tick followed tock followed tick…
And I waited. So did a lot of other people at Gatwick’s North Terminal yesterday morning, for that matter.
Fortunately though, not for too long, and a scant hour behind schedule I can happily report that I made it! The overnight snow in That London may have held things up a little, but interested parties can be assured that I am now safely ensconced in my lovely Jersey hotel and very much looking forward to helping folk keep the cold out.
It was a grey and sludgy start en route to Victoria Station, and the Gatwick Express progressed to a hideously expensive but very nice breakfast omelette whilst waiting for something helpful to materialise in place of the interminable ‘Please Wait’ legend next to my flight number on the boards. But eventually, slightly later than planned, there was the blessed relief of getting to my destination to find not only no snow but lovely sunshine and a mild, completely inoffensive sea breeze, or so I found when I went for a stroll to enjoy the fresh air and check out the film times at Cineworld (having previously learned the hard way why browsing Flixter on a UK BlackBerry in the Channel Islands is ill advised).
The week is looking lively indeed, and I was glad of the early night and some R&R yesterday evening having had a timely reminder of why I don’t take late, short notice appointments on Thursday night from an otherwise unremarkable gentleman who sounded OK on the phone, but smelt so strongly of alcohol upon arrival I was too afraid to flick a light switch until the fan had been on for an hour after his (slightly off kilter) departure at around 11.30pm. Fortunately, virtually everybody else managed to behave and in addition to my first (voucher-driven) Yo Sushi visit in a while, a new discovery was made in Dim T on Wednesday lunchtime with Kinky La Rue, where we got huge bowls of hot soup, half a dozen steamed dumplings and solid main courses (a superior Katsu curry for my compadre and a sharp-sauced and panko-breadcrumbed lemon chicken with steamed rice for me that was a world away from the battered takeaway version with warm lemon curd on it, which I have adored for as long as I can remember, but sophisticated it ain’t) for a shade over twenty quid apiece with drinks – result. It is barely a month now before the New York trip, and planning is are well underway, even if not much got done on Wednesday bar gossiping, London hotel comparisons and poring over every item on the comprehensive menu (and I still regret not getting a takeaway for later). More catching up next weekend hopefully, with the possibility of cake and even more home made jerk chicken. Yay!
As the keen eyed will have spotted (and the rest will have gleaned from the previous sentence) I shall be heading back to London for one night only on Friday, partly to catch up with some folks I missed this week and mainly because travel on a Friday afternoon is a royal pain in the arse which should only be attempted by the most serenely forgiving and placid members of the human race even in good weather. Needless to say, this description does not include me, and as such I will be about my usual stomping ground (although in different digs) from Friday lunchtime until Saturday noonish. The bad news is that Friday afternoon is almost booked up already and Friday evening is spoken for, but as ever, anybody who wants to register an interest is welcome to do so and – fingers crossed – hopefully the Guernsey flight won’t suffer from the weather shenanigans, should they last into the week.
Speaking of Guernsey, anybody wanting to book (for Thursday in particular) would be well advised to get in now – I’m only in town for the one full day and a bit of Wednesday, and most of that is liable to be spent recovering from the flight if the weather turns. For now though, everything (literally) is fine! And to those wondering what had happened to the oft-promised new pictures, I haven’t forgotten. Watch this space…
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