zotz | Weekend in London

I flew BA down to Heathrow on Friday. A 757 this time, and I was on the left, which is the wrong side to have a good view. We took off eastwards, which was a bit odd, turning northwards 270 degrees to head south. The flight was half an hour late getting off, but mostly fairly uneventful until we hit London (although seeing the planes on approach as we moved onto the runway was interesting). After another fifteen minutes stacked, we went southwards past the north London reservoirs and took a right roughly over the city, giving a good view of City airport, the dome, and in the distance Blackheath and Lee. On the other hand, being on the right would have given me a view over central London as we went past. I notice there's still a Concorde at Heathrow - the one they're keeping airworthy for displays, I guess. Touchdown was nice and hammery this time, and suddenly the small child who'd been wailing and whining the whole way down started laughing uncontrollably. I will never understand humans. It was interesting seeing, as we turned off the runway, the lights in the distance of the next three or four planes on approach getting gradually closer.

Nothing much happened after that. It was past eleven when I got to Fiona's. There had been a derailment at Hammersmith.

Saturday was mainly taken up by the joint birthday party, which decided against being a picnic around eleven when the clouds started leaking. Fiona and Kate both seemed to have a good time. I certainly did. There was altogether too much food, too much of which was cake, and loads of interesting people to talk to, ranging from ~~old~~longstanding friends like CJ to several folk I'd never met before. Very good (and very good it was to meet you, should you be reading this). Everyone got kicked out at eleven and after a brief tidy (no, not like that - get your minds out of the gutter) to bed.

Sunday started well, with bright sunshine, and after a little more tidying (only a little, as people hadn't made much mess. Hardly any, in fact) we went out for a walk through Blackheath to Greenwich park and back. After that, dinner and then off to the airport. Halfway there the heavens opened again, leaving poor Fiona to get home without an umbrella.

The flight was mostly uneventful, except that I was sat on the right, which once again was the wrong side. On the other hand, I was right behind the wing, so I could see the drive shaft that winds the flaps in and out. Either that or it was the drive shaft from the engines that works the rest of the plane. That's it, really. Nice weekend.

Some people were talking outside my bedroom window in the middle of the night, for what seemed like forever. They'd get worked up about something for a couple of minutes, and then calm down and I'd doze off again . . . almost, until suddenly they'd start bickering again.

This morning, I picked up another (well, the other, I think) album by My Dog Popper, posted from Germany. This one's Buenos Dias Jesus, rather than their more famous 668 - Neighbour of the Beast, which I picked up last year. There were half-a-dozen things for Sara, too, which are currently sitting under my desk..