Getting There and Setting Up Shop

Let's Go, S - F - O!

Hours before the flight and we're congregated within the United Lounge in the airport's international terminal. I'm not a member of said lounge, only a visitor blessed with a one-day pass. The world is different from the one outside where the lowly people who have no passes linger. We get free food. Free wine. Comfortable seats. An array of newspapers that provide viewpoints we agree with along with those we don't. I read them all. I actually get two meals, each different from the other: more food than many people in the world have access to in a full week. God assuredly blessed me with the benefits of trickle-down economics because I am an American.

On the airplane, though, things equal out and, though I am still an American, I am flying on United. My butt is too big for modern-day seats on modern-day aircraft: Those trickle-down economics stopped a few percentage points above my demographic. Ten hours of being a voluntary prisoner inside this aircraft might not be as bad as an hour in Guantanamo, but I'm pampered and self-righteous enough to make that comparison.

Here We Are, L - H - R!

I like London. I even like Heathrow airport, which must be larger than the town I grew up in. This is my fourth time here, and I even know where the bathrooms are after getting off the plane. Waiting in line to pass through Customs, I listen to the people behind me, strangers before they got into the queue, as they discuss their respective jobs. The man traveling alone, is a college teacher somewhere in the Sacramento Valley; the others, a married couple from Texas, are retired. The man asks the couple if they approved of President George Bush, since he, too, is from Texas. I don't hear their answer.

Just a Rube on the Tube

The fast way into London is via the direct Heathrow Express: quiet, efficient, clean. The chosen alternative is the Piccadilly Line: 10 or 12 stops, lots of noise. I emerge at Earl's Court Station, and it's still early morning, many hours before I can check into the Easy Hotel. I step into a Starbucks I've visited many times before, and I nurse a cup of coffee and try to acclimate to London's smells and commotion. Finally bored enough to move, I get back on the train and reverse course to the stop near the Victoria & Albert Museum. I check my heavy luggage and wander around for a few hours, then get on yet another train and travel to Paddington Station, which is near my hotel.

Killing Time and London Times

For a couple of days I wander around London: a few pubs, the Dickens Museum to search for remnants of the Muse. The British Library: bits and pieces of writers and musicians and philosophers, the paperwork of centuries gone by. I'm always amazed at what we save, what we label as important. And Hyde Park, too--one of my favorite places to visit. I could wander around Hyde Park for days, following the paths and roads. It's a respite from the city, a place that can help ease me into what will come next.