Round The World and other travels

Once again, I was in seat 3A on a 757 and once again, the curtain was positioned immediately behind Row 6. This time, however, instead of 6 passengers up front, we had 16 - a very creditable load for a Sunday evening, I thought. Boarding was completed in good time and the Captain announced that he hoped to get us underway ahead of time, in view of the strong headwinds against which we would be doing battle on our way to London. ATC at Heathrow had other ideas, however, as tends to be the case these days. The cabin crew carried out the safety demonstration at the gate, but it was 1941 when we eventually got clearance to push back. It was a relatively short taxi and we were airborne and London-bound by 1950.

The cabin crew soon had the service underway, starting with drinks and spicy tomato nibbles. I had some Champagne - the usual Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top. It's not the greatest and indeed I used to dislike it intensely, yet I've found myself starting to think that maybe it's not so bad. A case of familiarity breeding content, perhaps?

When the trays were distributed, I was given the choice of penne pasta with prawns or chicken salad. I immediately recognised the pasta dish as the one I had enjoyed so much on my recent LHR-FCO flight and so, even though I'd had a prawn salad for lunch, I decided to repeat the experience. The main course was accompanied by a choice of rolls, a chocolate and summer fruits mini-dessert and some oatcakes and cheese (Brie and Stilton). I washed it all down with more of the Monopole and some coffee. A most enjoyable in-flight meal!