Daniella & I hit NYC for the J&J Xmas party this week. We flew American Airlines. Well I say ‘flew’ but we actually probably spent more time in planes on the ground than in the air! We were due to depart on Monday 11th Dec at 12 noon – some passengers didn’t arrive at the gate in time so we had to wait for their luggage to be pulled off. Then we had to wait for Air Traffic Control to fit us in for take-off – approx an hour spent sitting around on the runway. We eventually arrived around 2pm (of course the pilot cleverly made up some time – yay for him! My hero!) But no. We didn’t get off the plane when we landed, we sat on the tarmac for an hour because we had to wait to be pulled into the gate. Joy. On arrival at JFK passport control, we had our photos and finger prints taken (not ‘taken’ as in they chopped off our fingers and ran off with our holiday snaps), but guess what?? My finger prints didn’t match with the last time I entered the country. I did try and tell the guy that I didn’t use my index fingers last time (one was heavily bandaged) but he insisted that I use them this time…Surprisingly enough this resulted in a mismatch and me being frog-marched off into a room and being interrogated – well that’s what I thought would happen. I did get frog-marched into a room but they took sympathy and simply had to wait for my records to ‘pend’ in the system and then make some notes on my file – I imagine they just put ‘dodgey fingers – will always be a problem.’ Dani, who wasn’t allowed anywhere near me for this was shoo’d off to collect the luggage. So much for us arriving and attending a meeting at 4pm, at this stage it was 3.45pm. We did make it to the ‘networking’ drinks by the skin of our teeth though – brownie points for us! Courtney took us to the ‘Pound & Pence’ pub for some food – bless, she obviously thought we were homesick already. Bed by 11.30pm, only to be up again at 6.30am for a meeting. So Tuesday we spent from 7.30 – 6pm in the office, then headed to the shops! Had a Mexican for dinner (– that’s food, I didn’t shag one!) Bed at 11, in the office for 9.15am thru to 5.30pm and then the J&J Xmas party!
Marie (my big big boss’s wife) was so excited to have us all there – she’d never seen the office so packed out and kept claiming that it was ‘like having all her babies come home’ – I didn’t realise she’d had so many kids! Basically, because it’s a management/technology based consulting firm, most employees work ‘on-site’ in large institutions (no, not mental ones, ones such as UBS, Merrrill Lynch, etc.). So there were about 6 tables of 8 for a swanky sit down meal (that’s 48 people for the non-mathmaticians) and Tom (the big big boss) said he’d wait and sit down last as he could happily fit in anywhere but there was a chair short – of course me and my big mouth told him he was probably best off to sit in the corner on his own then! Thankfully he laughed, while I cringed inside…
It did mean that I was mentioned in the first sentence of his speech, so at least everyone knows who I am now, when I get fired!
Thursday came and went in a blur – literally. I woke to find that I couldn’t open my right eye. Not good. Had a bit of a panic about it but put it down to being exhausted and having spent too much time staring at my computer screen. After a day at work (mostly spent with a tea bag on my eye!), Dani and I headed straight for the shops again for a few last minute bits, then it was off to the airport to pick up our 11.45 flight, or so we thought…..
The first ‘tell tale sign’ that there were going to be problems was when we weren’t allocated a seat at check-in. The next, was when we were told at the boarding gate that we’d have to wait for at least 6 people not to show for the flight because they were heavily over booked (due to previous flight disruptions earlier in the day). 10 mins before the flight I was given a seat #, and then 5 mins later Dani was too. We sighed with relief, we really didn’t want to have to catch an 8.30am flight the next morning, even if they were going to pay for the cab, hotel and give us compensation. Little did we know that might have actually been the better option with what was yet to come!
So we boarded the plane, and the usual happened; passengers didn’t show so we had to wait for luggage to be pulled. Then the pilot kindly told us that during the safety check they’d found some issues with the brakes. The BRAKES??!! Great. Then there was the age old Air Traffic Controllers not letting us go as well…. Resulting in us not taking off until 3.45am! That’s 4 hours just sitting on the plane. I asked for an eye-mask so I could try and get some sleep but was informed that they were only provided for first & business class passengers. I was not impressed and told the steward that I expected more from this type of service & airline. He concluded by telling me that I could buy a pack which included the eye-mask from duty-free but they couldn't sell duty-free until we were in the air!!!! Again, NOT IMPRESSED.
When we eventually took off, I hit my stewardess call bell and got ignored for 20 mins. Then when someone did arrive he had the cheek to tell me that he wasn’t going to get my duty-free because he was there to serve me drinks and dinner (4am dinner?!?). I told him I’d been waiting for over 4 hours for an eye-mask and that was all I wanted. He asked again if I wanted food or a drink and I sulked a ‘no’ at him. I was SO tired by this stage that I could feel my eyes welling up and I (shamefully) began to blub…10 mins later I was handed a travel pack with eye-mask, and didn't have to pay for it! (I’m so spoilt!)
So we got home late, with most of Friday a right-off, and Saturday a blur of head-ache, tiredness and going back to bed. But I did manage a quick trip into Brentwood, a visit to Adele’s for ‘Mould’ Wine, and then the Imperial Peking and Sams for the B/wood gang Chrimble doo…. Marvellous!
