Until Next Time

Yesterday we bid farewell to England, this is what I wrote at the fantastic new Terminal 5. Not so state-of-the-art that it has free wi-fi however. Pull your finger out BAA, there's absolutely no excuse for not having free wi-fi, especially as you keep people hanging around with no explanations.

"Great Britain, the Island of the Mighty, it changes, it morphs, it welcomes and it spits out. Here we are on the way back to Vancouver. We have planned plenty of wiggle room into the various stages of our journey.

We eschew breakfast, choosing to fast before flying. Fast, pshaw, we’ve eaten enough ‘British Tapas’ (buy a ridiculously mis-matched selection of the Co-op’s ready meals and then share) and pudding tapas, (same but with puds) to keep the peristalsis going all night. Downstairs, Holly is confidently reading poems from ‘When We Were Very Young’, a well-used and loved book from the look of it. I notice that it’s the copy that Karen and Steve gave to Edward at his christening.

There is an earlier-than-planned train at the platform at Havant station, but we miss it by fewer than thirty seconds.
When we do get the train, the planned-on one, both toilets are out of service, thus, arriving at Woking, I have to make for the ladies’. Both cubicles are taken. From one, I can hear a woman having a loud conversation, I presume on her mobile phone, about visiting someone in gaol. I try to make my presence known by shuffling about and eventually the door opens. Two women come out. Neither washes their hands. This causes us to miss the bus, again by fewer than thirty seconds, but we still have plenty of time to spare.

As we pull out of Woking, the Mosque is letting out. Several men dressed like Baber Siddiqi, make me realise that Little Mosque on the Prairie has replaced apprehension with affection.
At the airport I notice that the disabled toilets no longer have big signs proclaiming them as such. What joined up thinking, those signs simply aren't necessary.

We wait and wait at the Departures gate, boarding time comes and goes, departure time comes and goes and not until twenty minutes after the time we should have left, do we get any information. The aircraft has had to be changed because of a freak food trolley accident. It doesn't seem very likely."

The flight was more tolerable, the seats better than before, the entertainment system is on Video on Demand, so we were able to watch as many films as we liked. We saw 'The King's Speech', Helena Bonham-Carter was beyond brilliant, 'Black Swan', - engaging, and 'Made in Dagenham'. This is a must-see, in fact, I will watch it again. Fecking supreme. And Miranda Richardson as Barbara Castle was inspired casting.
But it was still unbearably hot.

Whisky had been brought to meet us by Kevin's parents. Both Laurence and Whisky were happy to see us. Now there's just the reverse jet-lag to deal with.