Author Topic: September 2021  (Read 35568 times)

Offline Lesley

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Re: September 2021
« Reply #60 on: October 06, 2021, 01:32:27 PM »
C U later Jim - not sure if you got my message?   

Offline Jimbo

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Re: September 2021
« Reply #61 on: October 06, 2021, 08:28:56 PM »
Yip. And it was great to see you!

Offline geordieborn2

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Re: September 2021
« Reply #62 on: October 06, 2021, 10:30:07 PM »
Surrounded by some quite big storms just now, be hopes they don't move across Corfu... 
Happy days...

Offline Jimbo

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Re: September 2021
« Reply #63 on: October 07, 2021, 10:24:19 AM »
It's arrived. Rain, lightning - but not really close by.

Offline Karen

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Re: September 2021
« Reply #64 on: October 07, 2021, 06:24:00 PM »
Looks very stormy now..mind you, we've had that in July, in the past!

Offline Jimbo

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Re: September 2021
« Reply #65 on: October 07, 2021, 07:54:43 PM »
Yes  - it's a windy day with light rain and sunny spells. Bit of a sea running.

It's very quiet everywhere. Almost all the sunbeds have gone from the "main" beach - leaving Waves, Mistral and Manthos as the last bastion for what few sunbathers may be left.

Indoor eating today. Airport tomorrow - with a wall-to-wall forecast of thunder and rain, so hoping the plane gets in and out.

Signing off until we get back.  J.

Offline geordieborn2

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Re: September 2021
« Reply #66 on: October 07, 2021, 09:14:28 PM »
Hope the trip back goes/went okay Jimbo.
Happy days...

Offline Karen

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Re: September 2021
« Reply #67 on: October 07, 2021, 09:33:04 PM »
Safe journey, Jim and Gillie! X

Offline Jimbo

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Re: September 2021
« Reply #68 on: October 09, 2021, 12:21:00 AM »
Full report over the weekend.

Thunder, lightning and rain all night. Seemed unlikely we'd actually get off, because there were diversions on Thursday. The bus picked us up from Nafsika at 8:20. Our flight was 13:20.

On the bus, at the airport and on the plane it was obvious that about 35% of our countrymen have no idea what a mask is, what it's for, what they breathe through, that it's not a talisman you wear around your chin.

Arrived at the airport in pouring rain with circling lightning. The airport was, frankly, a nightmare. It took one and a half hours of queuing round endless crocodile alleys to get to the check-in desk. There were at least a thousand people crammed into the two check-in areas. Social distancing - forget it!

Security was quick, uncrowded and well-organised. Through in five minutes. The new departure lounge is very nice. I just had time to cram half a Burger King thing down before our gate opened.  Then the next stupidity. What the don't tell you is that passport control is between the lounge and the gates. Another long queue - more crocodile lanes. Take note - there are eateries in the gate area. If you had the correct, well-organised documents, at all stages the formalities were easy.

Our plane, like many others, was on an hour's delay, because they had to circle to avoid storms before landing.

Next to me was a woman who would have dwarfed Mount Olympus. We'd picked her and her equally gross husband up from an all-inclusive on our bus. At no point did her mask actually cover either her mouth or her nose. No crew member mentioned it, although they made several PA announcements about masks.

Arrived in a sunny Doncaster with a temperature of 22 - which was a lot warmer than Corfu. Short walk (30 yards?) to the Meet and Greet, where our car was waiting. Alas, roadworks caused a diversion, but we miraculously were able to park outside our house, despite the fact that Hull Fair opened tonight. Door to door 12 hours.

The airport seriously need to be re-organised, at least for Fridays. A nightmare, basically.


Offline geordieborn2

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Re: September 2021
« Reply #69 on: October 09, 2021, 02:14:29 PM »
This keeptalkinggreece link would seem to suggest it was quite bad!
Happy days...

Offline Graeme Whitby

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Re: September 2021
« Reply #70 on: October 09, 2021, 03:18:14 PM »
Hi Jimbo, a good summary of the trip back. Only addition from me is the long and late transfer to airport with TUI. Must remember to book taxi next year. Fortunately I didn’t have the large lady sat next to me.

Offline Jimbo

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Re: September 2021
« Reply #71 on: October 09, 2021, 04:26:49 PM »
The problem is too many planes in too short a period. That's TUI's fault for flying the majority of its UK flights on a Friday morning.

Usually we check the bags and then sit outside at the coffee bar until it's time to go through. No chance yesterday.

Many will violently disagree, but I reckon that it takes longer to get checked-in when people have to hunt and peck around on their bloody mobile phones to find the documents. I've been programming computers for 40 years, and I, and all other programmers, know that if it's going to go wrong it will do it at the worst possible moment. Get it printed. In a nice transparent cover. Easy for everybody. And don't give me any crap about saving the planet. Printer paper, like newspaper, is a renewable resource and carbon neutral. The electricity used to charge all those mobiles is almost certainly produced by burning fossil fuels. And now the useless docs will go into the recycling bin, and be turned into bog-rolls.

Offline Charlie

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Re: September 2021
« Reply #72 on: October 09, 2021, 04:46:30 PM »
Welcome home Jimbo.
I couldn’t agree more with your comments.  Straight and to the point!

Offline diane13

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Re: September 2021
« Reply #73 on: October 09, 2021, 05:26:07 PM »
Glad you both arrived home safely at last Jimbo.  Totally agree too much easier to have documents printed off

Offline Karen

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Re: September 2021
« Reply #74 on: October 09, 2021, 09:11:57 PM »
Thanks Jim  :)

 

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