17
JULY 2005 ‚ 0920 HOURS ‚ HEATHROW AIRPORT LONDON I'd suppose the worst aspect
of the seven hour journey was one of those archetypal clueless passengers ‚ a
distinctly rotund fellow - who did shit like stand up and block the
aisle without any awareness that people were stacked up unable to squeeze
by him. The piece de resistance came at the conclusion after the plane
had landed and they had announced for everyone to remain in their seats
until it arrived at the gate. Not him. She shot up and opened the overhead
compartment, garnering a reprimand from one of the attendants, which
he of course shrugged off as if he'd done nothing wrong. People. No matter how far you
go, they're still the same all over. So here we are in Heathrow. Oh boy! Never seen anything quite like it. And we've seen a good bit of it walking endless corridors to get from Terminal Three to Four -- and we still weren't done! A six-minute shuttle drive followed that included a jaunt through a cargo tunnel that finally brought us to Terminal Four, whereupon after more walking, another x-ray examination of our carry-on baggage (which makes the second time the camera bag has gone through unquestioned), and one final escalator ride up to the main consourse, we found ourselves uninformed as to what gate our plane to Nairobi would be departing (gates aren't posted to the board until an hour prior to departure, and our flight wasn't leaving until 10:25 a.m. In the interim Susan found a currency exchange that sold Kenyan shillings, and we finally found that our plane to Africa was to be boarding at Gate No. 2. Duly noted: signs in London
are fun. A couple closed doors were posted with "This
Door Is Alarmed," and another sign at the entrance to that cargo tunnel we
passed through encouraged drivers to us "dipped headlights" when passing
through it. Dipped headlights? Is that like low beams? There was another
one warning
of the consequences of assault airport staff, but I was at a bad angle and
couldn't get all the details. Sorry, but I find it funny that basically says "don't
assault the personnel," as
if without the notice there's an implication that it's acceptable. Oh well, we're getting set to
board. It's about 1:45 a.m. Los Angeles Time and I'm not sure if it's
the jetlag or the Malarone or a combination of the two, but I'm a little
loopy and discombobulated. But at least it's two flights down and only
one to go! |