Miscellany or musings

The mouth of the river Mersey
The mouth of the river Mersey

If you read the last post you will know I am travelling today, and I am obviously inspired to write as this is the second one and it is only 08:26 in the morning. I am sat on an easyjet flight.

The trip to the airport was full of surprises. I missed the parking bus so walked to the terminal. I noticed in the verge what looked like an orchid but it was blue, I must investigate. The priority lane has become popular and I ended up queuing, but still had time for and express and a pain au raisin.

The flight was called on time departing from gate 18 the closest one to the terminal building. I am definitely convinced that speedy boarding is a waste of time. I was at the front of the queue and got a window seat near the back, with little effort, and none of the rush you have when you have Speedy boarding and feel you must be at the front to get the seats you have a right to because you paid extra.

The plane was at 2/3 to 3/4 full. The rain had cleared the atmosphere and the views from the window of the aircraft were great. The Irish sea still looked a bit choppy and we hit some turbulent air as we left the west coast over Liverpool. I also noticed that the Rape crops are starting to flower, it is surprising haw much of the English country side is taken up with it. Does it go to human consumption or animal? I have had cold pressed oil but I prefer the flavour of olive oil.

Arrived only 10 minutes late, and picked up the hire car. The weather in Northern ireland was similar to the mainland typical spring blueskies with big cumulus clouds threatening, a down pour.

Meetings went well, and it was soon time to head back, I left a bit later than I would have liked, so did not bother to fill the car up, luckily for me the petrol gauge was the LCD block type and had not registered any usage so I got away with it. No sooner had I got through security the flight was called to gate 18, don’t you just love it when things run smoothly, (that comment may have been a bad mistake!).

Easyjet plane from gate 18 Belfast International

The flight was quite crowded, more than 95% full, they were looking for volunteers to put baggage in the hold free of charge, to ensure enough room in the overhead lockers. You could tell we were running to capacity because the steward was making announcements to the effect “hurry up and stow you baggage, then sit down so we can take off” but using the politeness only air stewards are capable of.

Despite no speedy boarding I got a decent window seat near the back. I managed to drop my pen twice whilst seated, it can be very difficult to retrieve anything from the aircraft floor once seated. If you lean forward hand have long enough arms then you can just about reach the floor, if the item is any where other that where you feet go forget it, the item is lost. I was lucky twice I dropped my pen and twice I was able to retrieve it.

Apparently we flew over Liverpool at 37,000 feet which compared to Everest nearly 30,000 feet is pretty high, the sun was shining we were way above the clouds, I could see some bubbling up into storms but nothing really very big, so I guess the weather below was probably quite pleasant. The captain announced that we were 20 minutes ahead of schedule, they day just got better and better.
If I was a real writer I would now have to turn this post in to a story where everything was going well then… But I won’t.