The week that was - part 1
It started snowing on the morning that I was to leave. This was unexpected but I should have known it. Sliding on a patch of ice on Main street, I had a premonition of doom. And I regretted not having completed my packing a whole day before.
Luckily, Sharmaji can always be relied on and he was a trooper once again coming to my rescue with a record dash to the airport so that I may check in on time. It does take longer to drive on snowy roads. I wondered what I was going to do when he leaves for good? I figured, I'm probably comfortably disorganized because I have a friend who I can fall back on, and who has pulled me out of several spots in the past. I should probably change that. But its a comfort zone I've gotten used to.
In either case, the flight was delayed 4 hours. I had to endure this woman bitching and moaning about how terrible Air India is (yes, yes, I flew our national carrier). But the guy at the counter was probably used to it, he just gave her this "look" and kept interrupting with "I'm sorry ma'am. We're doing the best we can." Something tells me they hear this a lot.
We were about to take off (thank God) when suddenly the engines shut down and the plane turns around. WTF? I'm thinking (and so are all the other incredibly pissed off passengers). In a few minutes there's an announcement that a pregnant lady on board is having contractions. (I thought you weren't allowed to fly in that condition?") I want to scream, this is a nightmare.
We're delayed a little more, first because the cops want to question her, then because someone's got to find her luggage and get it off, and third, because we're now at the back of the line for take off. Six hours behind schedule, we take off. I fall asleep immediately, because its past midnight by now, only to be woken a while later, because they're serving dinner. AAAAAAAAHHHH. who serves dinner past midnight? I want to scream, this is a nightmare.
We were about to take off (thank God) when suddenly the engines shut down and the plane turns around. WTF? I'm thinking (and so are all the other incredibly pissed off passengers). In a few minutes there's an announcement that a pregnant lady on board is having contractions. (I thought you weren't allowed to fly in that condition?") I want to scream, this is a nightmare.
We're delayed a little more, first because the cops want to question her, then because someone's got to find her luggage and get it off, and third, because we're now at the back of the line for take off. Six hours behind schedule, we take off. I fall asleep immediately, because its past midnight by now, only to be woken a while later, because they're serving dinner. AAAAAAAAHHHH. who serves dinner past midnight? I want to scream, this is a nightmare.
We arrive at Heathrow the next morning. London is a nice city. I think. I didn't really get to see a lot of it, just what I saw from the windows of my car and train. The people I met in the lab were nice, very focused, probably work pretty hard (you can tell by the fact they are productive).
All in all, it looks very promising. The hospitality was excellent and I have never felt more comfortable in a strange new land. The food was mostly sausages and red meat, and I am afraid my arteries took a beating but it was for a good cause.
All in all, it looks very promising. The hospitality was excellent and I have never felt more comfortable in a strange new land. The food was mostly sausages and red meat, and I am afraid my arteries took a beating but it was for a good cause.
I'm on my way to Cambridge when I see this train station and remember D and the League of Gentlemen. I wonder if there's anyone like Tubbs in this place, and decide I'm going to get off and explore the next time I'm here. I say to no one in particular:
What's going on? What's all this shouting? We'll have no trouble here.
There's a woman on the other side of the aisle, she gives me a strange look. I'm not sure if she recognized the line and was surprised that I knew it, or if she was giving me the "Is this guy nuts?" look.
What's going on? What's all this shouting? We'll have no trouble here.
There's a woman on the other side of the aisle, she gives me a strange look. I'm not sure if she recognized the line and was surprised that I knew it, or if she was giving me the "Is this guy nuts?" look.
posted by khal at 2:05 pm
4 Comments:
I will wrestle to the ground anyone who has a bad thing to say about Air India. They waited for ALL of us when London was having one of its off again on again harass the passengers and making us go through security when we came in to refuel. It was more than 6 hours before all the passengers could get through (since there were many aircraft in and London was checking them all). All the other carriers left, the passnegers were stranded with promises of next available flight (yeah right, in December, all the flights are soooooo empty).
Our very own Mera Air India Mahan waited till the last passenger was back on board.
is your blog locked only on weekends or something? cause it never makes me sign in and just now it did.
I dunno.. everytime I see a spike of visitors I don't know, I get a little wary and blog goes private.
I had enough drama the last time with one of my posts (featuring smelly person from my work place). Maybe I should delete all personal posts? Didn't really have a game plan when I started blogging, you know.
Sometimes I wonder what will happen when gay cousin who doesn't know he's gay finds a (ahem) certain website. I find people are touchy about stuff like that. Any tips?
i dont know. hopefully the fool never finds it. if he does i'll just run and hide or something. i had this bad dream about it happening one time. i ran and hid in the dream.
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