I had a nightmare journey driving from Halifax to Heathrow last Tuesday: don't ask why I felt the need to drive! It took SEVEN hours from my front door to leaving the final security clearance at the airport. Down the M1 and they closed it between two junctions. This was outside Nottingham and it took me one and a half hours to manoeuvre round the motorway to get back on it around 5 miles lower down. There were thousands of us affected by this problem. The problem being an accident between a car and a motor bike. Of course these incidents are tragic for the people directly concerned; but I've said it before, the knock on effect for the rest of us is phenomenal. Because I am very wary of driving to Heathrow I had allowed myself eight and a half hours to catch my plane even though the optimal time for getting there is just four hours according to the RAC.
I picked up a hitch hiker en route and whilst the chap looked clean and tidy, as soon as he got into the car I realised my mistake. Personal hygiene was not his strong point. Fortunately he was only with me for 20 minutes or so and leaving the windows open for a few minutes once he'd left me cleared the air!
Arriving at the security queue at Heathrow Terminal 3 last Tuesday evening and as I arrived the man at the end of the queue I joined said, "I haven't seen so many people since I went skiing at half term."! "Welcome to modern Britain", I said.
I flew with EVA Airways to get me to Bangkok and as we were in the departure lounge being organised to board the aeroplane, two men forced themselves to a position very near the front of the queue. The airline staff then took control and started boarding in the way that many airlines do: families and wheelchair bound passengers first ... then by row numbers, starting at the back of the plane. These two men then barked that this was a silly way to board and since people had already got to the front of the queue, like them, why not just allow people to board as they wished ... well, boarding by row is as efficient as it gets. I have seen the rugby scrum approach and it is a mess. Anyway, I boarded immediately following these two men and, far be it from me to cast any nationalistic aspersions, but I heard them speaking to each other in a language spoken by the vast majority of people inhabiting rather a large region of Europe contiguous to the southern shores of the English Channel. Typical! I have to say, however, that their English accent was more South African than Gallic.
At breakfast on the final day in Bangkok I saw a more mature gentleman in jeans and tee shirt, sporting shoulder length and LACQUERED hair. For goodness' sake!
One very odd thing at the hotel, by the way, is that they put the cereals in a different place every day!
Like many people I share a fear of a single Magpie: one for sorrow and all that. On the plane, there was a welcoming video on the big screens and along came a Taiwanese blue magpie ... a very beautiful bird. Then we took off and they switched on the entertainment system only for 12 of us in the area around where I was sitting to find that our personal video screens didn't work. Magpies! I was at that time in a seat in row 45 which is an emergency exit seat with LOADS of leg room. Since I was on a 12 hour flight, I moved to a spare seat to watch a few films. I was pleasantly surprised to find, though, that the seat pitch on an EVA 777-300ER is around 2 - 3 inches bigger than on any other airline I have flown with. Well done EVA!
DW
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