Drenched to the skin, diverted, hours late. Welcome to our airports

ON Tuesday, January 12, I was booked to fly to London on the 8.10am flight with Ryanair from Cork airport.

On the previous evening, when two taxi companies refused to take a booking for Tuesday morning because of icy road warnings despite my reliable internet forecast of rain and wind, I decided to drive to the airport.

Leaving the house at 6.45am, I took the 15-minute drive to the long-stay car park where the prices are exorbitant, but better than the short-stay where you nearly need to mortgage the car to pay the charges.