Scribblings from Steve
Well we got back home on Friday. Had a couple of minor problems with luggage but its sorted now.
I will be writing up some posts about the rest of the time in Maine when I’ve got some time… like next week at work!
And I’ll get some photos uploaded onto Flickr too
Well all the preparation is done, the chapel is decorated, as is the venue for the party afterwards. Its been a couple of crazy days for Kathy with late nights and early mornings.
Not so much for me as I’ve got my wrist in a splint having taken a fall early in the week. Nothing broken but it hurts like hell.
So wedding today, tidy up tomorrow and then on Monday if the weather is good we’re off out somewhere. Don’t know where yet but we are.
Will post some pics of the wedding when I get round to it!
Well its Sunday, Mothers Day, mothering Sunday, or whatever. Well it is over here in the USA.
Kathy took Jen down to Portland for a makeover before her wedding (which is next weekend) and then Jen is taking her out for lunch.
So I’m back here in Hallowell busy doing nothing. Its a sunny day so I may get my book (The Naming of the Dead) and go and sit outside and soak up some of those rays.
The weather has actually been better than they forecast – it was supposed to be much more overcast and cooler for most of the week. We’re hoping that next week the weather will hold so we can get out and do a few things – like getting to the coast or up to Bar Harbor – I kind of want to go up Cadillac mountain and watch the world go by!
“Over 100 years ago, France started a war with Mexico. In the Mexican city of Puebla, two forts blocked the advance of the French troops. There were about 6,000 French and 2,000 Mexican soldiers. The Mexicans were under the command of General Ignacio Zaragoza.
On May 5, 1862, the French attacked the two forts. Before the day was over, one of the forts was destroyed and more than 1,000 French soldiers were killed. The Mexicans had won the battle. This battle is known as the Battle of Puebla.”
So what has that got to do with me and Maine?
Simple – we had a day out yesterday and as part of the thank you for driving us down to New Hampshire Kathy and I treated our friends to supper at “On the Border” – a Mexican restaurant.
Me, being a simple Englishman had no idea that May 5th was a special day, and I’d been confused in the morning when I’d heard the DJ on the radio ( 102.5 – The Peak ) in the morning saying it was Cinco de Mayo.
Maine, of course, has almost no Mexican population but I guess any excuse to drink and eat too much!!
It was actually quite enjoyable.
Well we’re off to Maine for nearly 3 weeks. We’ve got my step-daughters wedding to go to (I’m doing the photographs) and we want to spend time with Kathy’s mum and we want to go sightseeing. Kathy wants to go down to Pemmaquid and sit by the ocean for a bit.
[Embedded Canalplan Map for Pemmaquid]
We know that its not going to be easy going back. Because of the weather Kathy’s dad hasn’t actually been buried yet so there hasn’t been any real closure and we know that there are going to a lot of tears during the three weeks we are there.
Kathy wants to know if there is anywhere I’d like to go and there are a few places but it depends on which car we have and how we all feel. I’ll have to think it through and see how we all feel.
I’m not in a happy mood at all.
At about 6am on Thursday February 28th we got a telephone call from Kathy’s sister telling us that her dad had died unexpectedly.
It was obvious that Kathy, at least, needed to get back to Maine as soon as possible.
To try to make things as easy as we could we wanted a flight that took her directly to Portland, Maine, rather than leaving her at Boston and having to take the Concord Trailways bus.
United Airlines seemed to do this so we decided to book with them. Rather than use the internet Kathy phoned them. United then took lots of details, such as her fathers full name, the funeral home he had been taken to and the name of the director of the funeral home. We assumed that this meant she would get some decent treatment from United or a decent air fair.
How wrong we were. The ticket was £499 (more than it was if we’d bought it on line).
We should have realised then, as previous experience of United had shown, that it was all down hill from there.
They promised us the E-ticket would be in the email soon. Nope.. after hassling them several times it actually turned up at 2pm on Friday 29th
So Saturday morning we drive over to Heathrow. We get there and United say they need the credit card that was used to buy the ticket (i.e. MY credit card) to confirm the ticket. So Kathy gives it to them.
She goes through security and I go home.
By the time I get home which is 5 minutes after the plane has taken off the United Airlines website shows that it will be landing 30 minutes late in Washington due to “operational reasons” at Dulles. On the plane they tell Kathy that it will all be fine. A couple hours out from Washington they admit they will be late but it is OK as the connecting flight to Portland is also delayed
So Kathy gets off at Washington and gets through immigration and customs and makes it to the gate to find the flight has closed and she cannot get on.
So she has to try to get on the next flight. Which she manages to do.
That flight is then delayed.
She arrives at her parents’ in Augusta at 03:30am EST – a mere 26 hours after leaving Cheltenham.
So we think the crap has ended there.
No…
Mid March we get our credit card bill:
4 March : United Air US Ticket Mailed 15.00 US Dollars 29 Feb
4 March : United Air US E-TKT 871.42 US Dollars 29 Feb
5 March : United Air UK Heathrow 499.30 29 Feb
Only the 3rd transaction is the ticket we got emailed to us. The other two are phantom transactions invented by United Airlines. I mean who the hell would buy a ticket on 28/29th Feb for a flight on March 1st and ask for it to be posted – and how the hell do you post an E-Ticket?
So I phone them. They try to blame it on us booking on line. I explain that we phoned them so its all down to them. They agree a refund.
We keep an eye on the credit card… no refund comes through. They usually come through in a few days.
I phone them on Monday and I’m assured that they did process it on March 22nd but it could take “two billing cycles to come through”.
Wednesday evening it appears on our credit card.. a refund from United Airlines – for £218.30 . Now I knew the dollar was weak but how the hell can $886.42 turn into £218.30.
So yesterday I phone them … you just phone their customer line and ignore all the push button options until you fall off the end. I’m told that they cannot do anything that I need to contact the refund department. I loose it – I explain the whole situation that the fault is ENTIRELY United Airlines as they did everything and that frankly the way my wife and I have been treated by United in this whole farce is enough to put us off ever flying with them again. After about 20 minutes they tell me that they’ve pushed it forward to their refunds department and to phone back tomorrow for an update.
So this morning I phone and get someone who says they can’t see anything on their systems. Eventually they do and say “its gone to the refunds department” and to phone back “the end of next week”.
Is this really the sort of treatment you should expect from a company like United. They have basically ripped us off and kept nearly $900 of OUR money for in excess of a month and they don’t seem to want to give it back.
Fly United : fly the friendly Skies.
I don’t fucking think so.
If there is one depressing thing about Thanksgiving it is what comes afterwards – yes that’s right: Christmas, or as they say in America “Holidays”.
Now I know the UK is far from perfect but we don’t leap into the “Happy Holiday Spirit” the way our American cousins do. Right after Thanksgiving the “Holiday” adverts begin. Holiday specials on jewellery, on power tools, on cars – yes they have Holiday Specials on the latest Ford Trucks. Its Madness.
But the madness really shows through when it comes to the Radio. Take 94.9 WHOM (Portland, Maine’s “America’s Superstation”) for example. It normally plays music that is OK to listen to… but not now, oh no, its now broadcasting “100% Christmas Music”. Yes you read that correctly – 100% Christmas music.. from now until Boxing Day… and its not even sodding December yet.
It was a wonderful sunny day and we had things to do. Kathy wanted to see the coast and I needed to get my shoes replaced and we needed to do some Christmas shopping.
So lets combine them all into one trip.
We headed off early in the morning down the interstate towards Portland. Our first port of call was LL Bean who are a huge supplier out outdoor clothing, hunting equipment etc. They never close and none of the shop doors have locks on them! Part of their guarantee is that if something goes wrong within the life of a product they will replace it. Well the middle of the sole on the right foot of the boots I bought from them las year had separated, the rest of the boot and the left boot were fine. So we took them back.. they told me to get a new pair. So I did and they were cheaper so they gave us a gift card for the difference – which we then spent on other things we needed in the store.
After that we headed to Portland and Tony’s Donuts which does a wide range of freshly cooked donuts. So after a breakfast of donuts and coffee we headed off to Kittery and The Stonewall Kitchen where we picked up Christmas Gifts for people.
We then headed back up Route 1 to Ogunquit and Perkin’s Cove
[Embedded Canalplan Map for Perkins Cove]
where we went for a walk along the Marginal Way which is a coastal path than runs just above the rocky shorefront. I’ll be adding some photos to Flickr soon.
Having had a good dose of ocean views, smells and sounds we continued heading north on Route 1 and stopped for lunch at Maniax Restaurant before continuing up Route 1 through Kennebunk to Portland where we got back on the Interstate and headed back to Sue and Jeff’s.
In the evening we went to Maria Libra’s Italian Restaurant which is just down the road in Hallowell. Extremely good food in a friendly environment – but if you want the Lasagna it’s advisable to book your portion in advance as everything is made fresh on the day and quantities of some dishes are limited.
Well its the day of too much food and too much turkey, and too much beer.
The Antacid manufacturers must love Thanksgiving and Christmas!
We are at Kathy’s parents for Lunch and then we will head back to Sue and Jeff’s where we will basically turn up at the end of their meal so it will be a second round of deserts for us
Apparently whilst we were getting rained on in Maine it was snowing in England. Typical!
Anyway it started snowing here yesterday – it did about half an inch and its still lying on the ground this morning and we have had a few smatterings this morning. They say that its going to be like this for a couple of days so it looks like a white Thanksgiving for us this year.
Sue and Jeff got back from their cruise last night – they were about an hour late due to delays at the airports. Still at least they made it home – it looks like the delays on this day before Thanksgiving might be much longer than that