Erstmal, Sorry, ich konnte nicht bloggen, war krank, aber jetzt geht’s  mir besser.

Nun, was soll ich sagen: Ich bin zu Hause. Letzten Endes hat die Schule uns zur Fähre gefahren, und wir wurden in Calais von unseren Eltern abgeholt. Der, bei dem wir die Tage über gewohnt haben, hat die ganze Geschichte mal in “unsere kleine Weihnachtsgeschichte” geschrieben, und auf der Schulhomepage veröffentlicht. Der Text ist unten im Zitat. Unverändert.. Ich bin übrigens N ;) Achja, nochwas: Versuche, morgen meine Version zu veröffentlichen. Aber morgen ist Heiligabend, mal schauen, wie viel Zeit  ich habe…

Bloxham’s very own ‘Winters Tale’ – or ‘All’s Well that Ends Well.’

When the Headmaster, after a great deal of heart searching, decided on Saturday morning to reluctantly cancel the Carol Service he could hardly have anticipated the series of events that the next few hours would see unfold.

It was, possibly, the only time in the 150 years of Bloxham’s history that the Carol Service had been cancelled and the decision could not have been an easy one especially as at the time of needing to deliver the message snow had not even begun to fall. However it turned out to be a most propitious decision and enabled many day pupils to get away before the roads became blocked and difficult to navigate.

But what of those with the longer journeys to make? How did the overseas contingent fare? Are you sitting comfortably............?

Those who left by taxi before dawn turned out to be the lucky ones. They arrived at Heathrow in good time and before the place was turned into a maelstrom. Their flight got away without hiccups.

The first of our minibus runs started out shortly after 10 for Heathrow with six passengers and driver Keith Bennett. The snow was already settling and becoming harder as they set out for the M40. Progress was slow with many cars starting to slide and become stuck and lorries were finding the going very tough. After an hour and a half the bus had only reached Oxford Services and the situation was continuing to worsen. They soldiered on until the M40 ground to a halt completely and news was beginning to filter through about Heathrow closing approach roads and, inevitably, flights being cancelled. The decision was made to head back to Bloxham. This was being tracked by the guardian of one of the girls who had decided to collect V after he heard that the carols were cancelled. He missed her by 10 minutes because V had opted for the earlier bus but decided to follow the bus. He was able to get a message to V and collect her and her friend K and take both girls to a relative in South London to await Heathrow’s reopening.

Bus 2 set out at just after 12 with 4 pupils driver in chief Glenn Poynter and Nick Irvine riding shotgun with mobile phone replacing Smith and Wesson!

The progress or lack of it from the earlier bus coupled with a further call from the chasing guardian was enough to determine that the journey would not be completed and so just as the bus approached the M40 the trip was aborted and returned to base. Bus one eventually limped back and the stranded pupils were reunited.

Fortunately a conversation had taken place during the week leading up to the Carol Service instigated by Emma Trigg Bloxham’s deputy head and Nick Irvine about the ‘ what if?’ scenario. It had been decided that Park Close would be the base for pupils left stranded.

‘It had everything going for it really’ said Nick. The Lower School boarders had gone home on Friday so the beds were there, it was warm, welcoming and ready to play it’s part in what was rapidly to become a great adventure! Nuala readily accepted the situation and took over as mother earth and looked after all of the catering the refugee army required. Barkeley was delighted to see some more new friends to play with.’

With the two girls in London with a guardian 8 pupils sat down to a pizza supper at Park Close on that Saturday evening. They were Y,D,F,T,J,S,N and SL.

They were trying to reach Dusseldorf, Munich, New York, Atlanta ,& Seoul – but for that Saturday they were clearly going nowhere.

By Sunday morning the picture was clearer and the amount of snow that had fallen caught us all by surprise.

Parents were starting to make alternative plans for replacement flights but against the volume of people trying to reach airlines it wasn’t easy.

We tried on Sunday to get 3 out of Heathrow but got as far as Beaconsfield Services when news reached us that the flights we were aiming for were cancelled – we even had Mr Allbrook watching the internet to keep us up to speed in a very fluid (if frozen ) situation. We had to turn back again.

By Monday we were trying to get three boys back to Germany by Lufthansa out of Birmingham airport.  Their flights were cancelled after they had gone through security – very disappointing for all 3 but T was picked up by his Coventry based guardian and the Bloxham 8 became the Bloxham 7! Monday also happened to be Nuala’s birthday and after a delicious lasagne supper SL serenaded her on his violin with the birthday song – a lovely birthday present!’

Nick was back at Birmingham the next day to see Y on his trip from Birmingham to Dublin en route to New York. After a couple of hours delay this flight did take off although it meant that Y missed his connection – an overnight hotel stay in Dublln airport and away the next morning to the Big Apple! Down to 6 !

After several abortive attempts to book flights to Germany the parents of N & S decided to take to the water – or at least that their children should take to the water and ferries were booked between Dover and Calais. Glenn and John Morewood agreed to drive them down and see them onto the ferry – no mean feat in the weather and driving conditions and at an hour’s notice – but the journey was a painless one and the connection was made and the pair were met on the other side by very relieved parents. Well done to Glenn and John who then had to turn back and retrace their tracks arriving back in Bloxham at 10pm. but with the warmth of knowing that they had made several Christmas’s through their hard work.

That left 4 – 2 to the States , one to Seoul and 1 to Munich.

By now Heathrow was on every news bulletin and ticket options were few and far between. S had been told by his airline that he could travel on Christmas Day but no guarantees before that. His only chance was to arrive at the ticket desk at Heathrow and go on a wait list.

So on Tuesday morning Nick fired up the bus again and set off for Heathrow with the 3 long haulers on board. First stop was T5. Carnage. He was prevented from entering as he didn’t have a valid ticket and so waved off D&F at the door as they joined to mass of humanity camped out in the terminal. Fortunately the Atlanta flight escaped the cull and took off relatively on time – a happy ending for brother and sister.

Then there were 2! SL had a real dilemma as he too was denied access to T1 as his only travel document referred to the 18th December. Constant phoning of agent and airline eventually bore fruit and he was allowed access at 4pm (having been on or around Heathrow since 11). But his problems were not over.  He ended up at number 5 on the wait list of standby passengers – who were told to come back at 8.30 for news of a flight due to take off at 9!

All of our prayers for him were answered and he made the flight back to his family for Christmas – and some R&R before returning for the ski trip on 1 January. Somewhat ironic?  When news of SL’s ‘ success’ reached Park Close there was much cheering, a tear from Nuala and was that a woof from Barkeley?

That just left J who had been booked on a flight out of Manchester. I am happy to say that just as I type this he has texted me to say that he is boarding – it’s all down to Stelios now!

The adventure is over – with a happy Christmas ending for all - and a real life example of why we will still be known as the small school with a great sprit into the New Year and beyond. That spirit is never stronger than at Christmas.

Happy Christmas to you and your families wherever you are in the World.

PS.  I nearly forgot about T, K & V. They couldn’t get replacement flights so joined the queue at St Pancras and made it home on Tuesday via Eurostar and T did get a flight eventually from Birmingham on Tuesday to Dusseldorf  so all are accounted for.