Changing continents for fun and profit
Jul. 31st, 2002 12:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deathpixieThis is actually being written on the plane, somewhere over the Labrador Sea, on Canada's east coast. According to the map the plane's TV system provides, I have about three hours before I arrive in Toronto. My computer tells me it's almost 2AM Aussie time, but my watch (which is still on English time) tells me it's almost 5PM. And I'm due to arrive in Toronto at 2.55PM.
*grins* Enough to make your head explode, isn't it?
This second leg of the Walkabout has not been without it's small dramas. I got to the British Airways check-in desk to be told that despite being booked in since approximately March, I may not have a seat as the plane is terribly over-booked. Cue disconcerted but extremely firm insistence that I have to be on this flight, as I had people expecting me, and no, bribery with 250 pounds towards another flight wasn't going to be good enough. After a bit of a wait - and thank goodness Farli was there, or I might have been a basket-case - I finally secure my boarding pass and hustle myself towards the departure gate. And the fact that I'm typing this on the plane - and hopefully posting it from Canada, provided my roaming access works - means that everything worked out in the end. So you can stop worrying, Mum. *smiles*
I really liked London, smelly, and smoggy and busy place that it is. I probably couldn't see myself living there for extended periods - not without developing a nasty cough due to the sheer amount of crap in the air - but I definitely will be going back. And seeing more of the country. There's a kind of familiarity there, although I don't know whether it's born of a diet of British TV, or the fact that much of our architecture is a smaller reproduction of the original, or even, God help me for saying this, some kind of ancestral connection, a sense of history. Us colonials don't like admitting we're kind of attached to Dear Old Mum.
I can't remember which Hellblazer book it's in, or whether it's even The Books of Magic original trade, but somewhere John Constantine says something along the lines of America having geography, and England having history. It's true - everywhere you look, there's marks of the passing of time, of man's mark on a changing world. It's kind of humbling, especially coming from where I do. Our 'official' history (and by that I mean in terms of white colonisation) only dates back two hundred-odd years. Possibly more, as Phil pointed out, if you consider the possible 'discovery' of Terra Australis by the Spanish before Captain Cook's arrival.
Australia has scenery, not history.
I have to say, I've had more comfortable flights. Quantas kicks all kinds of arse over British Airways, especially with the revamp. Although I'm glad to say I have the aisle seat. Means I'm not trapped in my seat - that always brings to mind A Clockwork Orange and I'm always expecting the movies to be Nazi war films. And the woman next to me has very determined elbows. I'm half in the bloody aisle.
Next post... Canada!
Update I'm here, I've had beer and I'm surrounded by happy people. Updating may become a tad erratic due to fun-ness.
*grins* Enough to make your head explode, isn't it?
This second leg of the Walkabout has not been without it's small dramas. I got to the British Airways check-in desk to be told that despite being booked in since approximately March, I may not have a seat as the plane is terribly over-booked. Cue disconcerted but extremely firm insistence that I have to be on this flight, as I had people expecting me, and no, bribery with 250 pounds towards another flight wasn't going to be good enough. After a bit of a wait - and thank goodness Farli was there, or I might have been a basket-case - I finally secure my boarding pass and hustle myself towards the departure gate. And the fact that I'm typing this on the plane - and hopefully posting it from Canada, provided my roaming access works - means that everything worked out in the end. So you can stop worrying, Mum. *smiles*
I really liked London, smelly, and smoggy and busy place that it is. I probably couldn't see myself living there for extended periods - not without developing a nasty cough due to the sheer amount of crap in the air - but I definitely will be going back. And seeing more of the country. There's a kind of familiarity there, although I don't know whether it's born of a diet of British TV, or the fact that much of our architecture is a smaller reproduction of the original, or even, God help me for saying this, some kind of ancestral connection, a sense of history. Us colonials don't like admitting we're kind of attached to Dear Old Mum.
I can't remember which Hellblazer book it's in, or whether it's even The Books of Magic original trade, but somewhere John Constantine says something along the lines of America having geography, and England having history. It's true - everywhere you look, there's marks of the passing of time, of man's mark on a changing world. It's kind of humbling, especially coming from where I do. Our 'official' history (and by that I mean in terms of white colonisation) only dates back two hundred-odd years. Possibly more, as Phil pointed out, if you consider the possible 'discovery' of Terra Australis by the Spanish before Captain Cook's arrival.
Australia has scenery, not history.
I have to say, I've had more comfortable flights. Quantas kicks all kinds of arse over British Airways, especially with the revamp. Although I'm glad to say I have the aisle seat. Means I'm not trapped in my seat - that always brings to mind A Clockwork Orange and I'm always expecting the movies to be Nazi war films. And the woman next to me has very determined elbows. I'm half in the bloody aisle.
Next post... Canada!
Update I'm here, I've had beer and I'm surrounded by happy people. Updating may become a tad erratic due to fun-ness.
