Wow – what a palaver that was!! Busy day in the office trying to finish up everything before my European jaunt, before running for my car at 4.30pm to catch the Delta Shuttle at 6.30pm to Washington. Alas in the car, the heavens opened and it started absolutely pissing it down with rain, black skies, thunder and streaks of lightening ripping across the sky. Oh joy. I began pondering whether a) I was ever going to make it out of LaGuardia this evening and b) whether a plane could actually survive a direct hit by lightening. Obviously all very cheery thoughts!!
Actually lucked out in the end (to a certain degree) because – as they cancelled my flight due to bad weather – we actually all got herded on to the delayed 4.30pm flight that was still sitting on the tarmac a full hour and a half after its supposed departure time! You could tell they were so happy to have been wheeled back to the departure gate when we all trooped on! So, despite the weather and a VERY bumpy flight, I only arrived 30mins late. So, so far, so good – my baggage arrived with me too (always a bonus!) so just a simple cab ride to the hotel. Hmm. This is where things got interesting as a simple cab ride turned into a bit of a nightmare as my enormous, sweaty driver had absolutely no bloody idea of where the hotel was! Obviously I didnt find this out until after I’d got in the cab – and, despite the cabbie calling the hotel for directions – we had an absolute nightmare trying to find the sodding Sheraton. It was all OK until we reached Powder Mill Road, which was where the hotel was supposed to be, but we drove up and down that road at least 4 times and couldnt spot it. The cabbie was getting more and more irate and frustrated and, after about 20mins of driving up and down, declared that “if we dont find it in the next couple of mins, I’m done”!! GREAT!! Minutes away from being dumped and abandoned at a gas station in the arse end of nowhere!! Fortunately, just as the cabbie was about to totally lose the plot, I spotted the hotel in the distance and that we needed to take a left where we’d previously gone straight across an intersection. Thank God for that. As a testament to my Britishness, instead of ripping the cabbie a new one for not knowing where the hotel was, I overly tipped him out of gratitude for not being abandoned by the side of the road, in the dark, with my suitcases. I checked in, dumped my bags and then headed straight for the bar for a restorative gin and tonic! Hope the rest of my trip is less eventful!!!
So, am now sitting on my tod in the Pfizer office, after a morning of preparations, as the rest of the team has just left for their meeting with the FDA. Got a couple of hours to kill before my car picks me up at 4pm, ready for my flight to Glasgow – trying to stay away from the cookies….
