Bedside Manner

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I arrived safely in Germany yesterday afternoon.... safely after two airplane landings that were horrible!  There is a windstorm sweeping through the UK and Europe... so big a storm that they even named it: "Emma"... which means I guess it is of hurricane proportions.  On the way into Amsterdam, the pilot warned us that we would be flying through stormy winds, but we never imagined how bumpy it would be.  There were people all over the plane vomiting and screaming and children were crying.  We were sooooo very thankful to be on the ground after what seemed like a landing that would never come.

I've decided that pilots should be trained in bedside manner and encouraged to speak more during the landings or times of turbulence that leave the passengers guessing whether or not they are approaching death's doorstep in a fiery crash after falling thousands of feet out of the sky.  Something like, "Hi there, folks, this is your pilot from the cockpit.  We realize this turbulence seems really bad right now, but we wanted to let you know that we have everything under control and everything really will be alright.  Hopefully we'll be through this in another 7-10 minutes, so if you can just endure it 'til then, things should be smooth soon."  That would make me feel a little better and would surely hold more clout than the 'We're gonna be fine... we're gonna be fine... we're gonna be fine...' mantra that I repeat over and over to myself in times of air disturbance.

The landing into Frankfurt was no better.  Flights across the region were getting delayed and cancelled.  Passengers were being re-routed by train and stranded in the airport to find their own accommodation, etc.  It was a rough travel day all around.  And so I am extremely thankful that both our flights were safe and that we reached our final destination only about 2 hours behind schedule.

I am staying in a precious little European-village style hotel that sits merrily atop a Greek restaurant in the little hamlet of Mosbach.  The rooms are delightfully small but adequate, and the cafes that abundantly surround the hotel and the entire downtown area are so cute.  I can't wait to try them all out.  Last night, after suffering all the travel trauma, my colleague Rosemary and I treated ourselves to German waffles with ice cream and bananas... plus frothy, hot, sweet cinnamon coffee.   It was a delectable experience all around.

I had my morning walk today, despite the fact that it was windy and rainy.  I put two jackets on and tried to bear the relatively freezing temperatures.  I hope it warms up a little throughout the week - I think if the rain and wind die down a bit, then it should be fine.  Some sunshine would be much appreciated.

Meetings start tonight... looking forward to a nice week.  More news on fun experiences a little later.

~lk

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