The beaver is a proud and noble animal
Notes from a bemused canuck
I still racked up 14000 steps…
I’ll be glad when this day is over and I’m back home. At least I’m in the right f’n country now.
And now I’m aaaaaalmost home. Just need to pick up the suitcase and I can put the airport chaos behind me, for today, at least.
Today has been a complete and utter nightmare. I was supposed to be halfway across the Atlantic right now. Instead, I’m on hold with Air Canada, sitting outside Brussels airport, chain-smoking and having a nervous breakdown.
I had a 8:15 flight out of Geneva to Brussels, then a 10:30 flight to Montreal. I got up at 4am, got my last bits ready, and then headed to the airport on the 5am train. Bags of time. Get to the airport, fight with the baggage check-in self-service kiosk (win!) then go past security super quickly. So far, so good. My flight to Brussels was uneventful, but that’s when all hell broke loose.
My flight landed at 9:35, and my flight to Canada was starting to board at 930. I could still have made it, but there was a complete and utter border checkpoint shambles in between. Even with shameless queue jumping, I didn’t make it in time for my gate. The flight closed only a few minutes before I managed to make it to the gate. The staff at the airport were like, don’t worry, they know there are late people, they’ll wait. They didn’t. I missed my flight. But I could still see it just outside the window, still connected to the ramp. So close, yet do far.
Enter circles of airport/airline hell.
First rung of airport hell was getting my suitcase back. That took about an hour – which given the number of lost bags that were piling up, is probably a small miracle nonetheless.
Second level of airport hell: customer service counters. Now comes the part of trying to rebook a connecting flight. See, the 1st leg of the flight was operated by Brussel Airways. The 2nd leg was Air Canada. After waiting in 2 different queues, I get a lady-just-about-to-close-her-window service agent. She looks at my boarding passes and smiles because she’s still going to be able to go on break soon. You see, sir, Brussels airways says that even though the flight was late by a couple of minutes, I still had more than 50 minutes to make my connection, that’s their contractual obligation, and they’re not responsible for airport delays, so I need to deal with Air Canada.
Air Canada, joyously, doesn’t have a service desk at the airport.
I need to call them.
Enter third level of airline hell: phone support.
At the time or writing this post, I’ve been on hold for over two hours. (2h20, to be exact). It was a solid hour and a quarter before I actually spoke to a human being. The rest has been trying to figure what my options are. Which seem to be very few. It would seem that AAAAAALLLLLL flights out of Brussel going even remotely to Canada are booked solid until the 4th – Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Quebec. So now I’m trying to get myself back to Switzerland, lick my wounds and deal with the fallout. It’s still not clear just how much out of pocket I’m going to be on this.
Update at 3h mark: Possible moderate success – since I’ve already started the trip, the flight is not cancellable nor refundable but I can keep the remaining legs as “credits”, usable up to July next year. I’m hoping to be able to use the BRU-YUL portion of this aborted trip to pay for a flight back to GVA, and then I’d still have the YUL-GVA portion as credit I can use until July of 2023.
The lady on the phone has been super helpful, and I repeatedly told her so.
Update several hours later, once I’ve finally been able to pee, sit, eat and drink something. From reading up on the interwebs, it seems that Brussels is a known shitshow for passport control. This is a picture from a few years ago, but history repeats as it was the exact same spot I was in.
And this is a news blurb from a few weeks ago:
Passengers traveling through Brussels Airport, Belgium towards a non-Schengen destination were forced to enter a lengthy queue at passport control. “While Federal Police carried out the necessary but time-consuming passport controls, a technical problem also affected the airport’s e-gates, a system that mechanically reads out the passports. Passengers for non-Schengen destinations are advised to come well ahead, i.e. 3 hours in advance,” the airport tweeted.
Between 50,000 and 70,000 passengers are expected to depart from Brussels Airport daily during the summer months. 66 destinations are non-Schengen. People were complaining about kilometer-long queues and 4h delays…
Now I just have 3 hours to kill before I fly to Zurich, then Geneva.
As a follow-on to the table project, I’ve finally finished sanding and painting our old chairs to match the table. I have to say, they came out really well.
2 thick slices white bread, toasted, torn into bite-size pieces
1 kg tomatoes
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp smoked paprika
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Halved jammy eggs, prosciutto or jamon Serrano, stuffed green olives, pickled onions and/or gherkins(for serving; optional)
Crushed red pepper flakes and finely chopped parsley (for serving)
Purée bread, tomatoes, vinegar, and paprika in a blender until smooth; season mixture generously with salt and pepper. With the motor running, gradually stream in oil and blend until emulsified. Transfer soup to an airtight container; cover and chill until very cold, at least 30 minutes.
Ladle soup into bowls and top with egg halves and prosciutto if using. Thread olives, onions, and/or gherkins of your choice onto skewers and set across bowls (or serve toppings alongside soup).
Sprinkle some red pepper flakes and parsley and more black pepper on top.
1 cup whole coffee beans
4 cups water
1. Grind the coffee beans on the coarsest setting on your grinder, or in short 1-second pulses in a spice grinder. The grounds should look like coarse cornmeal, not fine powder. You should have just under 1 cup of grounds.
2. Transfer the coffee grounds to the container you’re using to make the cold brew. Pour the water over top. Stir gently with a long-handled spoon to make sure the grounds are thoroughly saturated with water.
3. Cover the jar with a lid. Let the coffee steep for about 12 hours. The coffee can be left on the counter or refrigerated; steeping time is the same.
4. Line a small strainer with cheesecloth or flour sack cloth and place over a large measuring cup or bowl. Pour the coffee through the strainer.
5. Transfer the coffee to a small bottle or jar and store in the fridge for up to a week.
6. Dilute the coffee with as much water or milk as you prefer. Serve over ice.
1/2 measure whisky
1/2 measure dark rhum
1/2 measure kahlua or Patron XO coffee
1/2 measure baileys
1/2 measure sugar syrup
Fill large glass with ice. Add booze. Top with cold brew concentrate. Enjoy.
The day before I was supposed to leave for Canada. I have my boarding passes, covid certificates and all other sundry paperwork. The suitcases are ready.
In recent years, birthdays have always been… difficult so Katy wants to have a good day with me before I leave to celebrate a pre-birthday, in case my real birthday follows the trend.. We go to Lausanne for dinner and a movie, but the heat and humidity are oppressive and it’s getting to us. We decide to go home instead of seeing the movie. Katy just wants to go to bed.
At the station in Morges, we want to take a taxi to go home. While going to the taxi, Katy falls off the curb and hears a crack. She thought she sprained her ankle, but the pain doesn’t go away and she can’t really walk on it. After 4 hours in the ER (so 1h30 am), it’s a fracture and she needs crutches and a giant boot. One year to the day from the date of the operation on her finger.
It’s confirmed, we’re hexed and the universe hates us.
On the plus side, it was much easier than expected to get in touch with Air Canada and rebook my flight. Hopefully she’ll be more mobile by next Sunday. We should know more on Thursday.
Katy’s always wanted a round kitchen table. We upcycled one from Facebook marketplace. Old school solid wood and extensible. Gave it a damn good sanding then two coats of mat black that, in this heat, only took 5 minutes to dry. The top is still the same color of untreated wood, that’s only a poor lighting artefact. Now we need to sand and paint the chairs to match.
Handmade wine cork memory wall hanging. Got a wine crate from the local wine merchant, some plexiglass from hornbach and just a bit of DIY bodging and voila! It’s a bit wonky in places, but has character!
Lawful Good
Chaotic Evil
