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A very silly girl…and a very nice airline

7th August 2009 by Helena 13 Comments  

So we showed up at the airport last night at midnight, ready for our 2am flight to Geneva and our holiday.

“Geneva?” said the young man at the Etihad counter. “There is no flight to Geneva tonight.”

“Ha ha,” I said. “Very funny.”

Sadly he wasn’t joking. The flight we were meant to be on had left at 2am the previous morning. I had got it wrong. I felt sick. We were told to go and see the ticket desk and try to get the next flight, scheduled for 9am this morning. I can’t believe how nice Etihad was about it. I mean it’s not their fault I am a natural blonde (I hide it well most of the time). And the flight was lovely, we were looked after by a Swedish attendant called Mattias who was so thrilled to find some “countrymen” as he called us that he kept bringing Leo treats from up front.

30549-etihad.jpg

Now we are here we are by our lake, having been for a swim and settled into our rooms with a view.

Obviously Rupes didn’t let me forget my mistake, there were constant references to what day it is today and so on. “Is this joke going to go on all day?” I asked him.

“Oh no,” he laughed. “Much longer.”

This evening the girls arrive with my mother. Norrie and Mary have gone to collect them. Tomorrow we go and see THE house and we have a big, long, French lunch in honour of Norrie and Mary’s 41st wedding anniversary and the fact that my mother has survived for a month with the ferals.

We have lots of plans for our time in the Savoie, including a trip, I hope, to the home of the “mother of the nation” or the equivalent of the queen in the UAE. She summers here (like you do) and my friend is her BF so summers with her. The girls will be most impressed if we get to meet her; I am wondering what the protocol is. Does one curtsy?Do I have to wear a scarf?
Meanwhile the terrace beckons with a view of the lake and the swans gliding around looking serene. Oh and I forgot to say, it even rained earlier – total bliss.

And we have until the 29th of August when we fly home to enjoy it. Did I say 29th, maybe I meant 30th…..could be a good way to extend the holiday.
Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2009


Filed Under: Travel, blog --> Tagged With: airline, silly

13 thoughts on A very silly girl...and a very nice airline

  • Amber Lee says:
    8th August 2009 at 7:10 am

    Lovely of the airline. I’ve found that most travel trouble comes from those who are employees of the airports and not airlines.
    Have I mentioned that I am completely confused about your family – who lives where and such?

  • Elisabeth Loesch says:
    9th August 2009 at 12:18 am

    You are going to meet with Sheikha Fatima? Is your friend who summers with her called Regine, by any chance?

  • helena says:
    9th August 2009 at 8:58 am

    It is! How funny, do you know her?

  • Elisabeth Loesch says:
    9th August 2009 at 10:17 am

    Geez. It’s a small world. Yes, I know this lovely and dynamic woman. She came to my house a few years ago. Two years ago we both attended my nephew Nicolas’ wedding where she spoke. She is best friend with my sister in law, May. She knows me under the name Babette which is the French standard nickname for Elisabeth. Give her a big hug from me.

  • helena says:
    9th August 2009 at 5:02 pm

    How amazing Elisabeth, I certainly will. I am going to call her this evening.
    Hx

  • helena says:
    9th August 2009 at 5:03 pm

    Hi Amber
    My mother lives in Italy (but not with my father), my in-laws in France and England, my step-children in England. That’s about it!
    Hx

  • mimi says:
    9th August 2009 at 9:21 pm

    He he! You’ve a good sense of humour.
    I thought I was the only one who did things like that- like turning up at the airport having forgotten the tickets, having to rush back home in a taxi to get them! Twice!

    Looking at the comments, it’s a small world indeed, and I suppose blogging makes it even smaller.

    Have a great holiday, until whenever!

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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