Telling it like it is

I travelled back home today. The Virgin Atlantic flight was sublime again. I'm a total fan now. My bag arrived in Vegas and I re-checked them and heeeeeyyyyyy - Delta lost it again. They lost it on the way out and again on the way back. In fact, apart from this march when we flew to the UK, it's been three years and five months now since I flew with my bags. Or more specifically since my bags flew anywhere on the same actual plane as me. You know if anyone with terrorist tendencies wanted to cause a fuss, all they need to do is put a fucking big barymetric bomb in their suitcase, book a flight on Delta and go to the airport as normal, because I can 100% guarantee they would not be on the same plane as their bomb. Delta are fucking abominable. They've got old, clapped-out aircraft. They've reduced their seat pitch by an inch. They're always late. Their planes are always on tech. And they simply don't fly your luggage on the same flight as you. At least, that...

It's been fun for a week to meet all the people again that I used to work with before moving to America, but it's time to go home. Weather is pretty poor. Country is miserable. Everything costs and arm and a leg. Colleagues, relatives and friends are nice but I've outstayed my tolerance for the UK again. I'll be hopping on Virgin Atlantic again tomorrow morning to travel once more without my luggage.

I heard on the radio this morning that the army over here are considering actually not sending Bulletmagnet (Prince Harry) to Iraq on the grounds that he'll attract so much attention it will make it more dangerous for him and his batallion. Well duh. This has been such a stupid debate - the army were never going to send the next in line to the throne into Iraq. He keeps claiming he doesn't want to be treated any different but that's impossible. In a country where bluebloods are still so well respected, they're never going to be treated anything but differently.

This A4 I've got on rental is stupid fast. I mean insane. It's quick for any car, let alone a diesel. The 'S' mode on the gearbox is a scream. A nice windy section of country road that normally takes me 20 minutes took barely 15 last night. Good job there were no coppers around. It's black, German, automotive porn.

I've just about had it with Hertz here in the UK. Again when I got to the airport they gave me the spiel about not having a car for me. Eventually they again conceded that in fact they did have a car but then there was an issue with my credit card (they couldn't read it). Yesterday, on the way to the office, the power steering failed so I called Hertz, naively expecting some form of customer service, only to be told it was my responsibility to get the car back to them. I had to call the RAC. I had to take my time out and I had to get the car back to the airport. Apparently it doesn't matter that I might have been doing something else, it was simply beyond them to bring a replacement car to me. Idiots. Still - at least I got a decent replacement - a 2.7L Audi A4 TDI. Now this is a fast car, and it's a diesel of all things!

I flew on Virgin Atlantic for the first time yesterday, in their premium economy class. Better than coach but not quite business. Excellent seats, and we were on a 747 where the premium economy class is upstairs in the hump, so you're in your own 'private' cabin which was cool. It's 20 years since I flew on a 747. I'd forgotten how fast they were. Mind you, we took up the entire runway to get off the ground. That's the first time I've really been able to understand the term 'lumbering' as applied to an aircraft. It didn't feel like it was flying much at all until an hour into the flight. Of course when I got to the UK, my bag hadn't come with me. No big surprise there as part of my journey involved Delta, the luggage roulette company. It turns out they didn't even manage to get it to Vegas so there was no chance it was ever going to get on the Virgin flight. That airline needs to be disolved and sold off.