Loading ...SAS WWIT09 – Cary
Ξ April 22nd, 2009 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life, Me, Work |
One of the reasons I’ve been busy, was preparing for and attending the SAS World Wide IT conference in Cary this April. I went out early to spend a few days with Dad – who drove down from Canada. The flight out was pretty uneventful, apart from being seated with a bunch of rugby players attending a tournament at Duke the following weekend, and I’m happy to say that we all stayed at the Embassy Suites this time – rather than the much flashier Umstead.
Sunday was golf at Prestonwood and, this time, we played the Fairways course. Apparently, this is meant to be easier than the Highlands course we played last year but, for someone of my technical ability (read, none whatsoever) the course proved to be rather challenging. The “no more than ten shots counted per hole” rule was called into play a few times, I lost six balls (found two), nearly caused an RTA with a wayward golf-ball and managed to hit someone’s house. One the bright side, I wasn’t overly troubled by the numerous bunkers – beacause I either didn’t manage to reach them or avoided the fairway all together.
Monday was a wander round the Umstead State Park. How on earth I have managed to avoid this all these years I really don’t know. It’s an absolutely beautiful place – pretty deserted, great trails and wonderful scenery. Including the walk to and from the park, we managed to clock up just under twenty miles – which is, apparently, Dad’s total walking for three years.
Shopping next – to keep the folks at home happy and then into the conference.
Flight back on Friday was a bit of an event. Take off was about six-ish in the evening and due to land about the same time in the morning at Heathrow. All well and good you may say. However, about forty or so minutes into the flight I detected a definite decrease in aircraft noise. The captain came on the tannoy with;
“Ladies and gentlemen. Please don’t panic, but I have an important announcement to make.” (Cue screaming and wailing from some folks.)
“We have lost power to one of our engines and, because of this, are unable to attempt to cross the Atlantic.” (More hysteria)
“We are currently carrying too much fuel to attempt an emergency landing, so will circle on full flaps until we have burnt enough fuel to do so.” (Sobbing and tearing of hair)
After an hour and a half, we had lost sufficient weight to make the emergency landing at Boston airport – along with a cavalcade of fire trucks alongside and behind us. Everything in the airport was closed, so we were penned into the departure lounge until 01:30, when they managed to find a plane with two functioning engines so that we could resume our journey.
We eventually arrived in Heathrow (with the captain announcing “Thank you for flying American Airlines. The airline that gets you there.”) At just before one in the afternoon. Great trip!
