He made it to Paris. It's a miracle, really and he's quite thankful. He's been standing the whole time and his feet hurt from being stepped on by his fellow passengers. He's not actually at the airport which would have been the most convenient TGV stop. Instead he's in southern Paris and it will take another hour or so by cab to get to the airport. But he's not in the south of France, he's in Paris.
He wins.
It's a good thing too, because Air France just got around to cancelling his flight from Montpellier. They waited until 7pm the night before to finalize the deal (they were busy thinking about it), and if he'd waited for the official cancellation he'd still be in the south. And it would be too late.
He steps off the train and into a brasserie over the railway station. He treats himself to some fois gras and a glass of St. Emillion and starts to feel like himself once again. The feeling returns to his feet. He takes a picture, sends it to me with a "Wish you were here." For once, I'm glad I'm not. Even for St Emillion, Paris and fois gras.
Restored, more or less, he leaves the tranquility of the brasserie for the taxi line in front of the TGV. Just like taxi lines everywhere, he has no control over his ride - it's taxi roulette. And he loses.
The guy who picks him up doesn't speak English or French. He barely knows how to drive a car but claims to know how to get to the airport. A few minutes into the ride a pedestrian jaywalks off the curb. The taxi hits him with a side mirror and drives over the guy's foot. Did you know that over 1000 pedestrians are killed every year in Paris? I saw that once in a public service announcement in France. The taxi doesn't stop even though legally he's required to. The taxi driver slows, looks at the guy in his review mirror, Xav looks too. He can see the wounded pedestrian jumping up and down on one foot and cursing. The taxi driver makes his decision and drives away.
Clearly the taxi guy doesn't really know or care about the rules. He doesn't even know how to drive. The situation could have been much worse if the traffic hadn't intervened. Suddenly they are driving 5 miles an hour in the worst midnight traffic Xav has ever seen. There are no accidents, no detours, just people. People in cars. Driving 5 miles an hour.
To the airport.
Years later they finally arrive at the airport, older and wiser, and more or less in one piece. Xav grabs his luggage and enters the largest refugee camp he's ever seen (and we just got back from Santiago).
It's one o'clock in the morning. There are, of course, no airport personnel. No announcements, no schedules, no help of any kind. There is nothing but people. Sleeping people, everywhere. Every chair is filled and the floor is covered with people trying to rest. They've obviously been there for days. Families. Business people. Tourists. Humans of all flavors from all walks of life. And they all want the same thing, to get the hell out of Paris.
Xav is one of the lucky ones. He has managed to land a small hotel room near the airport for the night. For a few hours at least, he will have a bed.
Tomorrow he will wake up and discover whether the good luck they had today (planes actually flew) will hold. The news is non-stop about a new ash cloud that is poised to cover Paris in 48 hours. He gets an update from his gallery clients, who have been trying to get out of Paris since last Thursday. They have just today been issued new plane tickets - for NEXT TUESDAY.
He needs the planes to fly tomorrow. The airport must stay open so that Air France flight 84 can get the hell out of Dodge.
Is Xav flying with a European or American airline? Because if it is an European one, he can claim back ALL his expenses from the airline as THEY couldn't fly. Don't know how it goes for US ones thoughGot my fingers crossed for him!
Posted by: Bookmole | 04/20/2010 at 10:12 PM
He's on Air France so that is very useful information. Thanks!
Posted by: karen | 04/20/2010 at 10:18 PM
Keeping my fingers crossed. Glad he's survived so far - that taxi driver sounds unbelievable. Hopefully he'll be on a plane in no time and this will just be a great adventure he can share over a nice glass of wine with friends.
Posted by: electric firefly | 04/21/2010 at 01:08 PM