An experience

[happy daze john in oz]

Oh to be in England now that summers there,
And who ever wakes in England sees some morning unaware,
That the local church is now a Mosque,
In England now.

It is said that a meal without alcohol is calledbreakfast, not with Singapore Airlines as all meals on board come with alcohol.

We departed Australia on a warm late autumn eveningwith a temp of some 18 degrees, but by the time we arrived in Heathrow I knewmy shorts and Tee shirt would not be enough. A grey morning of some 6 degreesgreeted us, a summer morning we were informed!
Obviously UCL has had a far reaching effect on so manyaspects of UK life as the new terminal 2, our arrival point, is the ‘Queens’terminal!
Firstly the encounter with immigration, a requirementin all civilized countries. There are two counters for this, one for UK and EUcitizens, UK border for others.
We were at this point playing spot the white man,almost a full time study at the airport now. Ushering arrivals to thedesignated counter a gentleman of some oriental nature appearing in his RedJacket to be in charge, either that or a refugee from Butlins. There manynotices requiring arrivals to observe a number of rules and requirements to beobserved. The young lady who reviewed my credentials was very pleasantenquiring if I was seeking asylum? Apparently this is a required question ofall who are not from EU!
Having collected our luggage we set forth to find the‘National Express Bus Station’ Advise from a number of staff who have the ideathat ‘follow the arrows’ will take you anywhere you wish to go. Having foundthe place on minus one floor it was time for a coffee.
Why is it that coffee at any international airport ismore expensive than Gold? Whilst ordering the coffee her indoors ventured intothe W.H. Smith store, much changed from the one I knew some 20 or more yearsago, to purchase a bottle of water. Buy the Daily Telegraph for 1.70GBP andreceived a bottle of water free! How much is the water alone? Only 80 pence,thank you I will not have time for the paper, just the water thank you!
Having drunk the coffee it was time to establish fromwhere the coach to Southampton would leave. Another arrow pointed me in thegeneral direction. Outside parking bays for the buses, along the back wall,painted black, a row of benches on which were huddled a number of passengersattempting to hide from the cold air. Looking around I could see no evidence ofan attendant who may be able to give me any information. There was on the blackwall what appeared to be two yellow stripes that began to move, followed by twoeyes, it was a man in black working clothes. I showed him my boking form,obtained via the net prior to leaving Oz, and his comments,
‘Yo is booked on the 9.45 it now 8, innit’!
Returning to the lounge I considered that though thisman had little command of the Queen’s English he could read and understand theclock so to some extent the UK education system is working.
Once on the coach we began a tour of the other threeterminals, 3, 4 and 5. It was some 30 minutes before we cleared the airportbefore venturing onto the M 25 road works. A road work of some 20 or morekilometers in length adorned with Witches hats along the way, never have |Iseen so many of these in one row.
Then for a few moments I thought we were in for someexcitement as the road sign said, ‘Legoverland” 1 mile ahead. The next signmade me realize it was in fact an Irish establishment Leg O’land. But it turnedout to be Legoland, the trees obscuring parts of the signs. We continued until just outside ofBasingstoke the heavens opened pouring forth rain such as would be seen in thetropics bringing all traffic to a standstill for some ten minutes. Continuingon we eventuly arrived in a very wet Southampton some one hour late. It tooksome further 30 minutes to hail a taxi taking us to the hotel. A very wellappointed one at that with some very friendly staff.
Having settled in we sat for some time falling asleeptired from our journey, until awakening in time for dinner in the hotelrestaurant. A pleasant meal, two bottles of Chardonay, coffee and off to bed.
Saturday morning saw a clear sky so time for a lookaround the town prior to boarding the cruise ship. A five minute walk took usinto the center of town, a place I had not visited for some 50 years. What achange, the main road now a pedestrian walkway with a number of stall along thecenter. I walked upper Bar and lower Bar, both sides, not a pub to be seen!What has happened to this town, a town famous 50 years ago for the number ofpubs it had? Returning through the park we found the “Angel” pub not far fromthe hotel in New Street. A large notice in the window proclaiming that the toiletsin here are for customers, not a public toilet, obviously a very friendlyestablishment.
Sailing day from Southampton was a day of excitement,the train from London bringing passengers to the ship. Pouring forth whilsteager porters take the luggage both wanted and not wanted on voyage. There is aconstant barrage of persons scurrying back and forth with last minute goods andcargo for the voyage. At the top of the gangway a welcoming officer takingtickets from boarding passengers and allowing family and friends to look aroundthe ship. Then the call 30 minutes prior to departure, ‘all ashore those nottravelling aboard’. On the quayside a band plays, streamers form the shipreaching out like giant umbilical cords to those on the quay. Calls of ‘don’t forgetto write’ and the tugs now taking strain on the lines as the call to ‘let gofore and aft’ rings out. Slowly the ship moves from the quay with passengersand those shore taking a last fond look at each other. Slowly one by one thestreamers break, the last link with the home land.
But how times have changed, security means that onlythose now sailing can gain access to the ship after going through a very stiffsecurity process. No band playing on the quay, though a sail away party may beheld on deck. The tugs are no more with ships now having the facility of bowand stern thrusters moving the ship from the quay. A somewhat pristine andsynthetic process devoid of any feelings.
We arrived at the dock gate, to me it had not changedin all that time, maybe the only thing that remained, and the ship was berthedat the point where I believe the Lavender Ladies sailed from as on the oppositeside of the river a power station I recalled from all those years ago. I passedour luggage to of the porters taking luggage for the ship. The porter, of someoriental appearance walk away with the luggage, returned the walked the otherway before again returning, speaking with another porter and the proceeding tothe center gangway area. Somewhat concerned by his actions I approached anotherporter to ask if that colored porter was alright. The reply left me a littlebemused when he said.
‘Sir it may be political incorrect for me to say this,but that man is not colored he is black. Anyone who is not white is black andas he is not white then he must be black.’
Here endeth the lesson for today I concluded, this issure an odd country now. We made our way to the boarding process center andjoined the ship. But more to come, a ship with a passenger list of 3,100 us theonly two Australian’s, one Kiwi, a couple of Yanks and a smattering of othernationals. The others, all ‘Poms’, some very friendly particularly those fromthe North, but some from the South!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So we set sail down the river, a river that had seen manychanges and is now very quiet in ships numbers, so down we go, round theNeedles and into the Channel, our cruise is under way.
To be continued……………………..

[Neil Morton]

Sad oh so very sad.

[Captain Kong]

Excellent story John
More, More, more.
Brian