The Big Ash in the Sky and the Big Rip off back on Earth
Humanity defies belief sometimes. There is such ruthlessness and inflexibility in humankind that makes me cringe with embarrassment at the behaviour of some of our species.
Disasters either bring out the very best in people or the very worst. Admittedly being stranded in a foreign country can hardly be referred to as a disaster. It is a mere inconvenience in most cases, though there are growing concerns about medical aid and support should this no fly zone continue.
Currently, I have two siblings who are stranded abroad. My brother is in Gambia with no sign of any feasible return for the immediate future. The plane that is due to transport him home is currently stuck in Goa and has to return to Gatwick before it returns to Banjul to collect the stranded Brits. Despite a slight concern about malaria tablets and a begrudging acknowledgement that Premier football matches will continue without his presence, he is stoically sitting by the pool in heat beyond 35 degrees and just accepting that there is nothing that can be done.
Meanwhile, my sister is nearer to home with viable alternatives for a return home than the air service which got her to the South of France in the first place.
We have finally managed to get her and her family onto a train to Paris and a connection to Calais. From there I am going to have to collect her.
Apparently, you can book a vehicle on a ferry to and from Calais but you cannot book for foot passengers from Calais to Dover. I know – utterly bizarre!
So in all likelihood, I now have to travel to Calais tomorrow afternoon to pick her up assuming that she has managed to get to Calais.
However, this is not the end of the story. She phoned me early this morning to explain that she couldn’t get foot passenger bookings but I could book myself with car onto a ferry. She also explained that she was in the process of booking the train from Nice to Calais but did not want to do so until there was some assurance that I would be able to meet her.
Within a reasonable amount of time, I managed to contact the ferry service via the internet and assured her I would be able to book a crossing.
She then went on to book her train ticket at a grossly inflated price, only to discover that the French train drivers were still on strike and that only two out of three TGVs were going to be operating tomorrow.
Now being the good socialist that I am, I absolutely believe in the right to strike. It is an integral part of democracy and Thatcher’s legislation to prevent strikes and secondary striking was one of the most abhorrent things that she did. However, there are times when one would hope that people could set their differences aside for a while so that the excellent service that they provide can operate for the good of all. The unions would gain a huge amount of respect in doing so and may further their cause as a result.
Being a Francophile, I also respect and almost admire the French nonchalant attitude but once more, there is a time and a place. Being dogmatic, determined and utterly stubborn when there is an alternative possibility of helping fellow human beings doesn’t seem to me to be a very helpful way of dealing with things.
So we wait to see if the aforementioned TGV arrives and departs from St. Raphael as intended.
Meanwhile, it is with pleasure that I congratulate some organisations whilst spitting on the capitalist dross of others.
My sister booked her holiday with Thompson’s. She was staying at a campsite in one of these luxury caravans. On hearing that they were not going to be able to travel back on Friday, she approached Thompson’s and the camp site manager’s who were immediate in their response that they could remain in the accommodation without incurring additional costs. Good for them!
They then contacted the car hire people to see if they could extend the use of the car. They had been paying 40 euros per day. On receipt of the joy of further unexpected sales, this company decided to increase the daily rate for those in possession of their cars to 65 euros per day. Not only that, my brother in law had asked, due to the circumstances, if he could leave the car in St. Raphael rather than drive it back to Nice airport where they collected it. For this particular privilege, the car company was going to charge 390 euros despite the fact that it is a mere 65km from St. Raphael to Nice. Not exactly full of the joys of humankind really, is it?
Eurostar appear to have inflated their prices beyond the pockets of most people. When I looked on the site on Friday, it appeared that it was going to cost something around £900 for the three of them to return to Britain. By the time that my sister had tried to book with them yesterday, this had risen by a further amount – admittedly that could be due to the proximity to the day of travel but you would have thought there could be some thought and consideration at these times.
Meanwhile, once more, my sister had looked to see if there was any accommodation in Calais should there be a need to stay over there. Two hotels that she looked at had increased their prices from 40 euros per night to 160 euros. It’s immoral, it really is!
Back with the airlines, and there seems to be even less consideration. Some of the airlines like British Airways are being more helpful than others. Despite my sister scrutinizing the small print and finding a clause to state that a cancellation under any circumstances for longer than five hours requires the airline to provide either accommodation or accommodation costs, the company with which they were flying would not agree to this. The further suggestion that should people wish to choose alternative transport and have that reimbursed if the airline could not schedule flights also seems to have been rescinded. I expect that there is going to be a huge litigation process to go through should they wish to contest their actions.
You see, humans aren’t very nice, and the idea of getting a pretty easy buck out of the misery or inconvenience of others is a fairly sick way of living in my opinion. I know that it is naive of me to think any other way is feasible for capitalism rules ok but it doesn’t have to be like that.
Here’s some better news.
Once I had overcome the stupidity of having to travel with a large piece of metal to Calais to collect my sister rather than managing to get her on as a foot passenger and meeting her in Dover, I contacted P and O to book my ferry.
As a small aside, I think I dislike travelling on ferries almost as much as I dislike flying. The prospect of doing it on my own is not one I relish but needs must.
The first person that I spoke to this morning was exceptionally helpful and showed no malice when I told her I wanted to check out the availability of Eurotunnel as a preferred means of transport. The second person was equally as useful and charming despite the provocation of me having an additional phone call simultaneously with my brother in law. The third person, who I eventually booked my travel with, was absolutely brilliant. She explained the best deal and the fact that if I booked myself into the luxury suite even for one journey, this would mean that I have entitlement to a full refund should I not be required to travel. The cost of £40 was far less than the only alternative offered by Eurotunnel which currently stands at £102 per journey. They have apparently sold out of the £22 per journey slots yet have plenty of £102 slots despite the fact that those travelling in the more expensive slots may be travelling back on the same day and are travelling in the same booths as those paying a fraction of that price.
I was so impressed with the courtesy, consideration and all round human kindness that I insisted she give me the customer service email so that I could make a positive comment on the service. Not only that, P and O are not inflating their prices at all to accommodate the additional traffic that is coming their way, and I hope that they will benefit from this sensible and sensitive approach.
I am not a great fan of ferry travel, as I have stated, but I would seriously consider returning to this organisation for the mere fact that they have been so accommodating and have not had a fit of the hysterical capitalist. Good on them!
So there we have it – the good and the not so good of humanity in dealing with a little inconvenient cloud of dust that sits above our silent skies.
Looking out on a ceaseless blue sky today, I am rather enjoying the clarity of the day without the streams of exhaust from the aeroplanes. It makes such an amazing difference.
But like it or not, the world needs aeroplanes. I need aeroplanes if I am going to get on in life and travel to places that I dream of seeing but it is a lovely, quiet and beautiful interlude at present.
As for humanity, well hopefully lessons may be learned but I doubt it. There will always be those who have no scruples. Look at the looters in earthquake ridden places or the atrocities that happened in New Orleans after the hurricane. There is downright evil around every corner from top to bottom. There is a huge difference between looting for need and looting for profit. The same applies to our biggest organisations. Some costs have to be incurred due to certain situations. Other costs are placed on victims without rationality other than to make money. That is not a society that I want to be part of.
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A footnote: I finally found out how to get a euro sign into my writing only for blogspot to be unable to recognise it. Any help in ensuring that this does not happen again would be gratefully received. Same with the ampersand!
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