We taxied off to a side area (not all the way back to the Terminal thankfully) and some engineers came out in a truck to us.
So we weren't allowed to get off the plane, but we were allowed to get up and move around -- but with a full flight, not everybody can just get up and into the aisles! Plus the engineers needed to run up and down the aisles as they tested and tried to fix the problems.
After 3 full hours, the engineers finally fixed the problem and we were given permission to take off.
Unfortunately, this meant that 90% of us would be missing our next flight!!!
ugh.
Our actual flight was fine (apart from the fact that when one particular flight attendant went past me, every time! she'd knock my arm hard and never once apologised).
The movies were decent -- I, Robot (which I thought was excellent) and a film about Cole Porter's life -- Delovely -- it had Kevin Kline and he was excellent -- great music in that one. The lovely dear beside me was also a big movie fan, so we talked a lot about movies while we waited for the repairs.
We were told over the speakers SEVERAL times not to ask the flight attendants about what would happen in Philadelphia, but that our flights would be sorted out by a USAirways representative after we'd gotten through customs & immigration (or as I was annoying dad by calling it customs & irritation).
Immigration was fine, short line, no problem... then we all had to stand around and wait for our luggage. Mine, of course, in the last batch of bags to be loaded. Then we had to go stand in a massive queue for customs. The queue wasn't actually for customs-- it was for this "representative".
This "representative" was actually just some guy running up and down the corridor shouting "Is anyone going to Orlando?? Orlando??" and when some people would wave and indicate they're going there, he'd shout "Go Go Go Go!!!" and they would scurry as best they could with their luggage carts down the side of the queue and be off.
One thing he didn't do was to say that anyone who hasn't missed their flights yet should just go! He doesn't realise what it's like from our point of view-- plus the fact that Brits love to queue!
So anyhow, he's running up and down shouting locations like Boston, Orlando, Miami, L.A., etc. and I'm stood there thinking "there's no chance there's a flight to Columbus!!" and the poor girl beside me is going to Indianapolis -- same boat as me. So the line slowly dwindles until we're about halfway up the corridor and as he starts to run down again, this time he's asking where people are going and she tells him Indianapolis and he shouts at her "what are you waiting for?? Go Go Go GO!!!!" so she scampers off! So then I went over to him and tell him I'm going to Columbus and he's shouting at me "GOGOGOGO!" and it felt like I'd won the lottery, off I ran!
(to be continued again!)
All I can say is that at least I didn't have to count down and look forward to this trip!!! (like usual -- I usually have planned/booked flights at least a couple of months in advance, this particular trip was only finalised and booked less than a week in advance!)
Andy had planned to drop me off at the airport an extra hour early so he could be back in time for church -- to help with the PowerPoint projecting. Unfortunately that's where my woes began... he dropped me off at Terminal 3, and I needed to be at Terminal 2. Ordinarily you'd think that because the number three comes after the number two, that the two terminals would be beside one another... au contraire!! At Manchester Airport, they are the furthest from one another... you have to walk along about 2 miles worth of skyways (moving conveyor belts) to get there. No worries -- I have plenty of time, so I just walked it... good exercise before my flights... get that blood flowing and pumping!!
I had been told when I checked my luggage in (just before which I was really struck by a mentally disabled grown man with his parents and aunt and uncle -- they were going to DisneyWorld in Orlando and he was so full of wonder and awe at all the Christmas lights and decorations at the airport! It really touched my heart how child-like he was, how everything was new for him, and how he wanted to share his joy with his family by pointing things out every few minutes!)
anyhoo, I'd been told at the checkin that my seat would be assigned at the gate (which threw me into a bit of a panic because when I'd booked my tickets online, I had chosen my seats and thought I could relax knowing I would be on an aisle etc.). Nevermind, still have loads of time to kill, so I went to Starbucks, got a Frappucino and sat down to finish the British half of our Christmas cards!!
I finished them and posted them in a really cool postbox! The sides were perspex plastic so you could see all the post inside -- it took me ages to post those cards because you have to do one at a time (the slot is sooo narrow -- just in case someone posts a bomb) and they kept getting jammed.
Finally it was about time to board. I was definitely not impressed by the behaviour of the staff of USAirways -- they were more interested in having a laugh with one another than listening to questions from passengers -- and every time they had to do an announcement for passengers the people around the person doing the announcements would try and make that person mess it up or laugh. You could hear their little murmurs and titters over the tannoy behind the announcement. It was like a bunch of teenagers stuck in 30 and 40 year old bodies.
The flight was completely full -- overbooked in fact, and so boarding took forever, and we could tell that we weren't going to take off at the allotted time. I was next to this very nice lady who lives in Chester -- she was off to San Diego to visit her son and his family.
Finally we were taxi-ing towards the runway. At one point we were right beside one of the observation decks, and we stopped there for a minute -- the plane fanatics were loving that, pictures were being snapped like crazy.
After sitting there for about 15 minutes, with the flight attendants being paged to go and check things over and over, it was starting to get worrying.
Then came the announcement -- the computers controlling the bathrooms and flushing weren't working properly -- only half of the bathrooms on the plane were functioning properly, and since the flight was absolutely full, they couldn't take off with only half of them working. (there were only 8 bathrooms on the flight, 2 in first class, 4 in the middle of the plane, and 2 in the back -- all the bathrooms down the left hand side of the plane weren't working).
So we were going to go back to the gate.
ugh.
to be continued...
that I haven't really sat down to the computer (except to print pictures for scrapbooking) until now!
I'm printing some more pictures at the moment, going to do a bunch of scrapping today and tomorrow and maybe even Wednesday (Mom will be off work and we might do some more pages for her book).
I'm going to do a separate blog entry for my horrendous journey story...
But we emerged with a piece of paper that promises a visa... that was meant to arrive on Monday, but then they lost -- then found -- one of Andy's important documents, so now it is due to arrive on Tuesday...
AND while we were driving down to London, the estate agent rang to arrange a viewing!!! Boy is the house a mess! And I'm working tomorrow, so we've called in the Cavalry -- hopefully it will be a bit better by Monday afternoon when the viewer comes around.
I'm shattered and still ill -- horrendous cold (from the moment we checked into the hotel until we left this morning for the appointment I was in bed) -- and being in all that cold and rain didn't help. I'm off to bed!
when we're out together snoozing cheek to cheek....
Aww bless!
because they continue to refuse to acknowledge Robbie Williams as a musician.
Apologies to any English folks who are Williams fans, but I cannot abide the man.
AVRIL LAVIGNE -- "I'm With You"
I'm standing on a bridge
I'm waiting in the dark
I thought that you'd be here by now
There's nothing but the rain
No footsteps on the ground
I'm listening but there's no sound
Isn't anyone tryin to find me?
Won't somebody come take me home
It's a damp cold night
Trying to figure out this life
Wont you take me by the hand
Take me somewhere new
I don't know who you are
But I... I'm with you
I'm with you
I'm looking for a place
I'm searching for a face
Is anybody here I know
'Cause nothing's going right
And everythings a mess
And no one likes to be alone
Isn't anyone trying to find me?
Won't somebody come take me home
It's a damp cold night
Trying to figure out this life
Wont you take me by the hand
take me somewhere new
I don't know who you are
But I... I'm with you
I'm with you
Oh why is everything so confusing
Maybe I'm just out of my mind
Yea yea yea
It's a damp cold night
Trying to figure out this life
Won't you take me by the hand
take me somewhere new
I don't know who you are
But I... I'm with you
I'm with you
Take me by the hand
Take me somewhere new
I don't know who you are
But I... I'm with you
I'm with you
Take me by the hand
Take me somewhere new
I don't know who you are
But I... I'm with you
I'm with you
I'm with you...
but darned if she doesn't look sooooo stinkin' cute!!!!
You can just hear her shouting "someday I'll get you for this!!!!!"
there's been a shooting at a heavy metal rock concert in north columbus... frightening...
Sunday in the Park by Georges Seurat ...
I also love the musical that Stephen Sondheim made, having been inspired by this painting -- the original cast recording has Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters.
Recently I have been getting this ultra-annoying error message on PayPal -- message 3005 and it just says "sorry we're experiencing temporary difficulties... please try again later". Well it got to the point where I was getting nothing but this message and I was really fed up. I like to pay for my auctions promptly -- and because of this error message it was really holding things up!!
I worked out a way around it (I think!) so if it happens again -- what I'll do is click on the button that lets you pay for only one item at a time (rather than all your paypal items at once).
We'll see if that is the fix or just a fluke of last night.
My mother and I were on the phone last night and we were talking about various things and one of the things I mentioned was that Andy would miss crumpets when we finally get (please Lord soon!) to the States.
She commented that she wasn't all that impressed with them when she had tasted them (she brought some back with her after their last visit a couple of years ago). I asked how she had prepared them, if she had toasted them? She couldn't remember, only that she hadn't liked them.
They're wonderful things! I found a couple of interesting websites -- one that has a recipe for crumpets!
I even found a lovely picture of a toasted crumpet... mmmmmmmm yummy.
when someone else makes them for you...
This morning I had an epiphany (I love that word -- ever since the movie Hook -- Bob Hoskins' quote "epiphi-wot?")...
Andy brought me breakfast in bed (let it be known he is a good husband!)-- yummy crumpets toasted with butter and some black cherry jam and a glass of milk.
Basil and I were having a cuddle on the bed, and crumpets are terribly moreish. Once you eat them you think "ooh ar I could eat that again!" so I went downstairs to make some more!!
I toasted them and buttered them and jammed them and brought them back upstairs to enjoy them in bed, and it hit me that they didn't taste nearly as nice as the ones Andy had made for me. Then I thought "well, why not? I did exactly the same things he did..." And then came the epiphi-wot?...
The whole time I was making them, my nose was full of the smell of toasting crumpets, then hot buttery crumpets and then sweet scents of black cherry jam...
but when Andy had made them, I didn't smell them until I was taking my first bite!
So here's my extremely profound (well it is profound for me at 8am!) theory-- that the reason things just taste better when someone else makes them for you is because you don't smell them until you're about to taste them, and everyone knows that smell is a huge part of taste!!!
my head hurts from all this genius. I think I'd better go lie down in bed again... maybe Andy will bring me another round of crumpets?? (in my dreams!! he ain't that good of a hubby!!!!)
we may never know...
But this website gives a pretty good definition of a coppice... unlike the one my hubby gave me... "more than 5 trees together... and dense enough that you can't see through"...
I also found this website which gives more of a practical definition with relationship to a particular project in the Malverns in Worcestershire.
Just in case you're wondering, this whole string of thought started on the way to church Sunday morning -- I was thinking about the word coppice, and trying to think if I'd ever heard it used in America, and if not, what the equivalent word would be. Then I asked Andy if there were a definition -- how many trees make a coppice?
somewhere else in the world?
I found an excellent site this afternoon that gives the time zones for the whole world... check it out...
for when you're bored -- it's very entertaining!!
CLICK HERE --- to run and jump into a Mini!!