Another jinxed trip to CH

Tuesday.  Well, the taxi turned up  - early, even, and we got to City Airport in ample time, and fortunately thought to grab a sandwich.  We were called to the gate at about the right time, and proceeded to sit and sweat for a while.  We were next told that the aircraft was unserviceable, and that we should go to another gate - at the other end of the airport.  Next news was that the engineer had some paperwork to complete, and by the time he was done, all departures from London airports were suspended indefinitely.  When that was finally lifted, that lasted only 20 minutes, and we were back to square one.  After sitting on the plane for close to three hours, we were told by the increasingly exasperated captain that the flight had been cancelled.  Back we trekked to the BA service desk, told to retrieve our bags and wait for an email.  The email seemed to confirm that we were booked on a flight with Helvetic some eight hours from our scheduled departure time.  Meanwhile, we’d been escorted down to departure level.  (Having bought a bottle of duty-free booze prior to our first planned departure, I had to wheedle my way past security, gin and all.  I must be good at wheedling: we now have said bottle here at home in Disgustedville.)

After a long wait, we collected our boarding cards and went for an expensive and mediocre meal.  Just as we started on our aperitifs, we checked on FlightRadar24 to find that the Helvetic flight had been cancelled as well.  Another long trek to the gate it would have left from, to learn that the soonest they could book us in was 24 hours later, but at least we got our boarding cards.  The long trek home ensued, after 13 hours getting precisely nowhere, very tired and sweaty.  One interesting observation: I’d been struggling with a carry-on bag, a back pack and a walking stick, and it was touching to find how many people offered to give up seats.

Wednesday.  Having battled with three trains and a taxi each way yesterday,, we’ve pretty well decided to drive to the airport today and shell out for valet parking.  Yesterday’s experience taught us that we’re a bit old for roughing it.  Let’s hope for bettter luck today.