Delayed!

What you don't want to hear at an airport. Even worse when the Monarch airlines automated message arrives with the loud ringing of the phone before 0800.

Checking the app for Gatwick Airport shows the flight delayed from 1625 to 1840! At least.

I called Monarch and was rewarded for my 10p a minute 0871 number with information to arrive as ticketed.

So we arrived at 1408!!!

The security checks are still in place. Laptops out of their cases, shoes and belts off... Beep! Claire's hip sets off the alarms. Beep! Something on me sets off the alarm. Maybe the rivets on my jeans? The waist button?

Can't be my money or phone or watch as they are in the tray along with everything else?

We both endure the frisking. They even dig out a magic wand for Claire.

Then we are let loose into the shopping mall that Gatwick South has become. Like IKEA you follow the road through all the shops before being vomited (you want to after 60 different perfume counters) into the normal part of the terminal where you can sit and look miserable when it all goes tits up.

So lunch was in Costa Coffee, and then a walk around the shops. Good offers in JD Sports on Team GB gear...

And now to find a seat to while away the next 3 hours.