Sunday 7^th June 2009

Bat Bat Bat, Meow…….that’s the feeling on my ear and sound I get from Daisy at 4am this morning telling me to get up. I’m already awake, smart little buggers cats are, they know when you’re faking slumber and are determined to get your ass out of bed. So like a mug I do, feeding her and Nina in the process and then myself who quite obviously is lowest in the cats pecking order. I don’t know why as I’m already packed for my flight at noon, the flight to Dublin to join the Lepps once again for the tail end of rehearsals at Joe Elliotts home. I’ve been packed and ready for a week, dreaming of scoffing as many Mars Bars as possible and supping fresh cold Guinness with my mates in Dublin.

So I get to the airport and am greeted by a snotty nosed little girl at the American Airlines counter. I don’t know what I and the other customers have done to make her life so bad but she looks as though she has a fresh cat turd permanently lodged right under her little upturned snout and an attitude to match. I play nice and check my bags, paying $150 and giving a kidney and pint of blood for having a third checked bag and then she tells me that the flight is delayed and I’ll have to be on a later connection to Chicago which is fine as there’ll still be a couple of hours to kill in Chicago before the main flight to Dublin. Later on at the gate I ask her why she’s in a bad mood to which she replies tersely “I’m not in bad mood, why do YOU say that” to which I reply “because your attitude is shit” and turn around and go sit down.

Make it to Dallas only to have them change the gate on us twice. When they finally choose a gate we’re told they’re swapping planes and this one’s almost an hour late……Shite. Finally boarding we start to pull away and the plane loses power and the plane‘s sitting out away from the bridge. Five minutes in the captain comes out of the cockpit and goes for a pee (I’m not making this up), goes back in the cabin and then tells us we’ve lost auxiliary power. This is Texas, June and it’s in the 90’s and we’re cooking in the bleedin’ plane! Finally we’re plugged into A/C and have to wait over and hour and a half before power is restored and we take off. All this after being told a load of old bollocks by the crew and captain that “we’ll be leaving momentarily etc”. Tripe!

Arrive in Chicago two hours later to have missed the flight to Dublin by 20 minutes. By this time I can feel the blood pumping in my head and the adrenaline going. To their credit, the American Airlines staff in Chicago were a different breed to the numbskulls in Texas and after an hour or so of telling them that Joe Elliott is going to have my arse on a platter if I didn’t get to Dublin tomorrow, they actually pulled off a flight for me which is where I’m writing this drivel your reading or skipping over right now. A flight to London Heathrow where I should arrive Monday at 11am, sleep deprived and ready to connect on a flight to Dublin probably stinky, tired and craving real food and sleep.

I’ll have to let you know the rest as it unfolds. BLEH!