Arriving and transferring in Heathrow was a nightmare...cattle would have been apalled at the level of service and the queue bending around corners without AC as well as tired and impolite staff at the security check.
Now I've been here for about three hours, and am boooored. Have bought "Heat" by George Monbiot, and am trying to resist the temptation to buy lots of Lonely Planet guides, although the one for Peru is definitely screaming my name from afar in W.H. Smith!
Still, I tend to think that guides are out of date by the time they're printed for the really useful information, and the rest you ought to find out by speaking to locals. Maybe I'm wrong, but at least that way I might learn Spanish. We'll see. Still no luck actually speaking to Madeleine, on whom I'd like to impose my first night in Sydney, and my arriving at an ungodly hour there (5.15 am) doesn't help.
I also have the sneaky feeling that I'm a) badly prepared for this trip b) helping to warm the planet (having started to read Monbiot's book) and c) have not brought nearly enough things for staying away from my home for 9 months (have you any idea how much fits into a 25 kg suitcase?? - hardly anything!! I had to send most of my shoes (yes, including my rugby prop boots) by mail, to avoid them taking up my entire allowance. And still, I feel like I've only brought one pair of socks and my web camera. Never mind, they're bound to have shops in Lima too!
Things to do still before the flight boards (in approx. 3 hours):
- drink lots of water
- eat aspirin
- put on Swedish pharmacy support stockings
- not buy more books
Part 2
Having exhausted all other options for entertainment, I'm back at the computer with some more observations on Heathrow:
- my anti-environment side is enjoying not having to trace down the POS for each bottle that I buy (no "Pfand" system - yay!)
- Heathrow staff still haven't learned to say "Charles de Gaulle" without pronouncing the 'S' (ok I'm a language snob, what's your point?!). The French-speaking voice takes instant revenge by pronouncing British way in an unmistakeably French way. Hehe.
- to buy drinks a £1.20 from the vending machine, you need the exact change - which, of course means that most of us have to go buy something else to get the change, and thus probably buy the drink itself somewhere else.
- why are there so many people with an American accent working at the tills?
- why oh why can you not get Fisherman's Friend in the UK?
- the newly awakened Monbiot-reader in my was instantly apalled at the BBC announcement about Blair opening the new "Langeled" gas pipe from Norway to cut heating bills - thought about cutting consumption, hmm?
- also GNER owner has gone bancrupt, but "British train traffic won't be affected" - who are they trying to fool?
In Sweden the Minister of Trade has resigned, by the way, and not because she felt it was justified in view of her dodgy financial dealings, oh no: it was because "she couldn't handle the media pressure on her and her family". The Minister for Culture is being prosecuted for her financial mishaps (e.g. non-declared labour). Wonder if the "moderate" party would still win if there was a re-election this Sunday?!
