Chuffin' Hell It's Cold! - UK Trip, February 2015 part 4

.....The flight to Newcastle departed on time, courtesy of an Air France City Hopper, but weirdly badged up with KLM motifs. Garuda aren't currently allowed to fly into the UK, something to do with their safety record or something, but the flight was uneventful except for two things.

Firstly the seating is 2-aisle-2 on these small planes and my partner was a Cuban woman who spoke with a Teeside accent owing to the years spent living in Middlesborough. The one hour flight flew by (sorry) and this was due to a most interesting chat I had with my fellow passenger. I've never visited Cuba but am fascinated by the current politics that have seen greater co-operation with the USA, but also with the cigars (they are no longer rolled on the thighs of virgins), the food (Cuban sandwiches are evidently an American idea of Cuba rather than specifically Cuban themselves) and the music (Rumba is her personal favourite). It was a great conversation and before I knew it we were dropping into Newcastle.

Now if you remember that New Ice Age that I mentioned in part three, well this was the literally chilling sight that greeted me from the window seat...

My Auntie Julie and Uncle Mick; Dad's Siter and her husband, had kindly agreed to collect me and drop me at The Scotch Corner Hotel, further down the A1. The plan was that Dad would be left with a mate watching some football while Mum and her friend Pat, on the ruse of doing shopping, would collect me from Scotch Corner and bring me the short distance back to Leyburn.

Arriving back home, I followed the women into the lounge and I'm not entirely sure if Dad was happy to see me or not! I do know that it's the last time I'll give hime a surprise like that as I thought at one point the poor old bugger was going to have a heart attack! He quickly regained his composure and Chris and Pat wandered back home leaving me to catch up with Mum and Dad.

The last few days since I've been here have been quality time. We've shared some laughs and shed some tears, drunk some wine and generally relaxed as a family. Dad's not looking good and there has been a visible increase in the support of medical people. It's all relevant to dad's illness though and as I've said before we've had plenty of time to prepare. Yet I can't help feeling selfish and angry that he's so visibly being gradually taken away.

Dad on the other hand puts a brave face on things and maintains an awesome sense of humour and it's typical of him that his primary concern is that he thinks he's upsetting me by going to bed early.

Chuffin' Hell It's Cold! - UK Trip, February 2015 part 3

.....I have to admit that Garuda were not bad at all. The Boeing 777 with its 3-3-3 seating formation found me in the aisle seat of the middle section. The seat between me and the old guy at the other side was empty so we both stored pillows and blankets there but I realised the minute the snoring started, his, not mine, that conversation wasn't going to be on the agenda. That actually suited me fine as the benefit of a 1am flight is that you're pretty much ready for sleep. I waited until the meal had been served and had a beer with the unimaginative but tasty chicken and rice, watched Lethal Weapon and promptly fell asleep.

When I woke up we were about halfway to Amsterdam and at some point during my 4 hours sleep a clingfilm-wrapped sandwich had been deposited next to me. It didn't look particularly appetising so I went to help myself to a cup of tea from the galley. Yes, in the menus that had been handed out we were politely informed that should we need midflight service, we should help ourselves to items from the galley! I would imagine if this delegation of tasks continues, in a few years I'll be flying the plane! Armed with a cup of tea-I did think that a few miniatures and mixers was wrong at 7am Jakarta time-I made my way back to my seat and dug in my rucksack for some snacks that I'd packed. Airline food is passable, but there's never really anything in the way of chocolate-y stuff to go with a cuppa, and certainly nothing to compete with an orange Rocky or a peanut butter Beng Beng.

A few episodes of Big Bang Theory and I fell asleep again, waking this time with only 4 more hours to go. The Superman movie 'Man of Steel' took up another two and a half hours of that and also took in some more unimaginative chicken and rice for breakfast and pretty soon we were descending into Schipol.

Sat in the middle section, I really couldn't get a decent view of conditions on the ground, but once off the airplane it became apparent that Northern Europe was gripped by some sort of nuclear Winter. The sky was white and there was evidence of fallen snow, not bad for a city three metres below sea level. But it was the bone chilling cold which felt like -30 that got to me the most, and this was in a tunnel leading from the aircraft to the arrival/transfer lounge! Turns out it was actually a tropical 4 degrees, but what do I know.

We'd arrived an hour late, but all that meant was that we'd have an hour less transit so I whiled away some of it in a Heineken bar. I ordered a large beer and after seeing the menu a curried chicken flatbread seemed like a plan, especially as I wasn't expecting any food on the flight to Newcastle and wasn't sure exactly when in fact I would be eating again. If this weather was anything to go by, Newcastle could be one of the first victims of a new ice age.

The beer arrived and I sat surfing the net, messaging Yohana and sipping the beer while waiting for the food, after about twenty minutes, the waiter saw my empty glass and asked if I'd like another. He also asked if I'd had my sandwich yet. I told him that I hadn't but that there was no rush (strange that we English say things like that, especially considering there was only forty more minutes until boarding time) The second beer arrived along with the sandwich five minutes afterwards and delicious it was too. As I came to pay it was the same waiter that served me. "One beer and one sandwich" he declared, not asked. "No, two beers" I replied, honestly.....now what happened next was nothing short of gobsmacking. I'm sat in an airport, a prisoner to whatever pricing structure the airport feel like using and with no choice but to pay, when the waiter said "That's ok, the first beer's on me because of the wait for the sandwich". I thanked him profusely, left a five Euro tip and made my way with a beaming smile that was more about the generosity than the two large Heinekens to wait for the short flight to Newcastle.......