A bit of a long day which ever time you are on. Its that time now…
A good sleep in the Premier Inn and down to brekkie at 09.00. And it was a very good brekkie too. A buffet with lots of choice and regularly replenished.
Then off over the road to the North Terminal at Gatwick. We had to wait a little while to check in as they won’t check you in until 3 hours before take off time.
The airport was busy with a lot of families with toddlers and pushchairs taking up special assistance slots. There was no special assistance. The scanners were a nightmare scenario. What is it they don’t understand about the fact that someone with Alzheimer’s has no memory. And therefore maybe unable to follow a simple instruction like ’wait here.’
During which time they check my knees carry no hidden incendiary devices and they would like me to remove my open but fitted sandals which are tricky to get on. ‘Oh we have a chair,’ they say which I point out is of no help, whilst T gets restless and any one could help themselves to my phone , handbag etc. And yes, this has happened to me in Paris.
For once, I was not using a stick. A stick highlights infirmity. I must get it out.
And they wouldn’t give us a buggy to the gate – we could have a wheelchair, but there was no guarantee we could travel together. What effing use is that! I ride on wheels through secret tunnels whilst T wanders the airport wondering what plane he could sneak on to.
In the event we made it onto the plane ahead of the crowds. This was because the nice lady manning the departure gate recognised the sunflower lanyards. We were nearly an hour late leaving due to some air traffic flight restrictions or other. But we caught up 30 minutes.
The flight was uneventful. There was no food to speak of available. Anything bread-based was off. That meant we had a choice of various bits of chocolate, but anything remotely healthy was not on offer.
Why didn’t they they text passengers to warn them? They sent enough messages containing other flight info. At Gatwick, where we had plenty of time, we were still full of the hotel brekkie. But this was no longer the case and we could have bought sandwiches.
Once we landed, we were asked if we wanted to wait for assistance. But I had had enough of such nonsense, so dragged T off behind ne and we walked round most of Athens before reaching baggage reclaim.
A helpful sign informed us that luggage from our flight was only just being off loaded and, amazingly, our bag was already visible and was duly grabbed.
Our driver was waiting and we were soon on our way to our hotel – about 25 minutes away.
We had about 5 minutes there before hasty arrangements meant Rupert met us and drove us to the family home.
The garden has grown back amazingly after the fire in 2018. Rupert did a lot of the work- planting etc himself as well as construction of a sort of pergola, now overgrown with trailing jasmine etc. It will be a lovely venu for the wedding.
Aspassia was there, as well as Yoko and her parents, the latter having arrived from Japan earlier in the day. We celebrated a belated birthday for T with a beautiful ice cream cake.
We haven’t had a chance to explore our hotel, but it seems very pleasant and very quiet. We have a view over the pool and sea towards Rafina, and in the other direction lies a small harbour and Evvia.
Back in the UK …
Thought for the Day
A short holiday beckons.
Baby – it’s hot outside!
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