The flight over was uneventful, except for the "Vegetarian Issue" as history would come to call it. Apparently, British Airways cancelled their flight out of Dallas to London due to a mechanical, so we inherited a lot of their passengers, including a large number of passengers who were connecting to Pakistan. Because of the last minute change, all their special meal requests were not honored (you need 48 hours to plan for that), so the Chicken or Meat Lasagna was not very well received by these people.
A lot of places were closed on Boxing Day, but most of the big stores were open for the post Christmas sales. When we arrived, I changed clothes and went to Tesco to get some Original Source shower gel (http://www.originalsource.co.uk) and got some provisions for late night snacking.
After a short nap, I woke up around 3pm or so. The sun was already starting to set by the time I made my way outside (the joys of Europe in winter) I have a friend who recently moved to the UK with her husband and they live outside London. However, with the reduced train schedule on Boxing Day, it wasn't feasible to make the journey to their place. I decided to walk around Kensington instead. Down by the British Museum lots of people were ice skating and they had the trees all decorated with lights.
After walking around for about two hours, I made my way back to the hotel to meet up with my co-worker Patrick. I first met him in 2001 when I was volunteering at the union, but this was the first time we had flown together. We made plans to meet in the lobby at 5:30 and find a place to eat. That evening, a lot of local restaurants opened for business, so we went to the Stanhope Arms, a local pub, for dinner. I had Steak and Ale pie and mushy peas. Comfort food to say the least!
I was in bed pretty early. We had a pick up the next morning at like 7am, which is one am body clock time, so I wanted to get a good night sleep. I had purchased a milkshake called Frijj, which I have been buying since I first layed over in the UK when I was a new hire back in 1998. They had a new "flavour" called cookie dough. Now the real story is that lactose and I don't get along, but I always fall victim to Frijj. I enjoyed the cookie dough shake, but at 4am, I was not enjoying it so much.
The next morning, the full ramifications of the "crotch bomber" had surfaced. We were looking at some major security changes and the boarding of our flight took about two hours as each passenger was given additional screening. Everyone seemed to take it in stride, even though we were about an hour late arriving home. We did have some "East Ender" girls who proceeded to get sauced on the flight home. I knew they were toasted when she came up and told me I was "hot". (Let's face it... I am average at best). I had to have a talk with her and make her promise not to enjoy any adult beverages during her sit time in Dallas. I wanted to make sure she sobered up.
Those kind of passengers sure make the job interesting.
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