booked seats on another airline in the morning.  The downside is a 5 hour drive this evening in the dark down to Wellington and a return journey for Wendy tomorrow.

It made all my irritations look unimportant just as the disaster in Korea put their travel disruptions into perspective.

On the plus side yesterday I managed to get a replacement small plastic lever for the recliner chair and fit it.  

12 comments:

  1. Thanks for the update. I hope all works out as well as can be with the new travel plans for them. And that you get the sun back for a while before it's your turn to leave!

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    1. Thanks Monica. The latest is that the departure from Sydney has been delayed by 6 hours so they have a 13 hour wait in Sydney. Oh joy!

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  2. Its been a right old summer. I do vaguely remember sun at times but it wont go down as a corker in my memory banks!
    Glad you survived the storm up there.
    Perhaps it will improve - probably after you return to Lewis -I hope there will be sun for us all!

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    1. Fiona I've little doubt that it's the worst summer since I first came in 2005. I remember summers by the amount of time that I have to have the lid on the car. This has been a very lidded summer. I hope that we have some sun before I go but if we don't then I wish an Indian summer for those left behind.

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  3. So sorry about the bad weather and your friends' travel plans.

    Some weeks, GB, it seems as if small victories (like a new handle) are the best I can muster too. I guess we just have to muddle along and hope for the best.

    In the meantime, I wanted to wish you and yours a very happy Easter. xoxo

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    1. Yes Carol. There have been small credits but I'm afraid that they've been outweighed by the debits. Having said that I've managed two doubles matches and won them both. I hope that you have a happy Easter as well.

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  4. International travel can get complicated with just one little glitch.

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    1. How true Red. Especially if it means that you miss a flight on an Easter weekend.

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  5. I'm so glad M & D can still have their holiday.
    And glad also that you can recline again. Hate for you to be reclineatly-deprived. I joke not. For the first time in my life we have one and I now see what all the fuss is about. They are bliss! Sadly it will leave with Natalie.
    Good luck for the games today.

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    1. Thank you Kate. I think they are mightily glad too. They are stuck in Sydney for 13 hours at the moment. I'd have been severely discomfited if I'd not had the recliner when trying to sleep with broken ribs. Can you not persuade it to stay when Natalie leaves? Does it not know where it's true admirer resides?

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  6. So glad that you didn't receive any major damage from Cyclone Ida.
    I hope your friends don't run into any more travel fiascos and that they are able to reach their destination soon.

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    1. Virginia time has flown and they will be leaving (hopefully) Edinburgh at the same time as I arrive in Glasgow next Wednesday.

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