There seems to be a Norfolk connection going on here...
Will be going for a dip in the briny at "Great" Yarmouth at some stage
Norfolk = flat earthers the lot of you or so my sister in Eye says
At some stage I need to summon up enough courage to deal with Holt in North Norfolk. It's an insufferably stuck up market town full of hooray henrys and Boden types. No thanks.
The Norwich connection is quite terrible (and from two posters that seemed otherwise normal, even decent and nice...). So, here's something to add balance.
Where's that scrumpy glass shot, Mendip?
I've had terrible experiences with KLM, but I understand what folks are saying about the routes and stuff - coming from North London/Hertfordshire, not really a problem for me; M25 or up the Piccadilly (although I've heard Dilly and Luigi are fond of going up the Bakerloo... sorry... ).
Last edited by Bettyboo; 18-12-2019 at 01:31 PM.
Cycling should be banned!!!
Never use the taxis.
The tenner "tax" to leave is a bit of a piss take, concur.
Worst thing about the airport is the keen C & E.
Norwich is one of those few provincial airports where they send apprentice suitcase openerers.
Being politically correct, their "handlers" let the Pakistani/Albanian business man in a suit straight thru, even though he is importing 5 kilos of pure 99% smack in his suitcase.
Meanwhile, white 70 y/o granny, and me and my 12-13-14 y/o son have our stuff gone thru like we are the actual mules.
And the smarmy questioning.
Hate 'em.
Exceedingly annoying.
Never forgiven them for confiscating 120 packets of Thai hand rolling tobacco....
Ipswich, was, is and always has been a complete shithole of a town.
Even if you grew up there, you have to admit it.
However, the glory days of ITFC, i will admit, was a wonderful time to be an Ipswich supporter, and they were popular with all the neutrals and played very good, easy on the eye football.
^ Little snoring is such a good name.
True.
&, an amazing amount strange looking/acting folks... By the docks/train station, very close to Portman Road, is ok-ish, and an easy train ride to Felixstowe; what could be better!
I never lived there; dad was from there, so went every other weekend to visit his parents and see the home games throughout the 70s and 80s (went to some away games too, such as every round of the FA cup in 1978 except the quarter final at Millwall - a famous riot that day - my dad went to it though) as a kid then foolishly kept going myself throughout the mostly dire 90s...
Travel went... as expected.
Check-in at Bangkok was exactly the same every other time I've ever travelled with the family...
My bag, 19kg. The two bags for wife/sprog (that I had nothing to do with) came in at a whopping combined 58kg. Yep, straight away we were 8kg over our aggregate 23kg personal baggage allowance. A large part of this was due to 7kg of rice, packed loose in a carrier bag somewhere in the depths of one bag. My wife has yet to trust the UK's capability of supplying various food stuffs so brings her own. At one point this was looking like being Thailand's most expensive rice export in history, and in order to save the excess fine I was gonna have to unpack and hand carry the bloody stuff to Bristol.
But... a result, and the check-in girl let us off - partly due to my winning smile, and partly I reckon due to me telling her that the ridiculous reindeer antler head-gear she was wearing was 'suay maak maak'!!!
Yep, I haven't lost it!
As always, in the 'D' area at AMS I had a sausage roll. I've been eating these sausage rolls at Schiphol for nigh on 30 years, and it started to feel like I was coming home!
Then off to Gate D6, which has been the gate for Bristol flights (and all other provincial UK destinations) since the early 90s by my reckoning. A familiar sight.
And welcome to Blighty!
The thieving cider-guzzling carrot munching wurzel b@stards at Bristol want 2 quid for a trolley at arrivals! Can ya believe that!??
Is this standard in the UK now? The only other airport I've ever seen this was Perth WA. Even the Norwegians don't charge for trolleys, and they don't normally miss out on a trick like this.
I was gonna drag the bags through customs meself out of protest... but what choice did I have? After 20 odd hours of travelling the wife was about at her limit, the daughter a keen but hopeless helper, and I had half of Thailand's daily rice export to single-highhandedly transport through the airport to the taxi rank.
So, £4 to the bandits.
Oh, and if you don't have any UK or Euro change, no problem. There's an ATM right there, and a machine to convert your new notes to change. They got it covered!
^ I sodding hate that pay for a baggage trolley shtick. Half the time I land I have no local currency coins etc, and on the small provincial arrivals there is no place to change to coins.
Aah, just made an edit as you typed that Nid. Bristol have thought of that!
^ OK - but it will still annoy the crap out of me. Have a great time back in blighty.
Four pounds for baggage trolleys... You got shafted the minute you landed in the UK!
The sausage roll looks really nice, looks like a giant - I just hope it's as big as that photo suggests. Simple, but effective presentation.
Rice in suitcase, Thai wife... A lot of us have been there and done that. You managed the situation superbly.
My little lunatic (I mean sweatheart) is coming back to Korea at the weekend, and she has 40kgs via AsiaAir premium (great ticket price) yet she will still be carrying rice and other stuff in her hand baggage and "laptop bag" to make sure she gets her very very maximum allowance (she has been known to be over the limit then spend time at the airport finding a cast off box then sending stuff via a cheaper route at the Thai Post office counter or various other ways she works out on the spot such as using other Thai passengers with less luggage as rice mules...); I very rarely travel with the wife!
Excellent pics and stories, keep it coming; this thread could make it into the TD HoF!
It's been raining in this fuckhole for the last three months...
But the kids are getting a good education.
*repeat mantra to maintain sanity*
^^ £4 for trolleys, followed ny £19 for a 15 minute taxi ride with the 'airport taxis'. Bristol Airport have it sewn up, it's virtually impossible to get picked up by an external company.
And yes, travelling with the wife... twice in the past I have had to repack bags at check-in due to massive amounts of Thai foodstuffs that needed redistributing. Yes, I was that guy who queues of pissed off travellers waiting to check in were mentally calling a complete wanker.
Well, at least that's what I think when I get delayed by these people!
We've all been there (I struggle to be relaxed at such times, I turn into the Fawlty Towers bloke...) - &, now you're being buggered by the UK - once you sit down and have a nice pint, a nice Xmas dinner, relax in the lovely local markets (the cheeses and breads you can get!), it'll be well worth it.
7 pints of dry rough he won't remember how he got there from Korat.
^
A program on NZ TV called Boarder Security they always show Asian lady's with bags of FOOD they haven't declared and the standard answer when asked why it was not declared is
Not FOOD just SNACK not food
Don't forget a cup of tea and a slice of cake.
-4 here last night in the North West, there is a good possibility that Mendips wife and daughter will experience a rare white Xmas.
Hats, gloves,scarfs you know the score. Earplugs from the incessant nagging about being cold.
It'll do them good to experience Chillblanes after 10 minutes fun sledging .
Did you manage to get tickets for the Utd game?
Wolves v Man city would be a proper treat for your boy and nearer on the 27th.
Give us a shout if you're about, that goes for all you wankers on here. Chez Chitty gives a warm festive welcome to you all.
Wishing you all the most memorable fantastic Christmas.
Today my hope was to borrow Norton's 'To do' list, but of course no rest for the wicked...
After picking up the car I was heading back home to pick up the wife for some shopping, which I was really looking forward to, when I took a small detour to pass this...
Well, I couldn't pass it of course, and followed the arrows...
... to find Valhalla!
Decisions decisions... I couldn't decide between the dry or the medium, so went for one of each. Seemed like the obvious solution, and just 2.5 litres to start with to get the taste buds going.
I used to visit this place as a small boy with my dad. Back then a group of old guys with huge bulbous red noses sat around a few cider barrels, and when customers came in it was traditional to have a taster... regardless of age. I remember leaving with a spinning head many times as my dad decided between the sweet or medium. These days HSE frowns on giving rough cider to children, so my daughter went thirsty.
It was late afternoon before I could enjoy the fruits of my spoils. Daughter playing with Nan, wife on Facebook, so a much needed bit of 'me' time! And some light reading to boot... I'll wager there's not many on Teakdoor with their own magazine!
Worthy of a close-up I think!
Sprouts with my steak and kidney pie for lunch, rough cider this evening.
The wife and littlun are in for a treat tonight... better leave the window open!
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