Wasted afternoon.

Since I had the car, decided to pick up more of the seasonal offering.
Well, one store was sold out, and the wine shop next door had it on for €4.79, which on principal was too rich for my blood. So I went up to C1000 and picked up a similar brew for my target price of €3.99.
One has to make these choices from time to time.

Alright, on with the saga.

The reason for being blessed with the car was because I was heading to the airport once again.
Now I know I said I wouldn't do that in a previous diatribe, but that was concerning a Friday afternoon. This was Thursday, and I had it all worked out.
Besides, fetching your guests at the airport is simply one of those honourable things that you do. So, off I went.
The flight was to arrive at 12:55 (I don't know why they just don't call it 1:00!) and I figured we could be outta there by no later than 14:00.

A cunning plan.

I didn't leave until 11:30 due to a couple important errands (not just the beer, ok?) so ended up getting to the parking lot at Schipol at around 13:15. I had visions of our guests sitting woefully in the meeting area waiting for me. Poor sods, I thought.
So I didn't really pay too much attention to the arrivals board on the way to the main terminal where, next to the flight from Iceland, there was a dutch word that I didn't know. Don't know what that is, (I thought) but I'm late here, so I'd better keep on truckin'.
When I didn't see them, after wandering up and back figuring they had somehow managed to get past me, I decided I had better have another look at the arrivals, and there it was again, the only flight on the whole board with that one word.

Ever get that tightness in your chest that you can't quite explain?

After what seemed like at least two minutes of me standing there like a tree trunk, the word switched from Dutch to English, and it said, "diverted".


Diverted?


I'm not going to belabour this, but suffice to say that by 4:00 p.m. I was able to find out that Anna and Harry were going to be spending the night in Scotland!
Well, hoot!
Plane had technical difficulties (unless the flight crew had a sudden hankering for haggis) and had to land in Glasgow. And that was it. There was no other flight scheduled. Seems Icelandic air (or whoever the hell they are) has only one airplane, and it's sitting in Glasgow.
Maybe the plan is to sell it for parts.
So....by that time of the day, (left Schipol at 4:30...€16.00 to park!) we're back into the whole nightmarish traffic situation all over again.
Put it this way, I've been driving (legally anyway) since the age of sixteen, so that's what? thirty-five years? and if you added up all the traffic jams over all those years, it still wouldn't compare to what I've witnessed in the last couple months living in the Netherlands. It's not so bad out here in the "boondocks" as one of our Dutch (but now living in Canada for some 30 years) friends called Overijssel, but mostly in the greater Amsterdam area. Which is pretty much one half of the country.
I'll take the boondocks, thanks.
Got home at 7:00 p.m. Scarfed down some food, since I was going on a couple pieces of toast up to that point, (have no desire to eat airport food and would actually rather go hungry) and went to Gabe's office to pick her up.
Best news of the day was when she told me she'd walk out to the gate to meet me. They have a whole security thing going on, which is a huge pain in the ass if you're coming in by car, and don't have a little pass thingy to waive at the barrier to make it go up.


So I'm sure Glasgow is charming this time of year, even if you're at the Holiday Inn, but it's always better when you actually plan your visit ahead of time.

Now, the reason I'm privy to this info is that the phone just rang, and it was Anna, saying they had made it to Heathrow, and should be in Hengelo tonight some time.

Oy.

Seems they're the "lucky ones", since she mentioned that many people were simply left behind.
I told her I had witnessed the angry mob lined up at the SAS wicket. I fully expected to see a couple pitch forks and maybe a torch or two.

Looks like the sun is coming out, which is good, since I'd better head up to Carelshaven and cancel our dinner reservations.

Stay tuned.