Eeeeeeeeep, nearly time to be off!
Last night sort of almost went to plan. After I remembered to get a pizza on the way home (shopping list read: water purification stuff, anti-sickness pills, pizza) we did at least eat.
Poor little dog-in-law got progressively glum as the evening wore on, normally he's the centre of attention but I was glued to the laptop and the phone. Then I bought the rucksacks downstairs and he lost all hope.
Finally started packing at about 10pm, then unpacked a bit, then packed a bit more, decided I had too many socks, took socks out, put finger paints in, swapped some t-shirts for some crayons etc etc til I had no idea what to pack or wear.
Finally rucksack was full, felt very pleased with myself. Turned round and discovered heap of other stuff I was meant to take. Decided it could go in Mr Halford's bag.
Mr Halford returned from his second stint at work, went upstairs, scooped up an armload of stuff and had his bag packed in about 2 1/2 minutes. Then said, with some satisfaction, 'there's still loads of room in my bag' (not any more - I shoved all my make-up and extra underwear in there this morning).
And then, since it was midnight I tried the online check-in. About a million times. It didn't work. Waved booking confirmation paper at laptop in pleading fashion. No joy.
Thought, 'there'll be some perfectly logical reason as to why Virgin Atlantic have none of my details, I shall ring them up.'
Found a phone number with the reassuring words 'line open 24/7' after it and gave it ring. Got through to the 'all other enquiries' bit and listened to some modern popular music. And that was it. No interrupting 'you are in a queue' or 'your call is important to us' type message. Hmmmm, began to reflect on 'line open 24/7' not necessarily meaning there was anyone there to answer the call.
Hung up, tried a flight re-confirmation option. Got a cheery automated 'no need to re-confirm your flight' message and then a dead end.
Hung up, dialled the first number again and this time hung on for grim death.
Hurrah, a lovely Welsh lady answered, did some typing and found the agent hadn't put any spaces in our names. Hoopla! problem solved. Then there was a loud static noise, such as may be heard at the apocalypse and the nice Welsh lady disappeared. I looked at the phone in confusion.
Welsh lady duly reappeared, but shrieking a lot. I tried being soothing but she couldn't hear me and kept shrieking 'Charles! the phones have gone! don't panic. NO ONE PANIC'
I left her to her not-panicking and gently put the phone down.
Triumphantly checked-in, printed boarding passes and gave the miserable dog a carrot, which cheered him up a bit because he loves carrots and thinks they are the best treat ever.
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