Lady in Red

I saw this lady in Edinburgh, in the departure lounge. My first thought was, “nice hat.” Big brim, bright red (anyone who knows me will now understand why I noticed her) and matched her rather expensive looking red coat. She reeked of class. She was sitting at the front of the plane too. She got free stuff!!

I’m on my travels to Canada, a non-skiing trip to Whistler. The last time I was there, I ended up in hospital, rupturing my ACL and knackering my meniscus. I was so tempted to pack my ski boots. SO tempted. I had to give myself a talking to. Don’t be so fecking stupid. Yes, I could ski, no I really shouldn’t.

Getting to Edinburgh Airport was great, thanks Susan! Straight in, bag dropped, 5 minute wait to go through security. Coffee. Short wait, whilst I watched the lady in red.

Elegant, self-assured. Obviously on a get-to-the-gate mission, preferably via the priority boarding.

Good hop to Heathrow, all I needed to do was transfer to T2.

There in front of me was the lady in red. Right in front of me in the queue. The staff member was asking for boarding cards.

Red lady said she didn’t have one. She was told, categorically that she needed a boarding card to go any further.

‘But I need to get to Windsor by train, so I need to go to terminal 4!’ she exclaimed in a very posh voice.

‘What, Windsor, England?’

‘Yes, of course, Windsor, England. Just let me through.’ with a distinctly haughty eye roll.

‘No you’re not. This is for AEROPLANE transfers, not TRAIN transfers.’

‘But I have to! Look, here’s my boarding pass!’

‘No, you can’t. That’s for your Edinburgh to Heathrow flight, not a flight to Windsor!’

‘But my train is from the station at terminal 4!’

‘You won’t be getting to Windsor from here, Madam. Step aside. Wait over there…’

We had been waiting so long whilst they argued, I was SO tempted to tug on her stunning red coat and just tell her to turn around and go the other way. I held myself back as she shrugged and sighed her way to the side.

I wasn’t in a rush.

Then as I was having a snack and the obligatory glass of sauvignon blanc, I realised, actually, my flight’s at 13.25! Here was me thinking it was 3pm ish.

Oh the joys of travel. I have to say though, it’s been a lovely relaxing journey so far. I wonder if the lady in red found her train? Looked stunning. Nae brains, reading or listening skills.

I spoke too soon. Hour delay leaving… so far. Currently on the way back to the gate for a maintenance issue. Max speed acquired so far, 10 meters per hour. Might take a while to get to Vancouver. Time to read a book then!

Bye for now!

So, we ended up about 2.5 hours delay in Heathrow. It was a long day, however, better the alternative of the plane developing an issue over the Atlantic.

The shuttle bus to Whistler was good, albeit, cold in the bus as the road went higher and higher. The conditions beyond Squamish got quite exciting and I have to say, I was very impressed watching the driver deal with the driving snow, lack of visibility, and a few times he was having to rely on rumble strips to know where the edge of road was. It’s well seen that Canadians are used to the conditions.

In general, at home, driving is so poor when we get snow. I have much more respect for those Ice Road Truckers, that’s for sure. I felt like I’d just been in a mini episode.