Brits getting home

Husband of one of my section editors has just phoned her to say he's
back, with a dozen colleagues, from Istanbul, where they'd been for
some biz thingy.

They chartered a dolmus (Turkish minibus) and two drivers to haul them
to Calais. 48 hours, non stop, through half of central Europe.
Excellent.

 

I'll mention this to my Mother In Law who is just starting her 2nd
week stranded at my house.

 

It's a fucking nightmare by the look of it, will it affect the french
run do you think? Not that I'm going, but the ports look horrific.

 

I suspect my trip to Geneva next week may not be happening.

Or, to put it another way, if anyone tries to get me to go to Geneva
next week as planned, I'll be telling them to **** right off.

 

I don't see why it should. We all have confirmed and paid-for tickets,
and it's not like they can't squeeze bikes on anyway. And as for the
queues at the ports - well, that's what bikes were built for avoiding.

Years ago, some time in the early-to-mid 1980s, I remember when Calais
was shut by the Frogs for the usual silly reason. Anyway, they opened
the port just as The Doctor and I got there on our way back from our
hols on whatever bike we were on at the time.

The queue for the port stretched all the way down the little access
road they had then (the autoroute feed hadn't been built), and into
Calais itself. We just trundled past the miles of stationary cars and
straight onto the next boat. As she said at the time, you could feel
the waves of hate from the stranded car drivers.

 

It doesn't always work to your advantage though. I did similar coming
into Cherbourg when loads of ferries had been cancelled due to bad
weather. Got to the front of the queue & onto the first boat leaving.
As soon as it got past the harbour walls the captain bottled it &
turned round again, so I had to put all me clobber back on, unstrap the
bike & get back off the ferry. I suspect the cars that hadn't made it
on were the ones laughing at that point.

 

I'm hoping some good might come of this kind of thing - perhaps people
will actually stop a while in the countries they pass through while
hitching or suchlike and get to know the locals a bit.
Mind you, they are furriners, so perhaps not.

 

<waves from Bangkok>

VBG

I think it's possible to buy a Tuk Tuk for about £1500

If all else fails . . . . . .

 

Ciming home from Le Mans last night - oblivious to any problems caused
by volcanic ash because I hadn't seen any news since Wednesday night -
I rode straight into the Eurotunnel terminal at Calais, queued for
maybe 3 minutes to get my ticket checked, rode straight through to the
departure lanes and got waved onto the next train to depart.

I had a booking but got on an earlier shuttle without a problem.

The first clue I had that travel was disrupted was the amount of
traffic on the M20 heading towards the M25, and then the slightly
ominous "Gatwick Airport Closed" and "Stansted Airport Closed" on the
overhead dot matrix signs.

 

I don't expect to have any problems.

 

Stuck in a war zone, eh. Oh dear.

 

I'll let you know what Ramsgate Port is like next Monday once I've got
home to NL.

 

My boss is stuck in China and my SO in Italy.
The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.

 

According to the grauniad, although all P&O sailing to Dover are
booked out, they're getting enough no-shows that it only takes about
two hours from turning up at the dock to getting on a boat even if
you aren't pre-booked.

 

The ferries didn't shut, so they don't have a backlog
of passengers to repatriate. They're obviously filling
their boats to the brim right now with anyone that can
get as far as Calais, but it's over a week away now and
signs are that 'planes will be flying again soon anyway.

 

Mine has to happen. If things don't open up tomorrow I'll be starting
to look at Eurostar/TGV. Cab might have an unexpected guest Saturday night...

I'd like to do that, but Brunel's reputation is at stake.

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

In that order?

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

If you can't get on the Eurostar but can get a foot passenger jobbie on
the ferry, let me know - I can give you a lift from Ashford to Dover if
necessary and provide crash space if you have to leave stupidly early.

 

when you say "things", you mean "wormholes to another time and space
and/or cracking the the quantum vacuum to enable the Shoggoths access
to our dimension to suck out our brains?