I think it was Sir Winston Churchill who once said that sometimes you just have to “keep buggering on”. I am halfway through a block of earlies which means setting the opportunity clock for about 0400 for a report time of about 0500 for a 0600 departure. I was looking forward to a nice two sector day to Skavsta and back tomorrow with departure at 0730 but crewing have now put me on a 4 sector day to Poland and back and Ireland and back departing 0605! Still it’s all part of the job and is, as I often say, part of life’s rich tapestry. By the way, I never call it an “alarm” clock – who wants to wake up feeling alarmed? So I call it an “opportunity” clock since every day is a great opportunity to Carpe Diem (= Sieze the Day!).
Today I went to Rome (Ciampino) and back. Despite the fact that we arrived a few minutes early we left late which is quite common there due to the rather slow, “laid back” ground handling. I love Italy and the Italians but, from an aviation point of view, I regard them as a third world country!. Anyway we arrived back at Liverpool only 5 minutes late as the enroute winds were quite light. The view of the UK as we crossed the south coast was quite amazing due to the covering of snow and even at 40,000 ft it was easy to pick out the M1 and other motorways as a black line in the whiteness.
I am pleased to report that my son Martin is progressing well after his slipped disc operation. He is now walking again and I took him to NHS Direct to have the 16 staples removed from his back when he was visiting in Nottingham. We also went to see my other son Chris who is a manager for MacDonald’s “restaurant” in Nottingham. It’s not that common for us to be together these days as we all have busy lives so it was fun to do so.
Life seems to consist of a lot of work these days. There seems to be a shortage of Captains at Liverpool (as opposed to a surfeit of First Officers) so every working day I am flying (as opposed to being on standby). I really prefer this since apart from meaning extra money (as well as a basic salary we also earn “sector pay” for every flight we make) I might just as well be flying when I am in Liverpool for my 5 days on. We are limited to 900 hours flying per year (and as we come under the Irish aviation rules the clock starts running on the 1st of April – yes really!) so it’s possible I will hit 900 hours before the 1st of April in which case I cannot do any more flying till after that date. Oh and by the way that’s 900 hours actually IN THE AIR – we do a lot more duty time since we have to do pre and post flight duties!
I am amazed at the hysterical media reaction to the snow. Even the radio forecast today was talking about it being “very cold” – hell man they want to go to Canada in the winter when it’s 30 degrees below zero. I drove up from Nottingham on Thursday where there had been quite a lot of snow. Before I left about lunchtime I followed by usual ritual of going to the gym (a car journey of a few miles) and then stopped off at the local shops in Ruddington for some fresh fruit and veg. It was an amazing experience – amazing because I had no problems at all getting about and was able to park right outside the greengrocers as hardly anyone else was daring to venture out, no doubt put off by the scaremongering on the radio and tv stations. I then went home, packed up the car and completed the 106 mile to Liverpool in record time of 1.50 ! Record because there was a dearth of traffic and the main roads were completely clear!
On Monday I am looking forward to meeting the guy in company who decides on basing issues. He is quite elusive but he is visiting the Liverpool base so a number of us will be asking about how our base transfers are going. Whilst I ove my job and LPL is a great base to work from I cannot wait to get back East Midlands and start living a “normal” life again.
Well time for bed now.
