U.K. Trip - Part 4

All too soon, my trip was at its end - it was time to return to Elk's Street.

Andrew gave me a lift into town and I got the train to the airport. The train was quite crowded with early-morning commuters heading to Manchester, so I sat down in one of the few available seats, next to a young man with short hair, broken teeth and a slight aroma of alcohol. We exchanged a few words, and he was quite chatty, telling me about his daughters and work etc - the usual small talk. As the train approached Manchester, he gestured towards the window and said; "There's my old home, Forest Bank." I thought nothing of this, imagining that it must be the name of the village we were passing. He then continued; "But I spent the last six months in Strangeways." This meant rather more to me. "Best prison I've ever been in," he continued. He got off the train at Picadilly and I wished him well. I hope this nameless ex-con with the colourful language gets himself sorted out but somehow I'm a little pessimistic; alcohol on one's breath at eight in the morning is not a good sign.

Manchester Airport was the usual airport scene; queues, more queues, removal of shoes, jackets, and belts for so-called security, wandering around duty-free shops selling stuff no-one really needs, and hanging around drinking exhorbitantly-priced coffee. The flight was announced and we all boarded. So far, so good, but then..."Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are having some problems with a computer, which unfortunately is one that is needed for flying the plane..." Suffice to say, we did not leave on time.

Aircraft with dodgy computer.

Finnair is famous for taking safety seriously, so we didn't leave untill the equipment was working and everything was in order.

Having safely landed in Helsinki, a few hours' train journey took me back to Elk's Street and my Finland home.