Monday Morning 9am
The clock has just ticked around to 9am. I'm sitting in the heart of Heathrow Airport in London, a few yards away from one of the departures boards. My flight is steadily moving up the board – with a note that the gate will be shown in about three quarters of an hour. As is usual, I flew through check-in and security, so find myself with time to spare now.
I've still not forgotten the time I arrived at Frankfurt airport with a check-in queue a thousand deep. Sitting here for a little while is far less stressful than that day.
The strangest things catch my attention. The departure boards are made mostly of widescreen televisions in portrait format – stacked alongside each other. Above them however is a lightbox with the 'Departures' sign on it, and alongside another lightbox with directions to the various gates. I'm wondering why those were not screens too – so their information could be changed without rebuilding the sign. Like I said – I notice the strangest things.
I forgot to pack a toothbrush and toothpaste in my bag. I just had a quick look around the departure hall in the airport, and can't see any shops that might sell it. Unless I want to wash my mouth out with expensive chocolate, or twenty year old whisky, I appear to be out of luck. I might go and have another look in a minute – otherwise I'll be hunting around the supermarket in Frankfurt for them. I hate forgetting things.
A smell just wafted past, and I'm struggling to put my finger on what it might be. Was it scent, or hand cleaner ? It had to be hand cleaner, didn't it? Who would wear scent that smells like hand cleaner? I'm sitting here with a huge grin now – we had a load of hand cleaner in the office years ago, which smelled of melon – so we called the little bottles Melonie – which then caused all manner of odd comments about 'I can smell Melonie on my hands' lol. Ahem. Anyway.
I missed Doctor Who last night – the first episode starring Jodie Whittaker. It just came to mind because a guy is sitting opposite me wearing a Tardis hoodie. I wonder if I can download it from BBC iPlayer before getting on the plane? If you check back later and I'm giving myself a high-five, you know what happened.