via Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg_yaxZBwQc/ I'm never driving around this!
Saturday, 31 March 2018
Instagram Update March 31, 2018 at 06:14PM
via Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg_t5l8hyuG/ Hate that! Gonna have to walk just a little bit further and I'm over the 25,000 steps today already #sorefeet
Instagram Update March 31, 2018 at 12:42PM
via Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg_H8D6B66r/ I can see a triumphant ending to this particular waddle #paris #arc
Friday, 30 March 2018
Instagram Update March 30, 2018 at 06:11PM
via Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg9IyVYhEcv/ Get in. Wonderful glass. Hope it tastes as good as it looks
Instagram Update March 30, 2018 at 05:38PM
via Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg9E_mxhSvL/ View from my room... Not quite La Tour, but it is quaint.
Sunday, 25 March 2018
Idle Thoughts Of A Frequent Flyer
1st March 2010 - Belfast City Airport
The seasoned commuters look relaxed in the executive lounge. The usual faces are all present for a Monday morning and their jackets have been removed, newspapers and coffee procured and they all sit in their preferred seats. My preferred seat is, thankfully, still available. The disappointment of finding my seat taken on a Monday morning in the executive lounge is a first world problem, but it is a problem that upsets my routine.
Not today though.
The commuters recognise each others and one or two even manage to say hello to each other though they are definitely considered the odd-balls in the group as non-verbal communication is very much the primary means of indicating any form of recognition in this place. "Man Nods" abound!
Amongst the "man nodders" though, there is an outlier. Walter! I don't know if Walter is his name, but he looks like a Walter. I've only ever met one Walter in my life before and hadn't seen him since I left primary school, so any claim that this particular Walter looks like a Walter is probably very unfair on the Walters of this world.
I've named him Walter - in my own mind.
His jacket and coat have not been removed. The lace on his left shoe is undone and will definitely become a tripping hazard if left unattended. Not only is it undone, there has been little attempt at ensuring that the left and right lengths of lace are of approximately equal length! But all who cast their eyes in Walter's direction would definitely be struck by the right leg which is running a sprint of its own accord.
The sprinting right leg (and static left leg) are creating a situation! On his lap, he has his laptop bag which is being kept uncomfortably close despite the abundance of space around him.
Careful consideration of Walter reveals that he is obviously nervous as he eyes up all who surround him. The eyeing up is interrupted every now and again with a swig of the Pepsi he has poured himself. The Pepsi rests on his laptop bag in between sips. Amazingly, despite the disparity in leg movements, it doesn't spill!
Casual observers would merely think him odd. Those that paid more attention would think him decidedly strange and quite some distance along the "spectrum".
The overly protective clutch of the laptop bag would be worrying but for the fact that he had just passed through airport security. It would be easy to imagine that the bag contained an excessive amount of money, drugs or weapons given his protective attitude towards it. No matter what was in the bag, Walter was, and continues to be, nervous.
Most people gain confidence as they age. Twenty-somethings may feel invincible, but they can still display bouts of shyness. Thirty-somethings think they run the world. Forty-somethings know they run the world and Fifty-somethings don't care who runs the world.
Walter's only running was the static kind as a result of the nervousness in his right leg. Indeed, the energy he expended in exercising his right leg so incessantly should really have had the effect of keeping him trim - which he was not! It is not like Walter is fat but he has a chubbiness of feature which makes him seem more rotund that he actually is.
Nobody around him regards him as anything other than a strange little man.
In my head, Walter isn't strange. Walter is a trainee Hit Man and his apparent nervousness is because he is embarking upon his first hit. His laptop bag obviously contains all the elements he needs to undertake his hit. That is blindingly obvious! And his target? Well, that has got to be the Range Rover driving, braces-wearing, coiffed, loud (but inoffensively so), portly gentleman sitting by the window. He's confident and deliberate in all his actions. And Walter hated that!
The flight to London boards in a little under five minutes, and it is now that Walter decides that he needs to go to the little boys' room, presumably to prep his weapons.
I have a meeting to get to at 10:00am. Any hit on the portly gentleman between now and then is going to result in disruption of my Monday morning. And that would be more disappointing that not being able to sit in my preferred seat. I now find myself hoping that I'm wrong about Walter.
The seasoned commuters look relaxed in the executive lounge. The usual faces are all present for a Monday morning and their jackets have been removed, newspapers and coffee procured and they all sit in their preferred seats. My preferred seat is, thankfully, still available. The disappointment of finding my seat taken on a Monday morning in the executive lounge is a first world problem, but it is a problem that upsets my routine.
Not today though.
The commuters recognise each others and one or two even manage to say hello to each other though they are definitely considered the odd-balls in the group as non-verbal communication is very much the primary means of indicating any form of recognition in this place. "Man Nods" abound!
Amongst the "man nodders" though, there is an outlier. Walter! I don't know if Walter is his name, but he looks like a Walter. I've only ever met one Walter in my life before and hadn't seen him since I left primary school, so any claim that this particular Walter looks like a Walter is probably very unfair on the Walters of this world.
I've named him Walter - in my own mind.
His jacket and coat have not been removed. The lace on his left shoe is undone and will definitely become a tripping hazard if left unattended. Not only is it undone, there has been little attempt at ensuring that the left and right lengths of lace are of approximately equal length! But all who cast their eyes in Walter's direction would definitely be struck by the right leg which is running a sprint of its own accord.
The sprinting right leg (and static left leg) are creating a situation! On his lap, he has his laptop bag which is being kept uncomfortably close despite the abundance of space around him.
Careful consideration of Walter reveals that he is obviously nervous as he eyes up all who surround him. The eyeing up is interrupted every now and again with a swig of the Pepsi he has poured himself. The Pepsi rests on his laptop bag in between sips. Amazingly, despite the disparity in leg movements, it doesn't spill!
Casual observers would merely think him odd. Those that paid more attention would think him decidedly strange and quite some distance along the "spectrum".
The overly protective clutch of the laptop bag would be worrying but for the fact that he had just passed through airport security. It would be easy to imagine that the bag contained an excessive amount of money, drugs or weapons given his protective attitude towards it. No matter what was in the bag, Walter was, and continues to be, nervous.
Most people gain confidence as they age. Twenty-somethings may feel invincible, but they can still display bouts of shyness. Thirty-somethings think they run the world. Forty-somethings know they run the world and Fifty-somethings don't care who runs the world.
Walter's only running was the static kind as a result of the nervousness in his right leg. Indeed, the energy he expended in exercising his right leg so incessantly should really have had the effect of keeping him trim - which he was not! It is not like Walter is fat but he has a chubbiness of feature which makes him seem more rotund that he actually is.
Nobody around him regards him as anything other than a strange little man.
In my head, Walter isn't strange. Walter is a trainee Hit Man and his apparent nervousness is because he is embarking upon his first hit. His laptop bag obviously contains all the elements he needs to undertake his hit. That is blindingly obvious! And his target? Well, that has got to be the Range Rover driving, braces-wearing, coiffed, loud (but inoffensively so), portly gentleman sitting by the window. He's confident and deliberate in all his actions. And Walter hated that!
The flight to London boards in a little under five minutes, and it is now that Walter decides that he needs to go to the little boys' room, presumably to prep his weapons.
I have a meeting to get to at 10:00am. Any hit on the portly gentleman between now and then is going to result in disruption of my Monday morning. And that would be more disappointing that not being able to sit in my preferred seat. I now find myself hoping that I'm wrong about Walter.
Friday, 23 March 2018
Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Sunday, 18 March 2018
Instagram Update March 18, 2018 at 06:33PM
via Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/BgeYn1rjs6A/ After an hour, we still haven't moved any closer to the runway! I've a bad feeling that my journey to canary wharf will be long and arduous!
Friday, 16 March 2018
Friday, 9 March 2018
Twitter Update - March 09, 2018 at 05:08PM
One of those weeks when you reach for the G&T at 5pm on the Friday (and have been dreaming about it since about 2pm). And relax...
— Stephen Swann (@stephenjswann) March 9, 2018
from Twitter https://twitter.com/stephenjswann
March 09, 2018 at 05:08PM
via IFTTT
Thursday, 8 March 2018
Twitter Update - March 08, 2018 at 06:45PM
At Heathrow T2 and going home. Wondering how much the car parking fee at Belfast City Airport is going to be for 12 days! (A weather enforced 12 days)
— Stephen Swann (@stephenjswann) March 8, 2018
from Twitter https://twitter.com/stephenjswann
March 08, 2018 at 06:45PM
via IFTTT
Tuesday, 6 March 2018
Instagram Update March 06, 2018 at 05:47AM
via Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf-HfAUhbfl/ No surprise that I was asked at how to spell this one and it looks like they still got it wrong #starbucksname #montezuma
Sunday, 4 March 2018
Friday, 2 March 2018
Twitter Update - March 02, 2018 at 12:58PM
Stuck in London - again. More flight cancellations. Next attempt will be Sunday. So I now have a Friday and Saturday night to myself in London. What should I do folks?
— Stephen Swann (@stephenjswann) March 2, 2018
from Twitter https://twitter.com/stephenjswann
March 02, 2018 at 12:58PM
via IFTTT
Thursday, 1 March 2018
Twitter Update - March 01, 2018 at 07:27AM
Shivering at London City Airport... flight delayed by 90 minutes but at least I may get home at some point today. And I've found a power socket and I have coffee! Mustn't grumble #1stworldproblems
— Stephen Swann (@stephenjswann) March 1, 2018
from Twitter https://twitter.com/stephenjswann
March 01, 2018 at 07:27AM
via IFTTT
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)