January 2005 « Ninja Beaver.net

I think this might be my favourite picture from the NY photos. I love neon, I wouldn’t want it hanging from my front door of course.. but I love the way the side streets look with all the assorted signs all vying for space. Times Square is a different matter, it’s so overwhelming and .. well corporate, it lacks the charm of the rows of Dim Sum and Halal meat shops. If I took anything away from my trip there it’s that I can’t wait to go back and try out as many Chinese and Japanese restaurants as possible. And spend as much time as I can ferreting around the back streets…

I haven’t been posting much art lately, I know. I have a lot going on but I’m going to make an effort to do something this week if it kills me.

Well I made it to New York in one piece eventually, something I was starting to think might not be on the cards for the lot of us on BA175. Of course BA in it’s infinite wisdom decided not to tell us that the plane was turning around without being prompted by us.

Inside flight BA175, three and a half hours into the flight.

“Err… why has the sun moved onto the other side of the plane?” Hmmm.. prods the map into life.

[to steward] : Excuse me, the GPS is telling us that the plane has turned round. Is that right?

Stwd : Oh, it’s faulty I’m afraid. We’re about to reset it now.

Us : Oh ok. (hmmm)

…..five minutes later, films come back on. Map / GPS still strangely absent.

Announcement from Pilot: We are sorry to inform you that the plane has had to be turned around and is heading back to Heathrow. We’ve been having problems with one of the engines, and the engineers at Heathrow have requested we return to the airport. [sic]

Us: WTF ?

Two hours later.

Here we are, back on the tarmac, back at Heathrow. Still under the impression that one of the engines is faulty. We are told to remain in our seats and wait while a new plane is readied. At this point it’s fair to say that we are at the very least restless, and the very worst, wanting to nip outside and do a Pope John Paul II on the tarmac.

But Lo! what is this? Two burly men with little badges on with the letters C S B inscribed upon them swoosh past us towards the back of the plane, only to come back up moments later with another man in between them.

Me [to colleagues]: Faulty engine my arse, two security guards have just been up the plane.

Collective hmmm…..

Finally, we get the truth [see link above] and are allowed off the plane, around 7 hours after we boarded it and told to go to the departure lounge and wait for our new plane, which will depart at 8pm. Nine hours after we hopped on BA175 the first time. And the answer you’re all dying to hear is …. yes, they did serve the same menu on the second flight. And the same films. On the upside the second flight was much smoother than the first, through which I’d had excruciating ear popping, and a headache so severe it felt like someone was tearing the flesh off my scalp one millimetre at a time.

No, I don’t much like flying (well taking off) and yes, I was scared.

So how was New York?

Amazing. My only regret is that as the schedule was so tight I wasn’t able to do anything more touristy than nip up the Empire State, and even that was at night, and foggy. There a few photos on Flickr. I’m hoping to upload some more this weekend.