Going nowhere

Its 9:00am. I have been on the go for 4-hours already today. 4-hours to end up 4 kilometres from home. I should be about to land in Brussels by now but Im not. the misery of my morning continues and the day is still young.

I got up at 5am all bleary eyed as you would expect. Quick wash, threw on some clothes and stumbled ito the taxi at 5:15. So far everything is going to plan. taxi only takes 20 minutes. 20 minutes of the ususal banal, aimless, banter between driver and fair simply to avoid an awkward uneasy silence. Id probably have sat in the back and said nothing at this hour but the taxi is a neighbour so it pays to be polite. Into the airport and through express check-in in a couple of minutes. Excellent proceedure, no need to queue, no need to go to the check-in desk. Great stuff. into the queue for security checks. This is a bit ;;more crowded mainly due to the italian school group heading home. Teens of all sizes with their orange back packs. the queue goes fairly quickly as they are churned through the x-ray, their bags that is not the kids. One poor wee sod looks about 10 and keep setting off the metal detector. Hes almost down to his undies and near to tears. As ;;I pass the, group leader is reassuring him while the security guard slips on the rubber gloves. Im sure he was going to be gentle. Anyway, so for so exceedingly good. After a short amble to gate, stopping to browse the magazines and bookstalls since I am in plenty of time, I realise that the flight is delayed for three hours. Three. Hours.

We interupt this blog while the writer fights down the urge to scream once more...............................................thank you.

I am now scheduled to arrive in brussels and reach my meeting by mid afternoon. The vast majority of my meeting will be missed and therefore there is no point in me travelling. Why the delay? Who knows. operational delay they said. Every other flight was going on time except for mine. To be fair though the airline were fine. they were happy to discuss my concerns and were obliging when it came to removing my from the flight manifest and they even credit back the cost of the flight without any question or quibble, which was more than I expected. So, apart from the ;;screwing up my day aspect, fair play to them. to be honest Im happy enough not to travel. at least i will not be falling from the sky in a fireball of death. Safest mode of transport? Least survivable in an accident I say. Id rather take my chances in a car thank-you although I dont mind airtravel. The engineer in me always like to cover his eyes and ears during a flight however. It aint natural ;;I tells ye.

So here ;;I am still in Dublin. ;;I should be on the continent but instead Ill make do with a continental breakfast. I hope the day improves.