Day 2

Funnily, no Jet lag. A 15 hr flight with a 3 hr stopover in Dubai and I'm finally here. Had a little tiring, but otherwise lovely flight - the views at 40000 feet are simply incredible. Saw some of the most intriguing mountain ranges that I've ever seen in pictures anywhere - must figure out what part of the world that was....

For the second flight, I had a sweet guy for company, who turned out to be from Dhaka,called Rahim. Rahim's a student in Houston, Texas and was taking a very round-about route back : Dhaka-Dubai-Lon-Houston. Am tired just thinking of the trip. Anyway, the reason I'm telling you about this is because both Rahim and I were requested to exchange seats with a Irish couple who wanted to watch tv on the flight and for some reason their tv's weren't working properly. We were fast asleep and were not keen on watching tv, so we agreed to shift. Ten minutes later, the cabin crew offered us champagne! That came as a surprise, but both of us declined and went back to sleep. We thought that was the end of that. Six hours later, just as the flight was about to land, one of the crew came up to us and offered us complimentary first class goodies- just for exchanging our seats without making a fuss! That was a pleasant surprise! And frankly, the view from the new seats were much better as the sun was on the other side of the plane - we enjoyed the exchange in more ways than one!

Reached Lon 15 mins before scheduled arrival time. Makes you wonder that if they can fly that fast , why not make the arrival time 15 mins ahead anyway?! Mr.R was at the airport in time, with a dozen roses. It was good to see him again.

England's a lot like Mangalore, I told him. The same kind of fields, cows munching away. Only here, the neatness is incredible. Everything's in order. There's no mess. And the roads! Out of a dream. Not a pothole on the motorway, not a bump, not a stone out of place - a MW's heaven, I tell you!

Sunday morning. Went to church to a 12th century priory a little distance away. Again, immaculately maintained, pond, ducks et al. And so quiet. The choir was gentle, the strains of the hymns blending with the surroundings, gently....

Hope you MW's are taking life easy there. Keep me updated on the city!
More later.