Every Day, Ordinary Life

Staying with friends both in Switzerland and here in London has given me the opportunity to take time out from being a "tourist" and to just participate in ordinary, every day life.  With Roger and Kathrin, it was typical family life, albeit Swiss style - their kids going off to school or playing with their friends and the parents doing the usual chores including a parent/teacher meeting at 9 am last Saturday morning.  Now in London, it is about being with two guys who have very different but demanding careers.  John, a contract lawyer with a large construction company, works long hours and commutes to near Heathrow.  Pedro is a caterer and his schedule is chock-a-block full of important and large events in the coming weeks.  He and I went to a food warehouse yesterday to buy supplies and today we went to Costco just off the M1 on the way to Watford to get even more food.  Neither of these places would normally be on a travel itinerary for a visit to London.  So again, I was part of the lives of regular people doing their normal activities.  

Okay, I need to catch up on what I've been up to.  Tuesday morning, I left Feldmeilen and, thanks to "Mindy", the Garmin I am beginning to hate, I was taken on an "interesting" route through narrow farm roads to start.  However, I eventually got on a main road which turned into a highway which led me to Schaffhausen and the Swiss-German border.  I then drove the autobahns north to Stuttgart, west toward Mannheim and then north to Frankfurt Airport where I turned in my rental car.  Google estimated that the journey would take 4 hours and 15 minutes.  I did it in about 4 and 3/4 hours, and that was with a couple of 15 minute breaks.  Not bad!  Before I left CH, I did manage to get a photo of Swiss cows in a field by the little road I unexpectedly found myself on.

Roger and Kathrin's townhouse and the surrounding common ground

 
That evening, I stayed at the NH Hotel which, I knew from previously staying there as well as from friends, is very close to one of the airport runways.  So, the proximity of planes approaching or taking off is really quite amazing.  As I sat in the courtyard, planes were going over about every 3 or 4 minutes.  All I could think of was 9/11 and how similar this must have sounded to the planes approaching the Twin Towers that day.  Later, as I was Skyping with my sister in my room, I managed to get a photo of a plane going over.

 

Wednesday morning I woke up to the horrific news about the fire at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington.  I flew from FRA to LHR and arrived midday and it was certainly on my mind as I took the express train from Heathrow to Paddington which isn't far from the flat.  Again, this tragic incident is also a bit reminiscent of the 9/11 experience.  By all accounts, the news is only going to get worse here in London as so many people are still missing.  The TV coverage is almost non-stop.

One of the things I have found frustrating more and more as I fly into the UK is the length of the wait in the Customs Hall.  I can't remember the last time I waited less that 3/4 hour.  In February, it was over one hour and Wednesday it was 55 minutes.  Enough already.  So, a few months ago, I applied for the Regular Traveller program which is available to citizens of a number of countries including Canada.  I get the impression from talking to the two Customs officers I have that it is really just a money grab by the UK Government but now that I have been officially accepted, I am able to come into the UK using the same line as EU citizens which should make the process of entering the UK a lot quicker.  We will see! 

Tomorrow, I get to cook a bit.  John and Pedro are having a dinner party tomorrow evening and I have volunteered to make the appetizer.  I want to replicate the pesto-tomato tart I made last week in Alsace. Given that Pedro is an expert, I hope my creation passes muster, so to speak!