Merry Christmas

... to all, from sunny Port Dickson ;)

The blow-by-blow

Picture taken from here.

So, I was supposed to be in London by now, but it never happened. London is all snowed in, and I've been snowed out.

I took off from KLIA as scheduled and landed in Bangkok to be told my London flight had been cancelled. Not, delayed, not postponed, but effing cancelled! And this I hear just moments from stepping out of the plane.

So what do I do? Apparently I have to make my way to the 'Transfer Counter' and they'll tell me more.

Have you ever been in an airport? Nothing is just moments away. Signs saying 'Transfer' appear overhead, with arrows pointing to heaven, and heaven never appears!

So finally I reach it (thank god my carry-on has wheelies) and she looks at my e-ticket and mumbles that my flight has been cancelled. Duh, I knew that already. So? I have to wait till 8 tomorrow morning she says. It is now almost 11 at night, on the 19th of December.

'So I am supposed to sit around here for 9 hours and wait???!' I ask her.

There is a transit hotel in the airport she says to me 'but you will have to bear the expenses'.

I'm a bit spaced out by now. It has taken me a while to get to her, and the confirmation of the cancelled flight, and the fact that no one knows anything and I have to wait 9 hours before I know more is a lot for me to handle.

I decide to go look for this transit hotel. I head in the direction she's pointed out. And yes, you've guessed right: I don't find it. I walk and walk and walk, and ask nice Thai airport workers if they know where this transit hotel is, but no one seems to know. So, I walk some more.

Finally,by accident, I walk into something that says 'first class lounge' and ask if it's the transit hotel. It is!!! It's called 'Louis' Tavern' and there are just two rooms available. No bathrooms attached though, she says. It's going to cost me 3,600 bahts, but I figure that with my funky tail problem and the probably interminable wait ahead and the nightmare of tomorrow, I'd better have my nightmares today on a bed, lying in my own room, with my pjs on.

I spend the night in a clean bed, my eyes glued to the room's tv monitor that shows me an ever-updating screen of all the scheduled London flights, out of Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok - and none have a departure gate assigned! Nice.

I kinda sleep, and by 5 the next morning I am wide awake. After a wash - the bathrooms aren't too far away - and the coffee-and-croissant complementary breakfast that came with the room, I am on my way back to the Transfer Counter even though it is not yet 6 am, and far from the 8 am they told me to return.

A 'suit' looks at my ticket and tells me my flight is cancelled. Yes, duh, I know. So what now? We wait. I ask  to fly home to KL if the flight isn't rescheduled. Suit looks at my ticket and tells me that I will need to pay a 'surcharge' of RM200 if I want for this to happen, because my scheduled return date is 3 January 2011. I say, '...Yah... but I can't sit here till then, can I?' Why are suits so duh all the time?!

Anyways, he tells me to wait till 10 before I decide anything. So, I walk some more, and try to find a quiet place to sit and read till 10. That's four hours away.

Finding a quiet place isn't as easy as it sounds. All over, there are people stretched out over a few seats, fast asleep. I guess I am not the only one affected by this. After all, my flight to London was said to be fully-booked. And there must be lots of other flights to London. Poor slobs.

So I find a spot, and I settle in for the long wait.

There is a tv-screen nearby, and BBC World is the channel of choice. The sound is turned down, but it's a news channel and I know that every hour on the hour, there will be news. Bless you BBC for your predictable line-up, I know I can depend on you!

And then at 7, I see the highlights of the news to follow. I'm not the only one interested, many of the 'sleepers' wake up for it, too. I get up and stand and watch the snowed-in airport at Heathrow and know that I am not going there today.

I head back to the Transfer Counter. Thank god the silly suit I met earlier isn't there. I tell the new guy there I want to go home to KL on the next available flight out. It is now about 7.30.

He tells me that all the flights out to KL are fully booked, and that I will have to be on standby. The only confirmed place he can give me would be at 4.40 that evening. I say I'll take it. He thinks not, he fiddles with his keys, he talks to his boss, he takes my passport and heads to the ticketing counter, and he tells me he will have news for me by 8.

How about my bags, I ask. He'll see to it, he says. And he does: Later, I will see a note pasted onto my bag, that says that the bag was 'checked' at 7:40. Good man.

He also tells me to contact Thai Airways for a refund on my ticket.

He also doesn't charge me the RM200 that the suit told me I'd need to pay.

I head off to the seats nearby and wait some more. It's about 7.45 now, so it shouldn't be a long wait.

Just before 8, he comes up to me: 'Patricia? You're booked on the 8.45 flight to KL. Check in time is now, so you must go to Gate C7 now.'

Finally, I'm going to be out of here. I find C7 and I'm on my way... sorta. It's an airport. Nothing happens without a wait.

It's a packed flight, and in 1.45 minutes we touch-down in KLIA. It is has been a bumpy ride through the grey skies of huge clouds, but I am home.

I am always so happy whenever I am back in KLIA. But yesterday, I think, I was the happiest I have ever been.

So it was a merry-go-round of sorts - flying out and flying back and getting nowhere at all, and ending up right back where I started. But it wasn't merry, and it wasn't fun. The what-could-have-beens that played out all night in my brain certainly weren't. No wonder I slept fitfully, and woke up at the insane hour of 5!

But at least I had a bed. So many others didn't. And those people I see at Heathrow had been/have been doing the same for days. I feel for them.

Go here, to see my flight stats and the fact that the same flight for London, on the day following my flight has yet to leave.

I wonder at my sanity for planning a winter holiday in London. But, I watched the weather report last night, and I realise that the snow has come three-weeks too early. Usually, if there's going to be snow, it's in mid January - and I'd have been long-gone by then! Who changed the weather on me?!

Yennyways, I am happy to be safe at home.

The cancelled flight

Here's a screen capture of my flight:

My flight was the one that says 'cancelled', on 20 December  

The same flight, scheduled for the same time today, has yet to leave too. Poor guys waiting there for something that isn't going to happen anytime soon.

This is a popular site in my household - we're always tracking someone or other who's flying half-way across the world. We watch the little planes as they make their way to their destinations, and then wait for the calls or sms that say: 'I've arrived safely'.

Go here if you'd like to check it out - if you haven't already lah.

Morny, rune sore bees :)

I was sent this one many years ago, and it stayed in my mind because I found it hilarious. But, I could never find it again. Luckily for me, I mentioned this to Chuan, and yesterday he found it! So clever wan lah he! Hehehehee!


So here I am sharing it with you :)

This exchange was between an English-speaking traveler and a member of the hotel staff in a Far East Hotel

(for the full effect, read it aloud):


Room Service: Morny. Rune-sore-bees.
Hotel Guest: Oh, sorry. I thought I dialed Room Service.
Room Service: Rye, rune-sore-bees. Morny. Djewish to odor sunteen?
Hotel Guest: Uh... yes. I'd like some bacon and eggs.
Room Service: Ow July den?
Hotel Guest: What?
Room Service: Aches. Ow July den? Pry, boy, pooch...?
Hotel Guest: Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? Sorry. Scrambled please.
Room Service: Ow July dee baycome? Crease?
Hotel Guest: Crisp will be fine.
Room Service: Hokay. An Santos?
Hotel Guest: What?
Room Service: Santos. July Santos?
Hotel Guest: Ugh. I don't know... I don't think so.
Room Service: No. Judo one toes?
Hotel Guest: Look, I feel really bad about this, but I don't know what "judo one toes" means. I'm sorry.
Room Service: Toes! Toes! Why djew Don Juan toes? Ow bow cenglish mopping we bother?
Hotel Guest: English muffin! I've got it! You were saying toast! Fine. An English muffin will be fine.
Room Service: We bother?
Hotel Guest: No. Just put the bother on the side.
Room Service: Wad?
Hotel Guest: I'm sorry. I meant butter. Butter on the side.
Room Service: Copy?
Hotel Guest: I feel terrible about this but...
Room Service: Copy. Copy, tea, mill...
Hotel Guest: Coffee! Yes, coffee please. And that's all.
Room Service: One Minnie. Ass rune torino fee, strangle aches, crease baycome, tossy cenglish mopping we bother honey sigh, and copy. Rye?
Hotel Guest: Whatever you say.
Room Service: Hokay. Tendjewberrymud.
Hotel Guest: You're welcome.

If you liked this, go here - cos maybe there'll be more there that you like.


If you want some dope on this brilliant 'joke', go here, to Snopes and get the lowdown on it, and find the other one, by the same author, called 'Hotel soap'  :)

And now, it's time for a commercial break...

It's worth the eight minutes it'll take to watch these.




Didn't lie to you, did I?! ;)

Ave Maria

I'm in Christmas mode:

Bath night

A couple take in an 18-year-old girl as a lodger. She asked if she could have a bath but the woman of the house told her they didn't have a bath but if she wanted to she could use a tin bath in front of the fire.

"Monday's the best night, when my husband goes out to darts," she said. The girl agreed to have a bath the following Monday.

After her husband had gone to the pub for his darts match, the woman filled the bath and watched the girl get undressed. She was surprised to see that the lass didn't have any pubic hair. She mentioned this to her husband when he came home.

He didn't believe her, so she said: "Next Monday, don’t go to darts. I'll leave a gap in the curtains so you can see for yourself.."

So the following Monday, while the girl again got undressed, the wife asked: "Do you shave?"

"No," replied the girl. "I've just never grown any hair down there. Do you have hair?"

"Oh, yes," said the woman, and she showed the girl that, indeed, she was far from hairless.

When the girl went to bed the husband came in, and the wife asked: "Did you see it?"

"Yes," he said, "but why the hell did you have to show her your?!"

"Why not?" she said. "You've seen it before."

"I know," he said, "but the darts team hadn't!!"

Acoustics good at Heathrow Airport, no?

'I have sinned.'

A cabbie picks up a nun.

She gets into the cab, and notices that the very handsome cab-driver won't stop staring at her.

She asks him why he is staring.

He replies, 'I have a question to ask you but I don't want to offend you.'

She answers, 'My son, you cannot offend me. When you're as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything. I'm sure that there's nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive.'

'Well, I've always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me.'

She responds, 'Well, let's see what we can do about that: One, you have to be single; and two, you must be Catholic.'

The cab driver is very excited and says, 'Yes, I'm single and Catholic!'

'OK' the nun says. 'Pull into the next alley.'

The nun fulfils his fantasy, with a kiss that would make a hooker blush.

But when they get back on the road, the cab driver starts crying.

'My dear child,' says the nun, 'why are you crying?'

'Forgive me but I've sinned. I lied and I must confess, I'm married and I'm Jewish.'

The nun says, 'That's OK. My name is Kevin and I'm going to a fancy dress party.'

15Malaysia

Here's something you might want to check out if you've got some time on your hands:

15Malaysia

My girls

Waking Up in the Universe - Growing Up in the Universe

With Christmas carols playing in the background, I listen to this lecture by Richard Dawkins. His books speak to me, and his videos resonate within me. I think it's time I shared him with you.



[Double-click on the video, to go to You Tube for the details of this lecture, or to see the later episodes. The transcript for this one, and others, can be found on Dawkins' site.]

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob sing the Hallelujah Chorus

One of my imaginary friends*, Louis, mentioned this to me yesterday, and I asked him to send me the link. BUT, today, You Tube had it up there for me to find on the opening page.

Here's what it says under the video:

"ttp://www.AlphabetPhotography.com - On Nov.13 2010 unsuspecting shoppers got a big surprise while enjoying their lunch. Over 100 participants in this awesome Christmas Flash Mob. This is a must see!

This flash mob was organized by http://www.AlphabetPhotography.com to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Special thanks to Robert Cooper and Chorus Niagara, The Welland Seaway Mall, and Fagan Media Group."

I enjoyed this immensely, and wish I was there! How about you?

* I refer to all the blog-buddies I have yet to meet IRL as my imaginary friends!

Getting into Christmas mode

For me, Christmas isn't about the presents, the wafting smell of baking Christmas cake baking in the oven, or shopping till I drop. It is about the music. And so, my Christmas begins with the carols, hymns and other songs from the season that make it right for me.

These are two of my favourites,and one of the first songs I will listen to now, and then go, 'Ahhh, Christmas is coming....'

Enjoy!



And now from full orchestra to acapella: