Bristol airport was busy for our flight to Geneva, no doubt due to the holiday season getting into full swing. There'd been long slow queues at check-in, as only one desk was open for those of us who'd not checked in on-line. It was so slow we began to wonder if we'd be in time for our flight, even though we'd arrived punctually thanks to good train and bus connections. When it got to one o'clock, a second desk opened and the queue shifted much quicker. The new airport security arrangements made the passage to the departure lounge speedier than on previous occasions, so we caught up with ourselves only to be informed of a two hour delay because of air traffic management problems, on the Easyjet Airbus' round trip - Bristol - Geneva Madeira - Geneva - Bristol before picking us up for the final round trip of the day, to and from Bristol.
The temperature was still thirty degrees when we stepped off the plane at half seven in the evening. Our friend Gill picked us up and drove us to Keith and Claudine's to unpack and unwind after the trip. Annoyingly we were too late arriving to go and listen to Claudine preach at Evensong in Holy Trinity Anglican Church, but she was soon home after our arrival. By the end of the evening car horns were honking crazily in the background - the Geneva Spanish celebrating their country's World Cup victory, we were told.
It was rather hot for sleeping but somehow I slept through until the noise of aerial and road traffic awoke me. By then, Claudine had already left quietly for the airport for a early flight to London, where she's working and staying in Lambeth Palace until Friday, helping the Anglican Communion office to develop a working relationship with UN international agencies. As an international human rights lawyer and an active lay person she's better positioned than most clerics to inform the process. Let's hope this is understood and respected. Church leaders aren't always so good at listening to their laity!
Clare and I took ourselves into the city centre to look around, check out the plethora of summer sales, and ride round on the air conditioned buses and trams, rather than stroll to far in the intense heat. More work is being done on the tram infrastructure where the river Rhone outflow from the lake is crossed by several tram, bus and trolley bus lines in the same area. This will reduce congestion once it's complete, but here we're talking public transport congestion, rather than cars. This central area is far from friendly to any private vehicles apart from bikes.
We rode out to the Place des Nations, so that Clare could see how former grassy area in front of the Palais des Nations, where the world gathers to protest publicly on every imaginable subject, is now paved in white marble and punctuated with fountains which are a hundred percent accessible to adults and kids alike, as they spew forth high plumes of water that descend as spray, most welcome on such a hot day. Children treated the whole wet area as a playground, whooping with delight as they danced over, stood or sat around among the cooling jets. Nearby, in surreal contrast to children at play, under the ''Broken Chair' sculpture a group of Iranian dissidents stood, denouncing the crimes of ayatollahs back home, photographed by their friends, and no doubt their enemies too.
That was enough tourism for one day. We were both beginning to wilt with the intensity of the heat, and so we headed back to Meyrin, grateful for air-conditioned public transport all the way.
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