The cold that has been oscillating in intensity inside my body for the last week or so has reached its highest peak. I feel crap. I was feeling crap before I even got on the plane. Luckily, Heathrow and BA are not shy of dishing out alcohol. The upshot of which is that pain of the 2 hour journey through the grim, cold, rain and rush-hour Tubes from my flat to the airport was attenuated by a nice pint of IPA at the Wetherspoons. The whole flight experience was surprisingly good, despite it taking place on a bloody 747-400 (hate hate hate). We’d bought tickets on-line and so I was able to use the self-service check-in. Saved hours of queuing and allowed me to give myself a window seat at the front. This was so that, once landed, I could race the rest of the plane to immigration – they take prints and photos these days so it takes longer. Didn’t fancy that one bit.
Once on the plane it was lovely. Some medicinal red wine and whisky, a good meal and quality film entertainment followed by a two hour nap. It was like Christmas, but without any arguing. Thankfully, BA have been upgrading the in flight entertainment on the knackered, rusting, flapping, sheds that are 747s. 18 channels afforded me a choice between good films, unlike the “best of a bad lot” you normally get. One of the channels, called something like “film club”, was showing a 1976 film called “Network”, which I plumped for over the new Mike Leigh. I can’t express how much I enjoyed it. I also can’t believe I’ve never seen it before. Sadly, unlike a real film club, there was no way to have a great enthusiastic chat with other viewers (preferably over a pint) afterwards. What the planes need is internal chat rooms for chatting to other passengers. I wanted to phone people and tell them how good it was!
After the film I watched the britcomedy channel which had, amongst other things, “The Smoking Room”…I laughed myself to sleep and woke up just before the approach. Superb.