Blue Christmas
It seemed such a good idea at the time.
"We'll fly out on Christmas Day itself," Grumpy explained. "Everything will be closed then, so we'll be there bright and early ready to get going on 26th."
We'd decided to do Christmas a little differently this year. We would go to Memphis and spend Christmas with Elvis at Graceland!
We'd been waiting at the gate for about an hour when it all started to go wrong.
"I'm sorry," said the agent at the desk, without an ounce of sincerity in her voice."But the plane has been downgraded so 16 of you won't be able to get on."
Naturally we were among the lucky few. The lucky few chosen to enjoy Christmas at O'Hare airport. The irony was the weather wasn't an issue. It was the first clear day for weeks. No snow on the runway. No blizzards. No nothing but more importantly no plane, at least not one big enough for all of us.
After a further hour or so arguing we'd got round to the "take it or leave it" speech from the Grinch at the desk.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. A day tucked up in a four star hotel close to the airport. We had nothing else to do at home anyway, and the car was already in a car park miles away. The next flight would be leaving at 7 a.m. the next day, so perhaps it would all turn out for the best. I was wrong.
"We'll fly out on Christmas Day itself," Grumpy explained. "Everything will be closed then, so we'll be there bright and early ready to get going on 26th."
We'd decided to do Christmas a little differently this year. We would go to Memphis and spend Christmas with Elvis at Graceland!
We'd been waiting at the gate for about an hour when it all started to go wrong.
"I'm sorry," said the agent at the desk, without an ounce of sincerity in her voice."But the plane has been downgraded so 16 of you won't be able to get on."
Naturally we were among the lucky few. The lucky few chosen to enjoy Christmas at O'Hare airport. The irony was the weather wasn't an issue. It was the first clear day for weeks. No snow on the runway. No blizzards. No nothing but more importantly no plane, at least not one big enough for all of us.
After a further hour or so arguing we'd got round to the "take it or leave it" speech from the Grinch at the desk.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. A day tucked up in a four star hotel close to the airport. We had nothing else to do at home anyway, and the car was already in a car park miles away. The next flight would be leaving at 7 a.m. the next day, so perhaps it would all turn out for the best. I was wrong.
posted by Hilary at
3:39 PM
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