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Published: December 23rd 2008
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Well i set up to write my final entry to my travel blog on my return to the Uk. i had in fact already drafted it in my personal diary and wanted to add a little reflection time to, shall we say, round it off.
However as seems to be the theme of the trip....Bad Weather stopped me in my tracks....literally!
Friday night saw me spending the night with Rob and Jen and having a wonderful time as expected. The following day i spent curled up in the couch in between frequent trips to the bathroom. NO i wasnt hung over, i was in fact suffering from what i think may have been a flu bug. It was a very non productive day on my part however i did really enjoy just stopping for 24 hours and being around Rivers and the kids. I Met Rivers' chidren Ashley 14, and Jamie and Hailey 11 last year when we all went to Disney World, Florida. It just so happened that they remembered my birthday fell on Christmas Day and had surprised me with a personalised birthday cake and birthday gifts!!! They are such amazing kids (although Ashley is fast not becoming a
kid!) and i cannot wait for the whole family to come over to the UK so i can share them with you all.
Warnings for the Blizzard started that night. The following day, Sunday should have been spent with Rivers' Rob's and Jody's family at their Christmas party however with the impending blizzard i decided it would be safer to get the bus to Halifax Airport early and arrive ahead of the storm. i left Fredericton at 11.30am and arrived in Halifax at 4.15 that same afternoon. Between Fredercton and Moncton i chatted with Rachel from Bournemouth, she was very sweet, and from Moncton to Halifax i gazed out the window over the white blanket covering the Canadian landscape, and reflected on my trip. I was ready to go home and the thought of seeing my family and puppies again gave me that familiar warm fuzzy feeling you get when everyone arrives on Christmas Day!
The nausia from the day before had gone and had been replaced with one hell of a head cold. My flight wasnt till 11.45 that night so with 7 hours to kill i sat down and drafted my final blog entry.
At 9.45pm Sunday
night when writer's block finally set in, i headed up early through security and settled myself at gate 22.
Its now 6pm on Monday and i am still here.
At gate 22. Here's whats happened in the last 24 huors or so.
Shortly after i settled myself at gate 22, and with the blizzard at what i thought was the peak of its performance, the fire alarm went off. We were all evacuated outside into the blizzard before being told to ignore the alarm. it seems there was no emergancy after all. This meant 300 of us now had to go back through security.....need i say more???
That little adventure over i settled myself back up by gate 22 and began reading a great new book Rivers had given me. As boarding time loomed ever closer it became evident that this Blizzard was getting worse. The windows were concaving with the force of the gale and the snow was being blown around like talcum powder in a wind tunnel.
They were expecting 32 cm ....they got almost 40.
It was announced that the condiditons were not good but we were still able to take off....just as soon as
wind sock..
momentarily visable the baggage handlers could dig out enough snow to get the carts to the plane! We boarded at 1.30am. We sat on the plane for an hour. We would leave, we were told, just as soon as someone dug the snow out of the engines.
Another hour passes, and we would leave, we were told, just as soon as they could get through the snow to attach the chains to pull the plane out of the gate. This may take a while, we were told, as they were using their hands. It was creeping towards 3am and looking down onto the runway i could see the snow ploughs chasing ther tails. As fast as they could plough, the snow was blown back again, the snow was being blown so forcefully that the ground resembled a white water rafting river! We were the only flight ready to leave that night. The airport was otherwise shut and it was all hands on deck to get our flight out and on its way to Heathrow. We taxied to the runway and the wind rocked the plane with such force i wondered if it was such a good idea to attempt this after all.
Then came the announcement. "In my 35 years of flying" the pilot said "there are very few occasions one must draw the line. This is one of them"
So by 4am we were back at gate 22, where we started. We were sat downstairs awaiting the instructions for tomorrows replacement flight, when suddenly the lights go out. We have a full blown power cut. The reaction was evidence of our exhaustion as we all started to laugh in a "if we dont laugh we will scream" kind of way.
The generators kicked in shortly after and we were thrown back into the light again. Our flight would attempt to depart at noon. It wasnt worth finding a hotel so i decided to bed down at the airport for the night. I met Andy from Guilford and we started talking.....we found a quiet spot beind the childrens play area and after a couple of hours of humour we finally got an hours sleep. The sound of the wind was extrordinary and lying beneath the full length windows left what seemed like only a thin piece of glass between me and the mayhem.
Back through security AGAIN and up to gate 22.
Andy and i have gone through every word game known to man. 12pm comes and goes, the airport is still closed. "2pm take off" they say, that comes and goes and the airport remains closed.
It transpires that my mother had arranged to be at the airport to surprise me on my return, (how wonderful is that?!) however she was now on standby every 6 hours bless her!
The runway. we were told, was a sheet of ice. Out come the snow ploughs. Well it was like a scene from Bob the Builder On Ice!!! Too funny for words!
it seems Heathrow have a strict air traffic policy restricting air traffic between the hours of midnight and 6am. Funny, i am on the flight path and i dont remember them stopping after midnight!!!???? this is relevent as it means that we had now missed our slot at Heathrow and we would try again at 11.30pm tonight. This is still the case and we are all camping out at gate 22 praying the flight takes off as planned. I need a shower (although a stuffed up nose means i am not suffering as others may be...thank god!) a new nose (my
face is red raw) and a big sleep.
Do you ever watch those scenes on the news each year, of family members trying to get home for Christmas, camping out on airport floors sleeping on rucksacks and gazing distantly at the departures board in the hope that "delayed" wont turn to "cancelled"? There's always Christmas music playing in the back ground giving the scene a warped Twin Peaks feel.
Can you picture it? Good. i'm glad you feel my pain!
So its about time Andy and i hit the bar. That way if we dont get out of here tonight we know we will be able to sleep anywhere!
Wish us luck!
PS. Its all a big adventure....really........all part of the plan x
Now i really really want to go home!!!!
Wish me luck!
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Charlotte
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An ending you'll never forget!
Hey lu lu.....well....it does not surprise me one bit that the end to your adventures has been a rocky one!! :-) At least you know at the end of it all you will get to see all your wonderful family......will miss you all this xmas....enjoy every minute of it.....as I am sure you will....more than any other christmas! Love you lots x x x x