Summer Time...

[JamesMcVean]

Last Week the good weather kicked in...I was standing on the Oil Rig looking at the horizon. The Apprentice, Kyle was depressed, whenever the weather is really good, he misses the crack in the Bar - Siberia ( A Vodka Bar in Aberdeen, where he works on his time off)
"This good weather...It doesnt bode well for Friday..." I said to him ominously.
"Wot?" He said.
"Fog...always follows good weather out here..."
This was only Kyle's fourth trip offshore and he had never experienced the doom that is - Boop Boop Booooooooooop - The Foghorn on a rig...
The day before we were due to finish our trip... weather - Hot...Lunch time....FOG...
There was a five flight back log from the Thursday...
Up at 0500 packed bags on Friday morning... the fog was still there...we should have hit Aberdeen by 9am...by 1430pm we were waitng on the rig for the flight to arrive...
By the time we did get back on land, the last train left aberdeen...so I ran to the airport to try and get on the 1645 flight to wick...The lassie at the desk said that they did not accept the Air Discount Card and the full price of the flight would be 187 pounds!!!!!! FOR A ONE WAY FLIGHT TO WICK!!!
So I got a few pound coins and went on the internet...booked my ticket with the discount...£130...but atleast I was getting home....
Then when I returned to the desk with my number...the flight to wick was cancelled due to fog...and they were going to organise a bus to wick!!! This was at 1530...
I ran and grabbed a sandwich and waited to see the crack...
By 1730 we were still there...
We eventually left in a people carrier...5 of us...and a huge pile of luggage...you could not move in there!!
By 2300 we arrived in Wick...the taxi driver rubbed her hands together at the 540pound fare!!!!!!
I made it through the front door at 2330 -
exhausted from a day wasted!!!
So please spare a thought for the lads offshore in this time of good weather...LOL

James

[wifie]

Aaaaaaaaaaaw can sympathise wi waitin at airport when fog bound! :(

[Anne x]

Oh James can sympathise OH was working in Aberdeen for 10 weeks before we moved Down I was Selling house packing etc the Night before the removal Van was arriving to pack up he was on the Aberdeen -Wick flight awful journey from Thurso to Wick to fetch him arrived at Airport heard the flight overhead coming in to land It attempted twice then flew on to Inverness they provided transport North he got home at 1am ish and to his bed at some unearthly hour as I had a list of Jobs for him

since then he was stranded twice due to fog offshore as helicopters couldnt leave the beach and drove home from Norwich one time as he had lost all connections

[northener]

.....................By 2300 we arrived in Wick...the taxi driver rubbed her hands together at the 540pound fare!!!!!!
I made it through the front door at 2330 -
exhausted from a day wasted!!!
So please spare a thought for the lads offshore in this time of good weather...LOL

James

Was the £540 on the meter? Or were you just told a price by the driver?

If you took a direct route from Abs to Wick with no detours - methinks you've been had over. I would have expected about £380 on tariff 2 (5 people during the day).

[JamesMcVean]

northener

It WAS £540 on the meter...she said it was coz of the 5 passangers and all the luggage made it Time and half per mile...Eastern Air picked up the bill for it...saying that...I paid £130...the other 4 might have paid more...
Must be cheaper than flying us up lol
Still grates on the old nerves paying £130 for a one way ticket home...when I already have the train ticket in my wallet!! Sheesh...the joys of Summer

James

[Margaret M.]

What a bummer, especially when you are all desperate to get home! Getting up north can take long enough without having fog complicate things. When I come home the flight across the ocean is usually a breeze but then I just cross my fingers and hope my plans for getting to Caithness pan out. The last time I flew from Edinburgh, Wick was fogged in, Kirkwall was clear so I decided to take the flight to Kirkwall intending to catch a ferry to Wick. As we got closer to Wick, the fog thinned out just long enough to allow a landing at Wick but by the time they did that the fog made a landing at Kirkwall impossible.