England and Scotland, May 2005 : Days 16 & 17
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Day 16, Friday: Last-minute email coordination, then I checked out of the hotel, headed to Victoria Station, and caught the train to Gatwick Airport. Victoria sports a special direct line to Gatwick, but it is noticeably more expensive than the normal train, and the normal train didn't really take too long or seem otherwise unsuitable, so that's what I went with.

On the way to Gatwick, the train passed by a structure I recognized as Battersea Power Station, which I had also seen the last time I was in London, about eight years prior. This distinctive building has cropped up in a number of places, most notably (to me) the cover of Pink Floyd's "Animals", one of my all-time favorite albums.

My return flight had a connection in Detroit. The flight to Detroit was delayed by several hours due to a engine sensor fault. The airline gave us food vouchers (at which point I caved and got some McDonalds food, due to a limited set of options) and a credit for frequent flier miles as compensation. While waiting for the delayed flight, I managed to go music shopping, where I picked up "Eye To The Telescope" by KT Tunstall. I had heard one of the songs off this album at some point during my trip, but hadn't fully caught the artist name, so I was pleased to identify it, and the album turned out to be very good. I also discovered that "When The Tigers Broke Free", a great, rare Pink Floyd song, had finally been released on CD last year.

Battersea Power Station

Gatwick Airport Tarmac

Flying out of Britain



Day 17, Saturday: Took the hotel shuttle back to the Detroit airport and caught my flight to Seattle. Tom met me, and while waiting for my luggage we someone towing a huge pile of luggage. Maybe it was all the luggage for a sports team or something, but it sure seemed funny to me.

We went to Omni first, so I could check email and grab some grub. When I got to my office I found I was unable to get in because it was chock full of balloons. Several feet high, and a thick helium-filled layer along the ceiling as well. Tom was of course fully aware of this fact, which is probably why he didn't make me drop him off at his place before I hit the office.

I found some other spot to eat lunch, then popped enough balloons to get to my desk so I could check email. During this, I discovered that many of the balloons had bits of candy in them. (These made a really cool sound as many balloons with candy in them bounced around my office.) This was great because sometimes when I popped a balloon I would be rewarded with candy. And it was terrible because I quickly came to expect candy, and sometimes when I popped a balloon, there was none. I left many of the balloons there until Monday, for any who hadn't seen the crime when it took place. (I totally failed to get any photos of the scene until after I had popped all the balloons. Fortunately, Ken got some photos before I arrived.)

Arriving back at Seattle

Someone can't pack light

My office is even messier than usual

Aftermath (already lots cleaned up)



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