Off and On

Landing last night was OK after all

Seems the storms had moved up to the midlands, or something. Whatever, it was a wonderfully smooth and quite un-hair-raising event.

Final stage - taxi

Final stage - taxi (view larger image)
Originally uploaded to Flickr by dms246

The Isambard (Free House), Paddington

The Isambard (Free House), Paddington (view larger image)
Originally uploaded to Flickr by dms246

A recent addition at Paddington Station.

Decided to get the train then a taxi from Ealing Broadway. Train leaves Paddington in a couple of minutes.

Changed at Canning Town

Jubilee line (train in 2 mins), then I'll switch onto Bakerloo line to Paddington. I've got a notion it's a bit of a hike from the DLR to Central line at Bank.

Back at City Airport at last, and oh the photos I didn't get to take!

Back at City Airport at last, and oh the photos I didn't get to ta ke! (view larger image)
Originally uploaded to Flickr by dms246

And of course I just missed a DLR train heading into London. Not too long to wait until the next one though.

Very frustrating on the flight - got a crew who had either never heard of smartphones having an offline or in-flight mode, or thought it was something you had to take on trust. I got a flat and repeated "Mobile phones must stay switched off during the flight" when, out of courtesy, I told them of my intention to use the camera with the phone in offline mode. I was very tempted to use the camera anyway and, when they got annoyed as they almost certainly would, argue the point that the mobile phone WAS switched off! But I resisted. And as a result missed out on the most stunning views of central London. Sigh.

managed to get out for a cig

Never occurred to me to try before, but one of the people I met today talked about going back and forth through airport security to in outside for a smoke last time her flight was seriously delayed. So I decided to give it a go, and there wasn't a problem! Of course I'll have to in back through the whole security thing again when I in back in, but I don't mind that in the least, since it means that right now I can have a cigarette. Because I'm rather dreading this flight back - it's on one of those little 30 seater planes, and if the weather's really bad over London, the landing is going to be pretty hairy, and I really really hate that.

Plane now due to arrive here at 19:45

They originally said it was due inbound at 19:00 but don't know if this change will affect eventual departure time. Certainly hope not!

The World Cup is everywhere

The World Cup is everywhere (view larger image)
Originally uploaded to Flickr by dms246

Passengers in and out of Edinburgh stop for a while to catch up on latest developments.

Argh! Plane is delayed.

The storms over London are causing all sorts of delays, and it seems the flight, originally scheduled to leave at 19:05, will now probably not get away from Edinburgh until 20:15. Which means I'm now not expecting to get home before 23:30. Damn! If it was a flight into Heathrow, them even with the delay I'd be home by 22:00-22:15. Sigh.

Arrived at last!

Arrived at last! (view larger image)
Originally uploaded to Flickr by dms246

The Scotsman hotel, Edinburgh, where I'm staying tonight, and giving a talk tomorrow at a one day conference, Website Accessibility 2006.