More European Madness (or Not) - Share my pain! Damn!

[Saabnut]

This weekend is my bi-annual holiday weekend, yes it is Lemans Classic weekend. I try to get to this every time it is on and think I have only missed a couple. A group of us travel on the tunnel on Thursday morning and return on Monday evening. Unfortunately, this year, work got in the way with 7-10 days trip commencing on Thursday last, perfect timing to screw things up. As I type, at 0730 on Tuesday, I am here

and we have 12 to 24 hours work left. Port is a 14 hour sail away. Last flight to Aberdeen that will allow me to bypass home and head straight for the tunnel leaves Stavanger at 1800 Wednesday. This will mean a 12 hour drive to the tunnel then a 5-6 hour drive in France. Things are very tight!

To cap it off, the Norwegian aircraft technicians are on strike. There are two carriers for the SVG-ABZ route, Wideroe and SAS. Wideroe have this morning announced all flights today are cancelled. Some SAS flights are running, including ABZ at the moment, but that could change at any moment.

So to sum up, I am in the middle of the north sea, with 12-24 hours work left and a 14 hour steam to port. The absolute deadline to leave field and have a chance of making the trip is midnight tonight. The planes are on strike with just a few running. I have no flight booked yet. I have no tunnel booked. I will be taking the ex AS Saab 9-3 convertible that cost me 700 quid and spent not a penny on in the 8 months I have had it (as that is what I took to the airport). I have no european brake down cover in place. I have done no preparation as I expected to be working.

Will I make it? Watch this space.  

[lesapandre]

Well I am in 61 at the moment. A very beautiful blue sky morning and no problems on the road I have heard of.

Petrol is around 2.20€PL so you'll have to make a call - which is cheaper UK or France.

Anyway so far it looks like a good weekend - though France has had some very serious storms in the South and West with lots of damage last week and pretty unsettled up here in 61. But very nice the last few days.

[Saabnut]

Well, worked out we should be in port with a couple of hours to spare. Due to the chaos in the air industry in Norway, I decided to gamble and book a seat on the plane in case it fills up. A mere 450 quid, one way, for a 50 minute flight.

That was an hour ago.

Since then, they have added 5 additional workscopes for us, none of which should take long, but probably 2-3 hours in total. Yes, the 2-3 hour buffer I had!

Good job I don't have ulcers!  

[cort1977]

If you need any logistical help at the Aberdeen end give me a shout.

[Saabnut]

In the last hour we have decided, unless things change, we will be in port Thursday so too late. I am an optimist so not changing my flight just yet...  

[Saabnut]

And optimistic me seems to be in the lead, two jobs removed from the list so tomorrow demob and France on Thursday is looking more likely....

[Saabnut]

Well, the optimism didn't last long. Hade rescheduled and made a new plan that actually left me with most of my 2-3 hour buffer back in place.

Then the transport controller called and let me know that the other oil spill response vessel was on her way to port for crewchange so we cannot leave field until it is back, sometime Thursday morning. We then have our 14 hour transit and demob to do, so the Lemans trip is now definitely off for this weekend. I have rebooked my flight for Friday evening.

Oh well, the joys of offshore life! Now planning a trip for a couple of weeks time, after all, shitefest in Welsh Wales is on the way to Lemans, no?

[lesapandre]

To console you it is raining 🌧  in N. France today - and car parts take just as long or longer to arrive as in the UK. So I am finishing my roadtip on Friday on...Eurostar. The Benz is continuing it's holiday alone until I come back to collect it for Road Trip II - which involves buzzing it down to Spain - maybe for another FTP...😆