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- 14:55 hi tweeters mine. Beaming in from Marblehead, Mass. Jetlagged but connected to the internet. #
- 16:42 @devinjay let's not & say we did #
- 16:50 @Keith_london Widdicombe says she'll retire at next election. Seems odd to appoint caretaker...Labour would say "Tory turn" and want it back #
- 17:22 @danbjorn at a place I used to work they called it "twiggle" and "close twiggle". #
- 20:37 Back from walk, very spaced. Must rest before Lodge. #
May. 20th, 2009
Finally...
May. 20th, 2009 10:02 amI am in Marblehead. What a saga this has been.
Monday evening I took the Heathrow Express to Terminal 5. My first time flying out of that terminal. First thing to say: it is huge. It is unimaginably huge. The Universe is a micron compared to that terminal...oops! Wrong comparison.
I got there and dropped my bags. Had a Welsh agent. I said, jokingly, "You're not from around here." and he replied. "Yes, Italy. I badly needed a laugh.
Security is interesting. The trays aren't handled manually: they circulate in the machine. They appear under your place at the chute, you take them out, put your stuff in them, and they disappear at the end of the chute on the other side after (I hope) you've removed your stuff.
There was the usual selection of duty-free bumpf, Harrod's fleece...er...food halls, and toney food joints. Had an iced latté at Starbucks while trying to use the free airport WiFi. Slow (must ha e been a heck of a load) and waited for the gate announcement. It came: B23.
Terminal 5 is so big they have a train that goes between A-gates, B-gates, and C-gates. I got to the B-gates and sat down and waited. A rather disshevelled man came up to me and asked "Boston?" I nodded and pointed to the sign above his head, "Boston". He went away. When the agents arrived to get us on the plane, he went up to them three times to ask something or other. At first they were puzzled, then alarmed. After the third time, he sat down and Matron came. She looked like a retired prison guard on Cellblock H. She drew him aside and tried to talk to him. I think he was chemically-impaired (sorry,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
trawnapanda, but I had to mention it) and perhaps either illiterate or unable to speak English. After a while, I think she got exasperated and I saw her use her walkie-talkie. As far as I am aware, he was not on the plane with us. Perhaps he was in First, or was the pilot.
I purposely picked a seat far away from the bulkhead, as the seat chart ominously put the word "Cot" on the bulkhead. Unfortunately, in a lightly-passengered plane, I did not get an empty seat between me and the window. I got Chatty Cathy and her husband, Silent Steve. I attempted my usual defense of noise-cancelling headphones and iPod, but was horrified to learn that the batteries were dead. There was no escape!! I was as curt as I could be without telling them to STFU.
Enter the cabin attendant. Another Welshman, although I think he was off Italian extraction. He was full of witticisms and jokes. When someone who is obviously 20 years younger than I am calls me "young man", I reach for my revolver. He got on famously with Chatty Cathy, of course. I was morose, so when he asked me what wine I wanted, I said,"Red." He asked, " Beaujolais or Bourdeaux?" I said "Surprise me." The screw top revealed that it had already been opened. The wine wasn't corked, of course. Corked would have been preferable to what I finally got.
When he came around to collect the tray, he asked, "You going to finish your wine?" I said, "Well, if you'd made it in your bathtub it would have been lovely. If it was the product of a winery, it was vile." He laughed a little, and said, "It's airplane wine." "The Aeroflot vintage," I replied, and that ended the conversation. I said to Chatty after he moved away, "He must have been made redundant from the Cardiff Comedy Club so he took a job with BA."
When I got my coffee, that too was viler than BA coffee usually is. I handed the empty cup back to him and said, "I see that the winery has a coffee grove too."
Of course, this time I really did have the last laugh. My seat was randomly selected to fill out the customer questionnaire.Yes! There is a God!!
There were five Bulgarians in the row in front of me and Chatty/Silent. They were forever getting up, being restless, and the like. I found out why when the cabin attendant came around with the forms. They asked about visas. The attendant couldn't answer their question, and went to check. They didn't appear at the carrousel in the luggage hall. I expect they're back in the UK now wondering what happened.
We landed and got to post a bit ahead of schedule. The immigration agent I got was confused by the expiration date of my passport (everyone who reads it is--I automatically say "Page 23" which is where the endorsement is.) and he asked me, "Vacation?" I said "No, I live there." thinking that he meant "Are you returning from a vacation?" He meant, "Are you here on vacation?" He then wrote a big "1" in a circle on the Customs form. Now I know to answer "Yes." to that question in the future. Got my luggage and HWMBO arrived with our friend Linda to pick me up. Home and to bed.
Yesterday was a bit frantic, what with jetlag and all. After breakfast to the main item of the day: enabling Harold's internet access. When my ex-sister-in-law moved out, he had the internet access removed, so the last few times I've stayed here I used my uncle's computer, until he died. Last September I had to go downtown and use the access in a café with a borrowed computer.
This trip I brought my netbook and thus I started getting him set up. I got partway through (hardware was ok, software got partway through) I decided to call the cable provider. I got the usual menu hell, and selected "internet service help" and, of course, got the telephone line help. When I got to the internet service customer rep, I got Will, who is a person of colour, I think, and was really good at what he does. We got the problem sorted out, and I thanked him at the end. He then said, "Thank YOU for being such a good customer--normally I have a hard time getting the information I need out of customers but you've been very good and given me exactly what I needed to know. This call has been a real pleasure to deal with." Now that is the first time I've been complimented by the customer service rep on a call. I was duly impressed.
Then I got the wireless router working and my iPhone is now connected when I am home. Very good too. I read my email and answered tweets. Now I have to get Dick's old computer up and running, and the printer as well. Then my brother will be connected up to the internet.
We walked around downtown yesterday afternoon and at the end of it I was bushed. But I then had to go to Lodge last night. So I got dressed, went to Lodge with Harold, and had my steak dinner. it was on the house, too! Normally $15. Tender steak, nice Freedom...er...French fries, just right. Some of the brothers are starting to get excited about travelling to London next year to see my installation as Worshipful Master of Goliath Lodge. I think there will be a significant contingent, including my brother, who's never been abroad before. I shall have a significant bill for guests at dinner next May.
Then we went into the Lodgeroom for our concert and awards. A junior high school chorus from Swampscott sang, and then two former choristers who are now freshmen in university sang with the chorusmistress. Very nice.
After that the Deputy District Grand Master arrived with about 50 men to hand out a 60-year pin, four 50-year pins, and a shedload of other honours. By this time I was almost fast asleep and Harold had to nudge me from time to time to keep me awake. There was supposed to be a business meeting afterwards, but we cut out early and I came home to bed.
Today is lunch withrsc and jwg, and the rest of the day to ourselves.
Monday evening I took the Heathrow Express to Terminal 5. My first time flying out of that terminal. First thing to say: it is huge. It is unimaginably huge. The Universe is a micron compared to that terminal...oops! Wrong comparison.
I got there and dropped my bags. Had a Welsh agent. I said, jokingly, "You're not from around here." and he replied. "Yes, Italy. I badly needed a laugh.
Security is interesting. The trays aren't handled manually: they circulate in the machine. They appear under your place at the chute, you take them out, put your stuff in them, and they disappear at the end of the chute on the other side after (I hope) you've removed your stuff.
There was the usual selection of duty-free bumpf, Harrod's fleece...er...food halls, and toney food joints. Had an iced latté at Starbucks while trying to use the free airport WiFi. Slow (must ha e been a heck of a load) and waited for the gate announcement. It came: B23.
Terminal 5 is so big they have a train that goes between A-gates, B-gates, and C-gates. I got to the B-gates and sat down and waited. A rather disshevelled man came up to me and asked "Boston?" I nodded and pointed to the sign above his head, "Boston". He went away. When the agents arrived to get us on the plane, he went up to them three times to ask something or other. At first they were puzzled, then alarmed. After the third time, he sat down and Matron came. She looked like a retired prison guard on Cellblock H. She drew him aside and tried to talk to him. I think he was chemically-impaired (sorry,
trawnapanda, but I had to mention it) and perhaps either illiterate or unable to speak English. After a while, I think she got exasperated and I saw her use her walkie-talkie. As far as I am aware, he was not on the plane with us. Perhaps he was in First, or was the pilot.I purposely picked a seat far away from the bulkhead, as the seat chart ominously put the word "Cot" on the bulkhead. Unfortunately, in a lightly-passengered plane, I did not get an empty seat between me and the window. I got Chatty Cathy and her husband, Silent Steve. I attempted my usual defense of noise-cancelling headphones and iPod, but was horrified to learn that the batteries were dead. There was no escape!! I was as curt as I could be without telling them to STFU.
Enter the cabin attendant. Another Welshman, although I think he was off Italian extraction. He was full of witticisms and jokes. When someone who is obviously 20 years younger than I am calls me "young man", I reach for my revolver. He got on famously with Chatty Cathy, of course. I was morose, so when he asked me what wine I wanted, I said,"Red." He asked, " Beaujolais or Bourdeaux?" I said "Surprise me." The screw top revealed that it had already been opened. The wine wasn't corked, of course. Corked would have been preferable to what I finally got.
When he came around to collect the tray, he asked, "You going to finish your wine?" I said, "Well, if you'd made it in your bathtub it would have been lovely. If it was the product of a winery, it was vile." He laughed a little, and said, "It's airplane wine." "The Aeroflot vintage," I replied, and that ended the conversation. I said to Chatty after he moved away, "He must have been made redundant from the Cardiff Comedy Club so he took a job with BA."
When I got my coffee, that too was viler than BA coffee usually is. I handed the empty cup back to him and said, "I see that the winery has a coffee grove too."
Of course, this time I really did have the last laugh. My seat was randomly selected to fill out the customer questionnaire.Yes! There is a God!!
There were five Bulgarians in the row in front of me and Chatty/Silent. They were forever getting up, being restless, and the like. I found out why when the cabin attendant came around with the forms. They asked about visas. The attendant couldn't answer their question, and went to check. They didn't appear at the carrousel in the luggage hall. I expect they're back in the UK now wondering what happened.
We landed and got to post a bit ahead of schedule. The immigration agent I got was confused by the expiration date of my passport (everyone who reads it is--I automatically say "Page 23" which is where the endorsement is.) and he asked me, "Vacation?" I said "No, I live there." thinking that he meant "Are you returning from a vacation?" He meant, "Are you here on vacation?" He then wrote a big "1" in a circle on the Customs form. Now I know to answer "Yes." to that question in the future. Got my luggage and HWMBO arrived with our friend Linda to pick me up. Home and to bed.
Yesterday was a bit frantic, what with jetlag and all. After breakfast to the main item of the day: enabling Harold's internet access. When my ex-sister-in-law moved out, he had the internet access removed, so the last few times I've stayed here I used my uncle's computer, until he died. Last September I had to go downtown and use the access in a café with a borrowed computer.
This trip I brought my netbook and thus I started getting him set up. I got partway through (hardware was ok, software got partway through) I decided to call the cable provider. I got the usual menu hell, and selected "internet service help" and, of course, got the telephone line help. When I got to the internet service customer rep, I got Will, who is a person of colour, I think, and was really good at what he does. We got the problem sorted out, and I thanked him at the end. He then said, "Thank YOU for being such a good customer--normally I have a hard time getting the information I need out of customers but you've been very good and given me exactly what I needed to know. This call has been a real pleasure to deal with." Now that is the first time I've been complimented by the customer service rep on a call. I was duly impressed.
Then I got the wireless router working and my iPhone is now connected when I am home. Very good too. I read my email and answered tweets. Now I have to get Dick's old computer up and running, and the printer as well. Then my brother will be connected up to the internet.
We walked around downtown yesterday afternoon and at the end of it I was bushed. But I then had to go to Lodge last night. So I got dressed, went to Lodge with Harold, and had my steak dinner. it was on the house, too! Normally $15. Tender steak, nice Freedom...er...French fries, just right. Some of the brothers are starting to get excited about travelling to London next year to see my installation as Worshipful Master of Goliath Lodge. I think there will be a significant contingent, including my brother, who's never been abroad before. I shall have a significant bill for guests at dinner next May.
Then we went into the Lodgeroom for our concert and awards. A junior high school chorus from Swampscott sang, and then two former choristers who are now freshmen in university sang with the chorusmistress. Very nice.
After that the Deputy District Grand Master arrived with about 50 men to hand out a 60-year pin, four 50-year pins, and a shedload of other honours. By this time I was almost fast asleep and Harold had to nudge me from time to time to keep me awake. There was supposed to be a business meeting afterwards, but we cut out early and I came home to bed.
Today is lunch with
rsc and jwg, and the rest of the day to ourselves.