Round The World and other travels

My first flight had been posted as delayed from the minute I arrived in the lounge, so it was no great surprise that we weren't called to board until after the scheduled departure time. As I made myself comfortable in 2A, it quickly became apparent that this was going to be a busy flight - not something that I had been used to with BA1465 over the winter months! The captain spoke on the PA system to inform us that the initial delay was now going to be compounded by a cockpit warning. He didn't say what it was initially, but once it had been cleared he explained that the air pressure reading on one of the tyres had been a bit too low. That was quickly and easily rectified, but our luck just wasn't in at all. Once the doors were closed and we were all ready to go, there was then a small Air Traffic Control delay imposed by London. Oh dear, it just isn't getting any easier, is it?

Anyway, we eventually pushed back at precisely 2100 by my watch and made our way out to the westerly runway, eventually lifting into the unseasonably wintry Edinburgh skies at 2110. The cabin crew wasted no time in getting the service underway. The tradition of the "mini-Club Europe" evening salad lives on and I was pleased to be presented with an Italian-style cold meat salad with a small bread roll and a rather naughty chocolate profiteroles mini-dessert. I washed it all down with red wine and some coffee.

As we passed over Birmingham at 2145, the First Officer told us that some stacking north of London was inevitable. It proved to be not too bad in the end and soon we were making our approach over Central London, flying a little further to the west than is usual, so that I had a good view of Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf from the left side of the plane. We touched down on 27L at 2210 and by the time we made our way round to the north side of the airport, our arrival was well behind schedule at 2219. Not the best start for a big trip, but on the other hand, no real harm done either.