Airport - part II

Unless you want to spend some extra money on getting an allocated seat with Ryan Air, you will have to join the queue. And the queue starts forming early. I am usually not bothered about where I sit, especially when flying alone. But this time I only had hand luggage - to save my employer £50 - and as most people are trying to save money, it becomes a bit of a hassle to find space for one's suitcase.

When I arrived there already was a considerable queue - which doubled by the time we were ready to board. When this joker comes along and thinks it's a good idea to jump the queue. In all fairness he asked the girl behind me, whether it would be OK, to just sneak in in front of her. For some unknown reason, she said yes. To then complain about it in German to her friends. Joker-boy wanted to know whether there was a problem. When he then informed her that he had done this LOADS of times and always got away, I gave him a piece of my mind: I asked him whether he was proud of it and tried to explain that this really wasn't very fair to all the other people in the queue behind him. He then came up with some nonsense about having had bad news that morning. By that time I had lost interest in the conversation, so spared him the news that jumping the queue wouldn't get him to Graz any quicker.

He also had two bags and of course he was asked to put one bag inside the other, as they are really strict about just one piece of hand luggage. He then started arguing with the airline guy that there were only newspapers in that bag. And that matters because???

I was just glad he wasn't sitting next to me on the plane. He was just really annoying (you had to be there...).

To top off the day, it was pissing down with rain Graz (wonderful, especially after leaving sunny London). And the heavy rain clouds caused a bit of turbulence. When I say a bit, it was enough to freak out people around me. I was clawing my fingers into the armrest and was trying to distract myself.

While I felt incredibly uncomfortable during the experience, a feeling of relief prevailed after landing. so, there's progress! I would have normally been focusing on the fact that I still had to fly back and go through it all again. But instead it was more a feeling of: hey, this wasn't nice, but I survived!

I have a long-haul flight coming up in a few weeks. And I very much hope, I'll be OK and that this means, I can start planning far away holidays!

Newham London Waterfront Festival

... so that's where all the noise is coming from!

I'm still not feeling very well and have now also got a sore throat. I think I might venture out for the firework later tonight. But for now, I will just have to increase the volume on the telly to block out the terrible music!

Airport - part I

I'm working hard on becoming a confident flyer. And while it has already gotten much better, I am still far from being keen on flying. So, unless I am leaving the airport (and not in a plane), the airport is not my favourite place. I'm also worried I will miss my flight, which means I usually arrive super early - which just prolongs the agony, of course.

Anyway, last week, I had very foolishly scheduled an early telecall. And only later realized that it meant having to arrive at the airport at 7:30 in order to be able to take the call. When my flight didn't leave until 11:20.

After hardly any sleep, I arrived on time, managed to get through airport security and found a relatively quiet place to take the call. After which I then had another 2.5 hours. So, I decided to have breakfast at Whetherspoons. I never have breakfast. I just can't eat in the morning. But as I had already been awake for a few hours, I was getting hungry.

An unusual combination for me: sausage, bacon and scrambled eggs with pancakes and sirop. But it was actually really nice!

Only that my tummy is simply not used to food in the morning. And it made me a little sick... On the other hand, this distracted me from the fact that I had to get on a plane!

Flower power

Get-well-flowers - already helping!

Very, very bad timing

I had been looking forward to this weekend for weeks. Conference Care invited me to Chester racecourse for the horse race finale tomorrow - including a 5 course dinner and a stay at a hotel. Going to my first horse race had been on my wish list forever! mc had even agreed to miss his beloved team Brighton play Birmingham in order to be my +1.

And then I get cystitis yesterday. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Afternoon and evening have been horrible as per usual. But I somehow managed to sleep a bit. I'm feeling much better this morning. But not well enough to go to work. And I really don't want to risk it getting worse by standing around in the cold, watching the horse race. And then having to travel in the car for hours...

I guess the good news is that mc can go watch the footy after all. While I will be having a weekend at home with lots of tea and cranberry juice and DVDs. And I won't lose (or win, of course) any money on betting.

Classic FM rocks

Courtesy of the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau I got tickets for the Classic FM live concert celebrating the radio station's 20th anniversary concert at the Royal Albert Hall on Monday.

The evening started off in style by me and my colleague getting picked up in a car from our office. We were greeted with drinks and bowl food at the Royal Albert Hall before the concert started. Presenters included Myleene Klass (that's when the flashes went off - despite it being forbidden to take photos...), Alan Titchmarch, Alex James (from Blur) and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

I don't know a lot (well, anything really...) about classical music and I was a little worried, that I'd fall asleep. But I actually really enjoyed it. The first half, more than the second part - possibly because the pieces seemed to keep getting longer and I have a very short attention span...

All in all a very entertaining evening with great hospitality (sweets during the interval and a car to take us home after the concert!)! And I came away thinking that I really should learn something about classical music.
Or at least start listening to Classic FM :-)

Overheard

Life as a scientist in academia is hard. No, it's the hardest! 'They' (not quite sure who was meant) would be completely f*cked without people like 'them'. Who work tirelessly and with so much passion. Nobody but a scientist would do that. And just imagine: they got 80 applications for just one vacancy. Just making sure that this was not being misunderstood, she added: that's a lot, isn't it?!
And it's basically impossible to have a relationship under these circumstances. Always working so hard and stuff.

No offence, but I'm not sure these people live in the real world!
Have they checked the recent unemployment figures?
Do they know any non-scientists, even?
And I wonder whether there is another reason - much closer to home - why they are single...


(sorry, I know the last bit is a little mean, but they were talking a load of bullsh*t)