THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 14, 1996 TAG: 9601120172
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Janelle La Bouve and Susan Smith
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
I'll behave, but no smiles
The scene was the Farm Fresh grocery store at the Woodford Shopping Center. A harried mom with a small boy in tow apparently was shopping for groceries to see the family through the predicted ``Blizzard of '96.''
With a few stomps and a big frown, the tyke clearly demonstrated he wanted to be somewhere else.
``Can't you behave a little longer?'' the mom inquired. ``And please wipe that look off your face.''
``I can act right,'' the boy bargained, ``but I'm not letting a smile out of my face.'' Lousy ending to trip
Tour guides can usually work out sticky difficulties and smooth a few ruffled feathers. But some things, like a fast slap from Mother Nature, are beyond the control of even the most experienced guide.
Derris L. Raper, who taught American history at the Virginia Beach campus of Tidewater Community College, has directed 42 tours outside the United States during the past 20 years.
But when Baltimore-bound British Airways flight No. 195 landed in Boston at 3 p.m., Sunday, the South Norfolk resident still had no idea that his 24-member tour group would be stranded in Boston for two days.
``What a nightmare,'' he said.
However, the tour of England was terrific.
After seeing London, the group traveled by train to York, Winchester and Canterbury, primarily to see the medieval cathedrals, Raper said. Other than a two-day cold snap, the temperature in ol' Blighty was in the 50s. But things were cooling off stateside.
``People had been calling home to check because we knew a storm was coming across the country,'' Raper said.
He had left one TCC van in Baltimore for the trip home.
Although conditions were uncertain, before they left London, Raper called Lonna Crouch, the scheduled driver of a second TCC van, promising to see her in Baltimore.
``The pilots knew the storm was coming but hoped to get to Baltimore before it actually hit,'' he said. ``By the time we reached American air space, they had shut the Baltimore and Washington airports.''
And there were already too many planes on the ground in New York.
``Boston was it,'' said Raper. ``We arrived at 3 p.m., Jan. 8. The pilot was anxious to get out of the air. If Boston had closed I don't know where we would have gone, to tell the truth. We weren't on the ground for more than an hour before it began to snow like crazy.''
All Boston hotels were full, so British Airways provided accommodations for all 185 passengers at the Hilton Golf Resort, 30 miles from the airport. It also threw in an $18 dinner voucher for each stranded traveler.
While waiting to leave Boston, the weather got worse.
``It snowed all night,'' Raper said. ``The wind was whipping around at 50 to 60 miles per hour. It looked and felt like a blizzard. They closed Boston (Logan Airport) Monday morning. They couldn't do a thing to clean off the runway because it was snowing so hard and the wind blowing so hard.''
Raper said the airline kept the waiting passengers up-dated.
``British Airways always does what they think is the right thing,'' he said. ``It was obvious the second day was gone.''
Monday night, the passengers learned that if the airport could not open Tuesday morning, they would be bussed to Baltimore, weather permitting.
Three people from the tour group were so anxious to get home, they hopped an Amtrak at 6 a.m.
As promised, at 8:30 a.m., Tuesday, two large, well-equipped charter buses were waiting. In addition, British Airways called ahead to arrange lunch, paid for the meal and even provided the 15 percent tip.
And while waiting for the tour group to arrive from Boston, the TCC driver and a companion spent two nights on the floor of the Baltimore airport.
``It was not the best way to end 10 nice days in London,'' Raper said. ``When Mother Nature is at fault, there is not much you can do about it.'' by CNB