Postcard From Cromer
Well what a weekend. We were asked to help with the transport for the International Flower Remedy Conference in Cromer. When I say International I do mean International. Only 49% of delegates came from the UK - to the Pavilion Theatre in Cromer, familiar to those who have been to the folk festival.
In the week before the conference Jenny and I took over organisation of the travel arrangements for a lot of the delegates and speakers. This involved co-ordinating incoming flights to Stansted and some people then onto the Jetlink, Norwich airport and trains to Norwich and Cromer over 3 days. This is going to be hard work with a lot of miles to be driven. Cromer to Norwich is a 46 mile round trip but public transport can be infuriating and infrequent especially on Sunday when people would be leaving. We had a Cromer Taxi firm for VIP's, a hired people carrier "7 people" [Oh yeah - 7 seats but 2 have to be midgets and no one must have any luggage bigger than a plastic bag!]. So that made it 4 passengers in some sort of comfort and luggage then. We also had our car and friend's car to collect people. The hire car is a Renault Scenic. You do not have a key it is a card thing that goes in a slot and you press the starter button. Ok I can cope. The hand brake is electronic and is on the dashboard so I am yet to work out how to do proper hill starts without burning the clutch out. Not sure I can cope with this. Then a while before dusk I am trying to work out why the headlights are on. I am getting these funny looks as I keep flashing the headlights trying to turn them off. When I get back and look at the manual it says that if you want to turn the automatic headlights off you press this button - bloody technology. Arrgh will this car stop bleeping at me. Every time I do something that the various chips do not like it starts bleeping. I have only had it a couple of hours and it is driving me daft! I have decided that it is going to be ok for the weekend but thank you but I will not be putting a Renault on the shopping list for our next car.
Some of the speakers flew into Stansted and were picked up by taxi. The first couple we [well Jenny] collected were a couple from Slovakia who arrived at Norwich airport. The Jetlink inbound on Thursday and Friday from Luton were a mess. Apparently a plane had fallen off the runway the day before and flights were still disrupted. No one told us till late in the day and we had spent a lot of time worrying why buses did not seem to be arriving with the correct people!
The next person with a story to tell was Margaret. She was a 68 year old woman from Ballarat in Australia. She had flown 23 hours to get to Heathrow and they "could not find any steps to get them off the plane”! So they sat on the tarmac for an hour and so she missed her bus. She would catch the next one so instead of getting in at 17:30 it would be 19:30 - 'no worries'. Then of course there were problems on the M25. So when the driver got to Stansted he needed a break and a relief driver. The new arrival time was 23.20. They arrived at 23.30! She was so grateful to have someone to meet her and warn the hotel that she would be late that we were given a present of a print of some Australian blue robins that we found impossible to photograph when we saw them ourselves in Australia. In bed by 1pm (just). This was the first of the late nights with an early start in the morning.
Friday morning armed with loads of printouts from Multimap we set off for the airport to collect people from planes. It is very odd how people from the conference found each other in departure/ arrival halls and gathered together so that there were more people than we were expecting. Jenny and I kept each other updated all the time by mobile. She was collecting our house guest [who was also going to the conference] from the train station when I had to phone her to come to the airport as there were more people waiting for a lift than expected. The other car couldn't come, as they would miss the person arriving at the Jetlink in 3/4 of an hour’s time!!
So off we all set heading for Cromer as it starts to rain. Is this a bad omen? I certainly hope not. We find all the hotels and guest houses and ensure that people are at the right place before Jenny and I then head back to the airport to receive some of the speakers and other guests. So far we have added Italians, Americans and Irish / Manx to the nationalities. I now add Chinese, Taiwanese, Scottish and the Orkney's and Jenny adds people from Devon.
During the journey to Cromer the phone goes. 'We are arriving at Cromer train station at 2.30 can you come and pick the three of us up?' 'I will see what I can do’. One of the many changes of plan happens now. Two cars head for the station to pick them and the other two people who are on the same train. I go off in search of the flower arrangements, about 10 miles away. They are a little big so have to be lain down in the back of the car. I wish that someone had said that they were full of water as there is now water everywhere in the back of the car - oh well I suppose it will dry out and it is a hire car so that is ok. As they are so big only one display can go in the back of the car at once so that means that there will be two trips ?. We use the trolley usually used by bands to cart their gear down the pier to get the flowers into the dressing room for overnight storage. We can not put them on stage as Kenny Ball is on stage tonight. Oops I did not know he was still alive. The drive back home for supper was longer than expected as there was a serious accident on the outskirts of Norwich. This was just about cleared up in time for the trip back from Cromer late in the evening.
During the day one person has missed their flight so they will arrive at 10.30 at Norwich airport whilst I am the train station collecting three Spanish women. Steve, he other driver, is collecting two other people from the airport as well. All change s the Spanish women have found a Norwegian also going to the conference on he train, so Jenny goes to the airport to cover the person who was still to arrive. With them all delivered to their hotels, Jenny parks up the car in Cromer and I drive her home. Jenny and I go home and check on what we have accomplished in the day. A lot of miles, a lot of juggling and thinking on our feet, a few mobile phone calls. But most importantly over 30 people settled in their hotels. Only one person left who Steve will pick up in the morning and I will be collecting people who are not in Cromer but need lifts in to the conference from Sheringham and a hotel near by. The celebrations have started for some of the delegates as we were collecting more to join the fun tomorrow.
Jenny and I go home and prepare all the stuff for tomorrow. We are on the information desk so there will be loads of questions. Jenny is prepared with lists of phone numbers and lists of jobs to do with times.
So if you are on refreshments you know when to leave the lecture. If you loose your passport Jenny has the phone number of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office who can advise of the help desk numbers for the embassies. There are notices made and paper packed to make lists. I have had enough for one day and will be driving in the morning, so I go to bed, leaving Jenny on the computer. There is a pile of stuff to go in the car by the front door. The cats are looking at it thinking that this usually means they are going away but there are not the right bags. There is my guitar there too as one person wants a guitar but cannot get his on the flight over here.
It was a misty morning on Saturday morning. After a quick breakfast we set off for the sea. We were all in the one car as it seemed rather silly to be drive two cars back last night. By the time that we got there through the foggy roads it was a bright sunny morning with the waves lapping up onto the beach. It was a beautiful day. I dropped Jenny off at the pier with all the stuff to be set up on the information desk in the theatre at the end of the pier. I went off to collect people from Sheringham and a hotel in West Runton. There were so many people waiting that I had to do 2 trips. Jenny meanwhile had met the chap from Healing Hands who was also helping out. He did most of the giving out of the conference information packs whilst Jenny dealt with the first of a barrage of enquiries.
I got everyone to the venue on time and let everyone go in for the start. I needed some coffee and a quiet sit down with breakfast. It also gave me a chance to get to know a few of the staff from the theatre who would be there for most of the day. As the organisers had booked the whole venue they were not allowing members of the public to use the premises, which was quite a strange feeling. Jenny and I had a few things to work out so we sat quietly in the foyer and prepared things. Before we knew what was happening the Lady Mayoress was leaving having welcomed the delegates to Cromer. I did manage to get in to see one of the speakers in the morning who was very good, she gave a historical view of the flower remedies and the links with Cromer. I slipped out after this speaker. Some of the delegates were so trusting leaving suitcases just lying around so I sat looking after them. Next thing we knew, the people helping with the refreshments were coming to set them up, as no way can 300 people all get their drinks at once without some pre pouring!
At the break the first of the complaints - I had not picked everyone up at Sheringham. The fact that they were not there on time and that I had a car full did not seem to matter so lots of apologies and a promise to do better next morning. Some of the requests for information started off as rather sensible - where and when were trips to a local garden, what are the arrangements for the trip on Monday. Gradually it became more surreal as Jenny started running an accommodation agency attempting to find beds for the night (don't people book beforehand??), or sorting out minor travel arrangements for the middle of next week. Jenny was also collecting money from those who had been in taxis from Stansted. This gave her the chance to chat and also find out their requirements for their return trips which we were going to organise the taxis for. We seemed to be doing this when we were not listening to speeches and late at night. The confusing thing was times. What you had to start with was the time that the air plane lifted off, then the destination and then the airport. Norwich has different lengths of booking in times from Stansted and international flights are different from internal flights. A quick phone call, one of many over the weekend, to the taxi company gave us the time they needed to get people from Cromer to Stansted so we worked things out from that.
As people drifted back into the main hall Jenny and I were able to make a start on some of the requests for information we had but could not answer straight away. More coffee from behind the bar did help. There always has to be one but at lunchtime we found the aggressive one. She wanted this and she wanted this now. Fingers were pointed and shoved in my direction. The odd voice was raised from the other side of the desk at us - and these are people who for the rest of the time were supposed to be all nice and caring and healing - except when it came to us helping them :-(
When the delegates had gone back in the hall, Jenny and I were able to sit down and have some lunch. I was beginning to feel the pace of things. I think that the adrenalin was wearing off and I had to keep on going. I was reckoning that if I made it back to Norwich before 11.00 this evening I would be doing very well.
In the afternoon I was able to see another of the talks. It was more of a little play and was very funny. Hey day one of the conference and I have been able to get to two of the talks - I am doing really well here. The play was followed by someone leading a dance session. Errm I think I will pass on that as I am well known to have Two Left Feet. The dancers spilled out of the hall and onto the pier to continue the dance. They created a wonderful energy on the pier. They were then joined by some Morris dancers who were going to do a set later on in the evening. It all looked very strange. Will Cromer recover?
We all started to pack up and move furniture about as the foyer of the theatre was going to be the venue for the Cromer Smugglers. Jenny was beginning to feel the effects of the late night last night and our house guest was not feeling too well so they decided that they would go home early. I had to stay in Cromer to give people lifts back to their hotels outside Cromer.
The Smugglers were on great form. There will be a new album available in the next few months. There are several new Smugglers fans around the world now. After the first set I went off to have my supper of chips on the pier. Chips always taste better on the pier, I don't know why. The lights of the town were twinkling on the water. Listening to folk music without a pint in hand is a bit of a strange thing to do but I managed somehow ;-) . I am not sure about this designated driver bit! Halfway through the Smugglers second set it was time for me to start my taxi run. With a little help from another car we did it all in one run. A quick check at the pier and there was no one I had missed to get home. Despite a bit of a folk session beginning I drove home. Jenny was still at work sorting out the first leavers and who would get them to the station or airport. I stayed up and helped her complete the schedule ready to display tomorrow.
Good morning. It is Sunday and it is another nice day. I am up and away for the first of the runs to collect people from hotels. Some people do not want to get to Cromer straight away so there will be more than one run. It ends up being four. I have just finished - or so I think - when the mobile phone goes as I am walking down the pier so I turn round to pick up more people. They are from Chile and are leaving today. They have arranged to leave their cases in a hotel in Cromer where the Cuban delegation are staying. I do not speak Spanish but they do. The first item of the conference events for the day was to see the lifeboat launch. The lifeboat station is at the end of the pier so is behind the theatre. The oddest part was that the launch would only happen if the weather was suitable. What does this mean? If the weather is not blowing a force 9 gale is it not allowed out? As I was helping the women from Chile get their bags upstairs to the hotel room for safe keeping I do not know if it launched or not.
After everyone had gone in for the presentations it was time for coffee and breakfast. I did manage to pop in and see one of the morning presentations. It was by a chap from Norway that that does music therapy with mental health patients and also works with the flower remedies. I had been asked to lend him my guitar as he could not bring his own due to in flight baggage restrictions. Hey my guitar sounds ok when it is being played by someone who knows what they are doing!
At all the breaks it was find people and double check that we had got them leaving at the right time and where they were going to and where they would be collected. Jenny had two people come up and ask for help with trains from Reading. As one of them was a speaker we had to help them out. They had been trying to get train tickets over the internet. They could find out what trains they had to catch but not be able to get tickets ordered as they did not live in the UK. They had also had problems trying to do it over the phone - even getting through to national rail enquiries was a challenge. As English was not their first language they found the press button 1 for this and press button 2 for that too quick for them. So Jenny phoned for them. The two of them nearly fell off their chairs when Jenny told them that she was talking to someone in a call centre in India. India is nearer to their home in Taiwan than the UK! Eventually she got through to Reading station and managed to book tickets to 2 different places using a Taiwanese credit card.
We then discovered another of the challenges. A party of 6 from Chile and Cuba, who were catching the train originally at about 5.00, had decided to catch the next train instead. OK so the taxi is booked but there are plenty of people catching the train so they can use it. But how are we going to get the party of 6 to the station? With a bit of shuffling around it looks like it will be me and Steve doing this.
As it was Dr Bach's 120th birthday on the Sunday, we had to have a party with cakes and drinks. There were a variety of cakes representing different flower remedies and lots of sparkling wine to be poured. It was great fun seeing all these people milling about having birthday cake and sparkling wine. We even managed to persuade the staff who had been working there all weekend to join in. As they had been so helpful they deserved it. As the party came to a close and people spilled out onto the pier the sun was setting a beautiful red sunset. Jenny ran out and started taking photographs. By this time though, she had drunk a glass or two of wine, and some of them are a little shaky!
People did not really want to go but for the organisers there was quite a bit of clearing up to do. Steve and I then went off to the hotel to take people to the train station. Of course the hotel was not being helpful so we did the porters job and lugged the cases downstairs into the cars. The delegates were really grateful for all the help so I now have some lovely Cuban music on CD.
Time for a meal I think. We had been invited to join the organisers for an end of event meal and thanks. I don't think that Jenny or I had the energy to cook so it was welcome. We decided to leave our car in Cromer overnight as it would save on a trip there and back. We did not stay late though as the day's work was not yet done. There was the planning of the following mornings trips to do. I left Jenny doing this as I would be up driving early in the morning.
So Monday morning bright and early we prepared breakfast for our house guest and that is when the phone went for the morning panic. It was chucking it down with rain and a taxi had not turned up to collect some of the early leavers. A few rapid phone calls later and one of the organisers in Cromer rushed out and it was sorted.
Jenny and I then went out to Cromer and started the reverse process to take people from Cromer to the airport. We had worked out the backwards timings to get people there for the correct check in time for the flights. As people were back at work and it was pouring with rain they all took much longer than expected. As with the trips to the conference, some people just seemed to appear to get a lift. One person was catching a train but leaving her case in a hotel in Norwich, where she would stay for a couple of nights later in the week, and then needed a lift to Norwich train station to go up north. Jenny looked after her as I had to do several trips to and from the airport in rapid succession.
By mid day we were able to have a break. We had a late breakfast / early lunch and took the hire car back to the hire company. Things must be drawing to a close. There was one more trip to do that day which we did in our car. We then had a quiet evening. We arranged for a friend to take our house guest and Jenny down to the station in the morning as I had the last of our trips to do. So I picked up the last people that we were due to take to the airport on Tuesday morning. They were delivered with plenty of time to catch their plane and I was able to get home and go 'Phew'. We waited until 1.15 though just in case, as the last taxi was due to leave Cromer for Stansted at 1.00. By 1.15 we hadn't had any phone calls so we had made it. All the people who we were arranging travel for had left Norfolk.
Would we do it again. Well we will be helping with two conferences it the next few months so yes we will be doing it again - our fees [what fees!!??] have done up though ;-)
We were pleased to help out with the conference as flower remedies have helped us both and it was a good event to be part of
