From Wizz To Worse

 

Photo©Nigel Summerley

Having vowed never to use Wizz Air again [see this blog 22 February] after a seven-hour delay at Malaga airport, I paid ten times as much for a return flight to Athens with British Airways, thinking it would be worth all that money just to get where I was going on time.

It was more than frustrating, then, when BA did a Wizz and cancelled my lunchtime flight and put me on another one, not seven but eight hours later.

My relaxing evening in Athens thus became arriving at my hotel at 3am.

Naively, I thought I might be due some compensation and filled in BA's application form.

It warned me that it was dealing with a lot of complaints – no shit, Sherlock – and could take some time to get back to me.

In fact, it got back to me impressively quickly to tell me that I would get zilch – because the delay was due to "Europe-wide industrial action", ie nothing to do with us.

Next time I think I'll just get the cheapest flight available and have no great expectations about when I might fly or arrive...

All White Now

 

Photo © Nigel Summerley

That great white carpet beneath the trees...  it's made up of countless snowdrops.

And this is just a small part of the breathtaking displays at Colesbourne Park in England's Cotswolds.

Said to be the greatest snowdrop garden in the country, its collection of these elegant flowers dates back to the 19th century.

It now includes around 250 different kinds of snowdrops... and to walk through it is like visiting a piece of heaven on earth.

www.colesbournegardens.org.uk

Photo © Nigel Summerley

From Bad To Wizz

A Which? survey says UK travellers rate Wizz Air as the worst short-haul airline.

I reckon they're not wrong.

I recently made the mistake of relying on Wizz Air to get me back from Spain on time.

My flight from Malaga at 11.45am was "delayed" until 5.15pm. So I spent seven hours in the airport with absolutely no information from Wizz Air.

When I asked at the gate through which we finally boarded what was the reason for the "delay", one of the airport staff told me that this flight was regularly cancelled – why, they didn't know.

Only when we got on board were we told by Wizz Air that there had been a "technical problem" – they claimed they'd had to get another plane because the original one wasn't working.

Things didn't improve. I'd reluctantly accepted having to fly back to Luton since an arrival before 2pm would give me plenty of time to get back into London. But the reality of not getting out of Luton airport until 8pm and then having to stand in the rain for an hour waiting for a bus on a train-strike day was rather different...

Customers rated Wizz Air as worse than Ryanair, says Which? Probably the ultimate non-accolade...

A Wizz Air spokesperson was quoted as saying: "We do everything possible to ensure that passengers reach their destination on time and with minimal delay." 

Well, they'll be doing it without me – and probably without quite a few other unhappy customers – from now on...

Beyond The Pail

 

This photograph was never intended to be a great picture... it was more of a note of how the Arethusa Spring on Ithaca looks.

But it has just taken on a new significance.

A reader in Key West, Florida, who saw my article in The Guardian on walking in the footsteps of Telemachus, got in touch to say he had hiked to the spring three decades ago... and left a bucket there for hauling up water.

I sent him a copy of this picture and he confirmed that the rusty bucket in the foreground looks like it's his.

Unfortunately, both his rusty bucket and the slightly less rusty one are no longer fit for hauling up water.

So maybe someone needs to take a new one up there...

If you fancy doing it, Walking In The Footsteps Of Odysseus – A Practical Guide To The Homeric Paths Of Ithaca, the book I worked on with author Jane Cochrane, may be helpful. Details at www.janeocochrane.co.uk.

Free books on Odysseus and his palace

To help celebrate Orthodox Christmas, two of Jane Cochrane's books about Ithaca will be free from Amazon as e-books from 7 to 11 January inclusive. If you don't already have some kind of e-reader, you should be able to download one for free from the internet.

The Excavation at Agios Athanasios / School of Homer is a record made by the archaeologist Professor Thanasis J Papadopoulos of his work done jointly with his wife, Litsa, at the site in north Ithaca. This publication gives the well-hidden archaeological evidence for the Palace of Odysseus being there. To help the lay reader, Jane has written a short introduction. 

Walking in the Footsteps of Odysseus (in which I also played a part) is a practical guide to the Homeric footpaths of Ithaca.

You can download e-books of The Excavation at Agios Athanasios / School of Homer and Walking in the Footsteps of Odysseus HERE.

Ms Perfect

 

I never saw Christine McVie with Fleetwood Mac. I only saw Fleetwood Mac when Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan were fronting the band.

But I did see Christine Perfect (as she was before marrying John McVie) several times with Chicken Shack on the same 1960s club circuit.

My unforgettable memory is the way she used to walk unassumingly on stage with her handbag, put it down by the side of the piano and then start playing the blues.

Shack's lead guitarist Stan Webb was mostly the one in the limelight, but the showstopping moment tended to be when Perfect took over and sang – beautifully – I'd Rather Go Blind, an old slow blues standard that she made her own.

Everyone seems to be remembering Christine McVie from the huge musical soap opera that Fleetwood Mac became after the Peter Green era... I'm happy to remember Christine Perfect. She really was something...

Oh, Suzahn...

 

A visit to the Night Owl bar in Finsbury Park, north London, is always interesting – but it was particularly so at a recent jazz jam session where I was introduced to Nashville singer/songwriter Suzahn Fiering, dropping in on her way from the US to Portugal.

Charming and talented in equal measures, Suzahn also whipped out a guitar that was quite amazing. She'd just picked it up from Snap Dragon, a company that specialises in fold-up guitars and which she endorses.

The picture above shows what her latest acquisition is like when it's unfolded (compact and cool) and below you can see what it's like when it's folded up – even more compact and ready to be put in a smart little carrying case and taken wherever a guitarist needs to go.

You can find out more about Suzahn Fiering at www.suzahn.com and about Snap Dragon at snap-dragon-guitars.com.