Living in interesting times

So we set off on Saturday morning to Valencia to meet Judi and Tom. Peter had decided he wasn't happy about the idea of swooping in to the station forecourt to pick them up as we didn't have any idea of where to park, and he wouldn't be able to leave the car if it wasn't in a proper parking space. So we thought we would get the little train from Xeraco to Valencia Nord. I drove up to Xeraco and we got there in plenty of time, and bought our tickets with our pensioner Gold Cards! €8.50 for two return tickets for a 45-minute journey!
As we were trundling along I got a text from Judi saying that their train had come to a complete halt and all the announcements were in Spanish. I promised to try and find out when we got to the station in Valencia. Unfortunately, when I did manage to find the Information desk they were all out of it - information, that is! Nobody had a clue what was the matter with the train from Barcelona, although they did know that it had stopped. One of the clerks grudgingly went off to see if he could find out anything, and came back several minutes later with a long and complicated story in Spanish which he refused to slow down or repeat. In the end, he said that the train had stopped and that was it - the passengers would need to make their own arrangements! I pointed out that my sister and her young grandson were on board and didn't speak any Spanish. He replied, with a shrug, 'Si...es problema.'
Peter and I decided to go and get a coffee and something to eat while we tried to work out what to do next. After a mouthful of coffee I rang Judi to confirm that there was no information at all on the boards at the station. She said that they had in fact moved on to the nearest station after a delay of about an hour, during much of which their carriage had been surrounded by ambulancemen, police and firemen. She had had a brief interchange with a fellow passenger, but the only word she had understood was 'suicida'...
Eventually, when they were about an hour overdue, a message appeared on the arrivals board saying that they were due in by 2.20pm. And indeed, at precisely 2.20pm the Euromed rolled into Platform 2.
As Judi remarked, 'What else can they have in store for us?'
We had an uneventful trip home and consoled ourselves with a traditional 'nice cup of tea'.
On Sunday morning Judi got a message that her BA flight for Monday was cancelled and they were eventually re-booked for Saturday - Tom's Mum was not too happy at that news!
A neighbour of ours had his grandchildren out here and they had arranged to get the bus to Santander (8-hour trip) and then cross to Plymouth on the Brittany Ferry. After discussion Judi decided that they would go along with the travellers if there were still places available on the ferry. But there weren't any left. So back to plan A - keep enjoying the rest here until Friday and then return to Barcelona to get the plane on Saturday.
We had a nice quiet Sunday, including dinner at Cafe Rosa, and I lent Tom my iTouch to Bejewelled 2 - he promptly racked up a score of about 145,000! The rest of the people on my team will be amazed! 94,000 is the very highest I have ever achieved. And meanwhile Judi was achieving 375,000! I think I need to give this up - it is not good for my ego to be consistently put down like this.
And now it is Monday, and all the chat is going on about sending Navy boats to the French coast, and more recently about re-opening airports because maybe the ash isn't dangerous after all! Judi has rung her booking people and they say that their advice is still that they cannot book anything for sooner than seven days. They have put her on a call-back list and someone will ring to discuss the latest situation later today. She thinks it will probably be Saturday before anything else gets sorted out anyway!
We went down to the market this morning and Judi bought some shorts for Tom so he can enjoy the sun which has returned today. He was exploring the edge of the pool this afternoon, lost his footing and sat down unceremoniously in some rather cold water. Judi laughed to see the look on his face!
I was talking to Paul yesterday evening and he reminded me that his Dad (my first husband)and Lynn (his third wife) were on holiday in Antigua when all this started - and are therefore still there. As they are in a luxury all-inclusive resort they should be managing pretty well! And my brother's partner is still stuck in Cairo...
Do you think life is ever going to return to anything we would have regarded as normal? Or do we all just have to get used to some new norms?
More news before long.