Ain’t life a funny thing? Sometimes the things that seem the most frustrating, the most annoying and the most time wasting are actually the best thing that ever happened!
Bear with me on this one.
So – last weekend I was coaching public speakers again down in a hotel in the Heathrow area. I do enjoy it – although I have to admit to being a bit tired and slightly jaded having been away on business for 5 out of the last 6 weekends! I’m going to seriously try and not do that again.
Anyway, after a stupid o’clock start on the Friday morning (which turned out not to be required as the coaching team weren’t needed until the late afternoon), and a busy day on the Saturday – I was really looking forward to going home on the Sunday and wishing I had booked myself on an earlier flight.
Especially when I heard the weather forecast which was for snow.
So – being a planning ahead kind of gal, I decided to upgrade my short BA flight back to Manchester so that – should snow delay things at least I would be sitting in the business lounge with free food and drink, newspapers, comfy chairs with plug sockets to charge the phone and the laptop and decent toilets!
Sunday came. And the snow really did stop play. The conference organiser – quite rightly – decided to end the conference at 2 instead of 5 so that people could travel home whilst it was still light, and whilst that was a great thing for those driving or on public transport, for one of the delegates and I it made no difference. When you are on the 7.50pm flight, that’s the flight you are on. But at least we got to wait in the lounge.
Sadly, as the evening went on more and more flights were being cancelled until ours was also chopped from the now (non-existent) schedule. We then had to book our own hotel (and claim it back from BA) and get out of the airport – not fun as there were massive queues for passport control, and even longer queues for taxis (thank goodness for Uber).
Bright and early we were back at the airport having been automatically rebooked in the night onto the 3.15 (in my case) and the 7.55pm in the case of my colleague. Until her flight was cancelled….again, and off she headed to Euston to try and get a train home. Meanwhile, I waited with bated breath at the airport. My new flight was delayed but did take off and I did get home.
So – all of that was not how I would have planned to spend 2 days. It was on the face of it a waste of time, an annoyance and pretty frustrating.
However, how you feel is your own choice. I strongly believe that. So instead of being annoyed, Dawn and I did 6 Facebook Live episodes of “Dawn and Carole’s Amazing Heathrow Adventure” to have some fun and pass the time. We also got to know each other a bit better, and although we have ‘known’ each other for years – we hadn’t realised how complementary our businesses were. We are now having a meeting to discuss our joint venturing and I am invited to their Christmas DO next week.
And finally – the chap I was speaking to on the plane (when we finally got to get on a plane) was very interesting and works for a large firm in Manchester (which shall remain nameless) but might want some public speaking training.
So you see, I believe that those lemons life throws at your sometimes, might just turn out to be oysters and champagne, but if you bat them away and cry in a corner you will never know. If you catch them and have a good look – you might even find a pearl!
Have a great week and let me know if you have any adventures or ‘annoyances’ that turn into business opportunities! I’d love to hear them. Helen Bennett – if you are reading this – I KNOW you will have met somebody amazing on a train this week! Who Helen is, and why she meets amazing people on trains is a story for another day!