Landed into Heathrow terminal 2, collected
my bag and made my way to terminal 5. By checking in online last night, I
cheekily hoped that I would be able to ditch my bag at the Bag and Drop and
then stroll around the airport beyond security for the 6-hour wait. Sadly Bag
and Drop adheres to the same rules as regular check-in and the airline will not
take your bag until 3 hours before your flight. Devilish plan foiled. Great!
There’s not a lot to do in Heathrow when you are stranded at the check-in area.
Twiddling your thumbs gets you so far, but isn’t very satisfactory (have I
mentioned that I’m terrible at airport waiting? – definitely one of my pet
peeves). Anyhoo, after five mins of thumb twiddling, I wandered into
Carluccio’s for an extremely leisurely lunch and had two glasses of Pinot
Grigio to take the edge off. Plus I figured if any further thumb twiddling was
necessary it might seem more amusing after the consumption of fermented grapes…
As soon as the clock indicated it was three hours before my
flight I was back at the Bag and Drop grinning ecstatically at being able to
dump my rucksack. Unencumbered by my load I made my way to security where again
they could not read my self-printed boarding card. (Note to self: get new
printer, or maybe just stop using recycled paper). Back to the check-in desks
again I was sent. Thankfully it was still quite early and there was not much of
a queue. New boarding pass issued and I safely traversed through security the
second time.
Right, after all that thumb twiddling I was really quite exhausted
and in need of some liquid refreshment from Giraffe (who do exceedingly good
cocktails!). Grabbed myself a nice table where I could people-watch to my heart’s
content. Getting caught doing so is quite awkward, especially if you are
obviously doing nothing else, just sitting at an empty table. Need to have at
least a glass in hand to be able to acknowledge the spot with a resigned nod
and glass lift. Ergo, “Waiter!”. First up was an Apple & Elderflower
Martini - light, refreshing and zingy, definitely one of my favs! Hmmm, that lady’s
waffle with choc, banana and ice-cream that just crossed my line of vision
looks, and smells, very appealing, “Waiter!”. One choc waffle later and I’m
ready for a Mango & Lime Daiquiri. (Noelette I only had that in your
honour, as I know you would be disgusted if I went to Giraffe and did not do a
quality control test for you…) .
Still
have a bit of time before I need to locate my boarding gate, time to pull out
the Kindle I think. I’m currently reading Bill Bryson’s “I'm a Stranger Here
Myself” which is a collection of short articles. I started his article “A Visit
to the Barbershop”, and proceeded to fall into a fit of hysterics at his
musings. Seriously I was inconsolable from laughter, and got a few funny looks
from customers. At one point my eyes flooded up with tears and I could no
longer read as the text was just a blurry mess. I had to put the Kindle aside
in order to recompose myself. Few deep breaths, I gathered myself together and
started re-reading the article only to befall a similar giggling experience
seconds later.
Now I’m not saying that this article is the funniest thing since
sliced bread. But Mr. Bryson is an incredibly witty writer (kinda similar to
Douglas Adams) and that together with the amalgamation of completely identifying with the subject matter, the long wait, the tasty alcohol, the idea of catching up with long-lost-travel
buddies and heading back to Africa, and I was lost to a state of giggling wreck,
and didn’t care. Finally I managed to finish the article and with a general
feeling of mirth, I made my way to the now listed boarding gate. Another uneventful, not too busy flight to
Jo’burg awaited me. Roll on tomorrow and
the start of this hopefully epic holiday!
(Just in case anyone is curious, here is a link to an online
version of the article in question http://www.angelfire.com/ma/phrog220/read/barbershop.html
- that is funny right??)
No comments:
Post a Comment