The long haul is over and here we are in London! The flight wasn't too bad. Taking off seemed a problem; we had the sense of what a seagull would have felt like trying to lift off with sandbags under its wings. It was never going to happen and we found ourselves hoping there wasn't a stone wall at the end of the runway. Then, suddenly, we lurched into the air and 400+ people gave a collective sigh of relief.
Not long after takeoff, and certainly before the seat belt sign was turned off, some kid from two rows behind uttered those five words every parent has come to know and hate: "Are we nearly there yet?" Arghhh. No, kid, just another fourteen hours to go!
Remember the days when they showed a film and you watched it whether you wanted to or not? Boy have times changed, particularly over the last twelve months. Each seat, would have had a choice of around 40 films, not to mention TV shows, news and sports. Even last year, when there was a good choice, you were locked into watching films as they were recycled for the whole plane. Now you choose your film and it starts for you whenever you are ready. Anyway, the entertainment system is now incredible - but the food is still lousy. A year or so ago, QANTAS was making a big thing of their new chefs and nouvelle cuisine. Well, the nouvelle is the "same old, same old" and not very impressive. You no longer get decent cutlery, refresher towels or choice of wines and service is petty poor as well.
An hour before we finally got to Heathrow, they peeled Ginnie off the back window where she had glued herself and was shouting hysterically, "I see them, I see them, the white cliffs of Dover and was doing her Vera Lynn rendition of "We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when..." However, when all is said and done it was a safe and uneventful flight with a landing so smooth we barely realised we had touched down. Then, of course, we get to the fun bit.
God alone and the air traffic controllers have any idea of the number of 747s that arrive at Heathrow every day at between 6.00 and 7.00 in the morning. It must be close to one per minute and each of these has 400+ passengers all of whom have to clear immigration. So why, oh why, did they think that two passport control officers could cope? And of course, if that wasn't enough they decided to hold a stop-work meeting with over 2,500 people waiting to clear. And, of course, some people can't abide waiting. There was a lot of pushing and shoving and it was really quite frightening because you could sense that the frustration might boil over at any moment. Imagine that, 15 hours cooped up in a cigar tube and when you finally get out you are trampled to death in the arrivals hall by maddened fellow passengers!
And so to London. As fabulous as ever but surprisingly cold. Most of the trees are completely bare although a very few of the blossom trees showing a hint of life. A few daffodils in Hyde Park peeking through; but not much else. The new double-decker buses are sleek but lack the charm of the older open-backed ones.
Tomorrow Ginnie heads off to Bath. We saved 120 pounds (yes pounds) by booking her train tickets on the internet rather than waiting until we arrived. It was a simple procedure today to go to the station and convert the internet booking to live tickets. While Ginnie is in Bath, I am going to hit some of the art galleries and maybe take in a show in the West End.
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