Tag: mozhouseams

Endemic Covid-19

Mozilla keep cup, positive covid tests, mug, paracetomol and other mdedication on a wood table

Just recently I caught Covid19 for the second time. It was once again while in Europe working (never caught it in the UK funny enough). This time I didn’t get the awful Covid toe, which was a big relief!

It is super strange, I caught it between attending the PublicSpaces conference and getting setup to run the ethical dilemma cafe at Mozhouse Amsterdam. Now to be fair I did spend a lot of time on Amsterdam’s public transport,went to a Dutch castle with lots of tourists and had a great time at Walibi.

Regardless, I did feel a bit tired from the lack of decent sleep over the last few weeks (Not spent much time at home recently) but I also felt cold but didn’t really think about it. The Mozilla team decided to take Covid tests and I did so not really thinking I would be positive.

Then it happened, 2 very red lines – a total surprise!

That was the moment I decided not attend Mozilla house Amsterdam because its a place where you talk to a lot of people and felt deeply responsible for passing on Covid on to others. I also decided to stay in my hotel room and only venture out for breakfast and to a supermarket which was about 15mins walk away. Both with a mask, which I happen to have in my laptop bag since 2021.

Looking from Amsterdam station to North Amsterdam
As close as I could get to Mozilla House Amsterdam

After a few days and a second covid test, I changed my plans and took a earlier flight back to the UK.

I did find it strange how people reacted to me wearing a mask, although I was trying to be a responsible person (No judgement on anyone else). I had assumed people would think I was protecting them as I might have Covid? There was one instance in the hotel lift when I informed a man they might want to wait as I have Covid. He decided to not worry about it but commented it was really good I was wearing a mask and most people don’t bother?

I know all the Covid policies have pretty much gone and we have moved from pandemic to endemic. Like myself, there was no way of knowing I had Covid till I tested. I wouldn’t have tested if I didn’t have access to tests and had a reason to test.

Its all quite a interesting catch 22…

How am I? I’m tired, slower but active. Cough has gone and I found my out of date Covid tests are still picking up on my positive Covid, although a year old. But I do have the new ones to confirm when I do believe I’m negative again.

Not that it matters I guess?

I will be at MozFest House Amsterdam 2024

Woman sat on a chair in front of large screen in a light room

Less than a week after the PublicSpaces conference in Amsterdam is the Mozilla Festival House also in Amsterdam but just north of central station in Tolhuistuin on 11-13th June.

I will be part of the team running the Mozilla/BBCRD ethical dilemma cafe. You maybe asking what is the ethical dilemma cafe? Well there is more here and if you are deeply interested, we started pulling everything together here in this public github (barcamp style)

Panel discussion of 7 people sat on a chairs on a small stage with a host standing in front talking to the audience
Mozhouse AMS 2023

The Mozhouse schedule just went up and its looks great and matches the theme of solidarity and togetherness. Between the keynotes, workshops and talks, is some excellent people to spend time with.

As its a Mozilla House event, the event will focus on the issues with the Netherlands and the EU but have a heavy dose of the wider internet health concerns.

Get a sense of last year and book your tickets here.

Not so easyjet

Easyjet plane

I have just spent 15 days in the Netherlands, on the whole it was great but after 5 hotels and a generous friend it was hard work. A bunch of things happened which are hard to explain without a lot of detail, which I can’t go into. However…

There was a bunch of problems with my flights which had a knock on effect.

Sunday 18th June, I was booked, packed and had my boarding pass ready to get on my evening Easyjet flight to Amsterdam from Manchester. I just got back from the Northern Quarter after having brunch with a friend. Funny enough she asked me when my flight is and I joked it was 90mins from that moment.

On the walk back from brunch, I received a text message fr0m Easyjet.

We’re really sorry that your easyJet flight 2167 from MAN to AMS on 18-06-2023 has been cancelled due to poor weather. We understand that this will be disappointing news and we want to make it as easy as possible for you to make new plans.

What the hell I thought then when I got home I saw the email. 3 options were available.

  1. Switch to a new flight for free.
  2. Choose a voucher for the full value of your ticket
  3. Request a refund

I picked option 1 but there were no flights available to Amsterdam till late the next day. Meaning I would miss a lot of the first day of Mozilla House. With some authorisation and time running short, I triple checked KLM were still flying and booked that one for about a hour or so later than the original Easyjet one. I can’t even explain how stressful this was because I couldn’t leave till I had the boarding pass on my phone & gdrive. With a small amount of time I could only get a Uber to the airport check in with my cabin luggage (I can’t do 2 weeks with a small amount of luggage), get through security and board the plane.

When I finally got to Amsterdam, the hotel was completely automated by email, which I never answered due to the change of flights. Luckily one of the team saw my signal messages after midnight and let me in so I could actually check in.

2 hotels later and a great Mozilla House event in Amsterdam (more on this in another blog post). My plan to visit a friend in Rotterdam was thrown into chaos with Rotterdam upgrading its railways. This meant booking another hotel very last minute but I did end up going to Walibi Holland still.

Goliath x8 (not steel dragon 2000, but similar in construction)
Untamed x10 (first time I been on a RMC steel converted woodie and it was brutal)
Speed of sound x3
Loss of gravity x15 (not the smiler, but same maker and track style, not enough inversions)
Xpress platform 13 – x1

As I wasn’t spending 4 hours getting back to Rotterdam, I got to do a bunch of other stuff including watching the Flash with Dutch subtitles.

Anyway back to flights and travel. On my return to Manchester on Easyjet, I got to the Airport with plenty of time. My partner had joined me after the Publicspaces conference in hotel number 5 and we had booked flights a long time ago just incase. I spent a long time (30+ mins with the messaging system) cancelling my part of that flight and then moving my new flight seat next to my partner on the return. Worth noting Easyjet wouldn’t cancel my extra luggage, although I wouldn’t be on that booking any-more.

I get to the Amsterdam airport and try to check in to find my boarding pass isn’t valid. We try different ways to check if I’m on the flight but none of them work. I call Easyjet and the company who booked the flight. Its a long story but by the time I understand what happened, my options to leave were fading away to zero. I even considered the Eurostar and almost booked one of the last business class seats on KLM but they couldn’t guarantee I would make it to the plane in time.

Luckily my good friend Si had offered following me a room after having to book a hotel due to Rotterdam.

Finally after 15 days, 5 different hotels and 2 conferences; I was back in Manchester again.

The thing I learned is Easyjet cancels both flights even if you request to cancel only the outgoing flight.I gather this isn’t true for every airline but I don’t think they are the only one. Easyjet insists they sent emails to me but as I wasn’t the booker, it didn’t get to me. Although they did have my mobile number and email address. Right now we are going through this all to see what went wrong.

Dont get me wrong I had a amazing time in Amsterdam, worked really hard throughout but got the right blend of work and pleasure. However my credit card looks pretty damaged although I will get back the flights, some hotels are on me.