Success! Last week we completed the acceptance phase of the Vodafone Malta portal. It's a good thing too, otherwise I'd be taking up residency in Malta.

I'm Drowning. How are you?

A bit of excitement here in Malta today. Torrential rains have reaked havoc on this resort island. The picture here shows our Vodafone colleagues' cars overcome by some rough waters on Msida Valley Road, where the main office "Vodafone House" is located -- or shall we say Msida Valley River?

Satellite image of Malta being blasted by volcanic ash from Mt. Etna last week. Malta is the tiny archipelago underneath that cloudy looking area beneath Sicily where Etna is shown erupting. Luckily (I guess) I was stuck at the airport in London thanks to the Northern European wind storms (see posting below), so I didn't experience the enormous amounts of ash that supposedly descended upon the islands last Sunday.

I always thought that when I visited Scotland, it would be a relaxing vacation, visiting castles, small inns and perhaps a few rounds of golf. My flight to London-Heathrow today was diverted to Glascow, Scotland due to severe winds in Southern England which closed Heathrow for much of the morning. We arrived at the Glascow airport around 10:30am local time, but sat on the tarmac for 2 1/2 hours waiting for clearance from Heathrow to return. Unfortunately, our crew reached their maximum allowable consecutive flight hours and when we were cleared to return, they were no longer permitted to fly the plane. Glascow is a small airport and didn't have any pilots on hand that could fly a Boeing - 747, therefore all of the passengers had to find alternative ways to London, or home if that was closer. My flight to Malta from London had probably already left, so I just hoped to find a way down to London for the night.

After fighting the crowds at the ticket counter and listening to a mean old American guy gripe about British Airways' handling of this logistical nightmare, I managed to obtain a stand-by flight to London at 2pm. I boarded the flight, happy to be one of the few on my original flight to have made it on the airplane. The pilot comes on the speaker and apologizes for the delay (this flight was supposed to leave at 13:50) and then apologizes for a further delay of 45 minutes that we must wait on the tarmac for Heathrow to clear the planes departure. About an hour or so later, we finally depart Glascow, arriving in London aroun 16:30 pm.

Next on to pick up my heavy suitcase once again (I'm packing light from now on) and then on to Terminal 4 via a train to try and convince Air Malta to rebook my flight on the 18:20 departure. The terminal was an absolute mad house. Apparently, the wind has caused airport closures in Brussels, Amsterdam and Rotterdam and flights are being cancelled left and right. Angry passengers wait in line to rebook their flights for a later time or the next day. I have one chance to escape the U.K. for warmer climes today. I wait with the counter staff for 30 minutes until they finally tell me that I must go to the Air Malta ticket office to rebook. Fighting the crowds with my oversized bag, I wait with a group of people who have a connecting flight in Malta to Cairo. Their situation makes me feel better about mine. The Air Malta plane still isn't even on the ground yet and will probably be delayed two hours, putting us in Malta around 1am local time. I can't imagine that a flight to Cairo will be leaving at 1am.

Needless to say, my flight is rebooked and I now wait in the comfort of the British Airways lounge typing this posting. I just checked the BBC web site and it appears that the wind here caused the deaths of 6 people. I suddenly don't feel as inconvenienced as before.