Back to the "safe flight" comment by Mini Apron's beloved to BJJ on Sunday's Guccifest vlog. I've wasted a stupid amount of time thinking about this. It really is not important but, like a terrier with a rat, I couldn't let go!
Starting point: SJ's birthday was Wednesday, 18th August. Celebratory supper that evening. At least one B&B "dinner with the chatelaine" after that, and also seen wallpapering (badly) the downstairs loo dressed in the hideous birthday jumper, plus other footage faffing about doing important stuff leading up to departure.
On arrival at Stansted, PCR test. The onsite testing unit shuts at 19.00 and S said she had to beg them to do PCRs on arrival as they were still not in receipt of results from the PCRs done in France. This discounts their flight ex Limoges being on Saturday, 21st as arrival time at Stansted is 14.05, hours before the testing place shuts. Also, one could see from the footage that Stansted wasn't in bright afternoon sunshine and that Heathrow was early evening half-light when Gerry dropped them off.
Therefore, two alternative timelines to meet the USA COVID entry requirements for travelliers from Schengen countries/the UK and be in NY for week beginning Monday, 6th,
Option 1:
Limoges/Stansted: Friday, 20th August
Driven from Stansted to Heathrow/airport hotel in the Tartan Taxi
Heathrow/Barbados: Saturday 21st
14 nights in Barbados
Barbados/JFK: Saturday, 4th September, arrives 21.45
USA Labor Day holiday long w/end so presumably Christie's closed til Tuesday, 7th so Sunday and Monday are 2 "free days" in NY.
Option 2:
Limoges/Stansted, Sunday, 22nd August
Driven to Heathrow/airport hotel in the Tartan Taxi
Heathrow/Barbados: Monday, 23rd
14 nights in Barbados
Barbados/JFK: Monday, 6th September arrives 21.45
Christie's: Tuesday, 7th for 2/3/4 days?
I go with Option 2 simply because of SJ saying they would be arriving the night before "starting work" and that they'd be hitting the ground running the next day. A further theory based on that premise: SJ's contributions to the live chat on Monday, 6th were done from Bdos airport after checking in for the 16.10 (local time) flight to JFK. So I took Percy's remark to BJJ on Sunday meant "safe flight [tomorrow]".
Done anybody care? Nope! It just reinforces what we all know: one of life's certainties is that nothing is ever as it is seems with the chatelaine.
Postscript: Stephanie needs to stop playing the ingenue pdq. She's 46, not a dewy-eyed 18 year old. Her comments about not knowing the extent of Ida's devastating fury, inferring that being in Barbados meant she was cut off from the outside world, were untrue, bloody stupid and, even by her standards, disingenuous in the extreme.