Wilf's look this morning as we came back from the morning walk said it all - 'it's hot'. Even the French weather forecast is now calling it a heatwave. It's going to be in the high 30's again today . What a change from just a week or so ago when we were seeing the coldest temperatures in more than two centuries. With the thermometer already touching 25 degrees by eight o'clock Wilfs trip to the light industrial zone, cafe and bakers is having to take place earlier and earlier in the day.Got to the airport in a thunderstorm to discover the flight had been delayed. Worse was to follow. When we did finally board , the bus taking us onto the tarmac drew up alongside an aircraft with propellors. The jet in the schedule had gone to be replaced by what appeared to be a toy plane with engines from a Ford Pinto. What the airlines politely term 'equipment change'. I've said this before and I'll say it again. If you're going to fly over the Alps in thundery weather then you want to fly in a plane with jet engines. Getting up close and personal with a mountain range is the last thing any sane passenger wants. Full marks to the Swiss pilot who weaved through the menacing storms, lightning flashes, hail and mountain peaks and still managed to get his shaken and stirred passengers down on the ground barely an hour late. You always know when a flight is really rough - the cabin crew strap themselves in, tightly, and a strange sepulchral silence fills the cabin. No cabin service so not even a chance of a purely medicinal glass of Gods amber nectar.
Glad you're home safely! Thankgoodness that the engine of the plane worked better than a Ford Pinto--My first car was my Dad's Pinto wagon and he used to always remind me to "fill the oil and check the gas!"
ReplyDeleteOh, thank dogness you had such a good pilot. It all sounds most harrowing. Tell Wilf we've had horrible hot weather, too, but we just did the conversion and yours is even hotter. Why can't it always be in the 70's (ours) or 20's (yours) and sunny? I hear that's what it's like in San Diego, CA and the Canary Islands, but I'm told we won't be moving to either location. Keep as cool as possible and I hope the temp improves soon.
ReplyDeletewags, Lola
Looks a bit bigger than the prop planes that service our area. Been in a thunderstorm in one and don't want to repeat it......and we didn't have alps.
ReplyDeleteXXXOOO Daisy, Kendra & Bella
i just have to say, your writing is beautiful...your words transport me there, in the moment...i can't imagine flying over the Alps in a prop plane...yikes!
ReplyDeleteglad all is well....
xoxox
Sounds like flying across the Appalachians in a commuter plane - I try to avoid it at all cost.
ReplyDeleteGlad he's feeling cheerier
ReplyDeleteHow do you get my mom's picture? She looks just like Wilf in the 1st picture (ssshh, don't tell her I said that)
ReplyDeletePS: Prop planes=Tree Tops Express !!! Glad you made it over those hills !!!
Zach
Have been a passenger in a prop plane through a Florida thunderstorm and years later, a New England blizzard. It will take more than a wee dram of God's amber nectar to get me back on anything with propellers...more like a half of a bottle and that's being optimistic. Such an adventure and glad you're home safe and sound.
ReplyDeleteYankee Gal
PON :) You have the most adorable look ever.. even though its a very hot day.
ReplyDeleteLike others, we too have seen those prop planes replace many regional commuter jets as the airlines continue to disregard their passengers' comfort to stay aloft. The result: I no longer fly from Fort Lauderdale to Tallahassee for meetings, making up any excuse I can think of --short of saying I'm too chicken -- despite the lack of alps - to get back into one.
ReplyDeleteSo,I'm awed by your bravery - and the pilot's skill -- and am pleased the return was in a more suitable conveyance -- with God's amber nectar to commemorate the happy ending to the voyage?
We've been in the 32 - 33C range for weeks -- but this is South Florida, so it's part of the territory.
Stay cool, Wilf et al!!
xx Joan
I feel your heat pain. Miserable. Absolutely miserable. We're experiencing a cold front today - 85 degrees F. Down from 102 degrees! WOW! I need a coat like Wilf's today! Roodles, Stuart
ReplyDeleteWow....that plane ride sounds really freaky! I'm already nervous of flying, but that really makes me shudder.....
ReplyDeleteYou're getting hotter, we've just suddenly become really cool after our heat wave. Nature is odd....
That looks says it all. Those tile floors are a godsend.
ReplyDeleteWow! That must have been one heck of a ride! Did you tell "the font" that you will have no need to ride a bicycle now that your heart survived that flight?
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like all is right in Wilf's world again, except the lack of air conditioning!
Oh, please! Come to AZ (USA) in the summer and then you can talk heatwave! It's only going to be 111 degrees F today down from 113. High 30's C is mild weather here.
ReplyDeleteCarrie
Well it's quite warm in Aberdeen too (over 20 degrees C!) but not warm enough yet to want to lie on the tiled floor.
ReplyDeleteOh, and well done Angus for braving the scary flight.
Toodle pip!
Bertie.
That flight sounds harrowing! I'm so glad you made it home safely.
ReplyDeletewill he sit in water?
ReplyDeletei HAVE TRIED it with my three but non will do so!
I wish you could come to our Hawaii party and celebrate with us. :)
ReplyDeleteWilf
ReplyDeleteThank dog fow those cool floows
We finally had bootiful weathew today(but natoowally, mommi was sick and I couldn't enjoy it) aftew weeks of howwendous heat.
Daddi flew small planes all ovew Souf Amewica a billion yeaws ago when he was in the Peace Cowps and he says they wewe safew than the big ones
smoochie kisses
ASTA