Cue some frantic checking of the BRS/BRU websites every 10mins during Friday - BRS closed, Cardiff closed, Birmingham closed, diversions to MAN....oh joy, what a start to the weekend this looked like. Finally found out that BRS re-opened at 1600hrs GMT, albeit with a reduced flight schedule - as my flight wasn't til 1935hrs CET (1835hrs GMT), I reckoned it stood a good chance of getting me back to my local airport [:)]
Did the bagdrop at BRU at ~1750hrs CET (thank you, unnaturally light Brussels traffic and eversoefficient taxi driver) - check-in assistant hadn't heard anything adverse about Brizzle and had no warnings on her system, so was confident the flight would go on time.
Headed on up to the Wingtips restaurant for some service-station-esque fish & chips and a Coke - primarily because work would still pick it up on expenses, and also to kill some time (BRU is NOT the most exciting airport in the world!). Went outside for a final smoke before going through passport control, an unusually quiet but strict security check (beeped for the first time in ages). Boarding announced at gate B28 on the refurbished side of the B Pier - on time, another RJ100 was waiting for us.
Seat 10A this time (9A had already gone), and it was not the best choice on this plane - the curtain (unused, but still there) was right behind my head and was bloody annoying. We pushed back at around 1935hrs and were wheels up about 7 mins later.
Up into the darkening skies for an uneventful 1hr flight.... did take advantage of a 3 Maes beer, just for the sake of it. One thing that does stand out is that I wondered about the strange cloud cover while we were cruising over England - how it broke by the main roads - then I had to berate myself, as that wasn't clouds, it was the snow! A strange sight in the darkness - but nice all the same.
Landed at 1940hrs GMT and it was easy to see why BRS had been closed all day - there was loads of snow around and the taxiways were (IMHO) only just navigable. Down the tunnel to the terminal, small wait at passport control, bag going round the carousel already, straight through customs and out to the Silver Zone bus. Got my car keys back and then had to sweep 4in of snow & accumulated ice off the top of the car and tramp down 7-8in drifts from round the wheels (of course, being accustomed to the Southern winters these days, I no longer keep a shovel, wellies or a brush in the car!).... nice.
Slow drive home for the 14 miles, given that there was still quite a bit of snow on the road and I was following the most bleeding cautious driver....in the world...doing 10mph for a fair amount of the way. Still, I was home for the weekend, which was the main thing, and the 1st week of testing complete [y]
Cheers
Michael
