Friday 17th – Saturday 18th October 2003
You love your job, you’re in Cape Town, and you’re in a very nice hotel on the waterfront. Table Mountain looks down majestically. It doesn’t get much better than this.
Well, it could do, as you are scheduled to depart 3 hours before the England vs South Africa Rugby game kicks off.
More than any other time than you can think of, you need a 24 hour delay
a) You suggest at the restaurant that the seafood in Cape Town is world famous, especially the shellfish. You cross your fingers in the hope that one of your crew will go down with the squits.
b) You wind up the Co-Pilot and the Loadie at the disco, hoping that one of them will flip and require a trip to hospital and/or the police station
c) On the walk back to the hotel, you give the Captain a gentle shove into the path of a speeding taxi
d) You telephone @rsecot Ops and inform them that the Navigator has had a nasty turn. He is mumbling incoherently and dribbling down his shirt. (Ascot Ops inform you that this is quite normal)
d) You cross your fingers and hope that the aircraft will break down, you can get back on the bus, dump your bags at the hotel and head off for the pub in your England shirt
e) You listen to the match on HF
You are in Namibia the next day and are scheduled to depart 4 hours before the Ireland vs Namibia Rugby kick off.
It slowly dawns on you that God is not on your side for this trip.