I did it again. Chose an early flight that meant alarm at 3:30am to make it to the airport by 5am and being able to take off at 6am. In Helsinki it turned out that they have meanwhile extended the terminal so much that from my arrival gate number 2 to departure gate 54 it was the same distance as from here to main square in old town. Which is appr. 20 minutes.
I also made it smoothly to the Paddington station, where I got the feeling that I've never been to any underground or train station or bought any tickets. Looking however at the rest of the crowd, it seemed that they have never walked down the streets. Around 40% of pedestrians used the left side traffic logic, around 40% right side traffic logic and the rest of them just slalomed their way through crowds. Same situation was also on the stairs, in the tube and by different entrances. Also there's a huge construction boom in the city. I don't think I managed to walk even 100 meters without having any kind of construction related obstacle on my way.
Got a room on 7th floor and based on the bathroom the hotel had made a step closer to the rest of Europe and installed only one tap, so that one can actually regulate the water temperature. And not wash left hand with cold and right hand with boiling water.
I walked to TK Maxx, then to another TK Maxx and then home through Marks & Spencer food hall. Among other things I also got a box of sapphire raspberries, straight from Portugal, just because they looked so delicious. Spoiler: they also tasted delicious.
Took my jeans from the shelf I had put them yesterday and couldn't see the blue color under all the dust that the part that was on the bottom was covered with. I could have left messages on all the other shelves as well, like "Jane was here" or "Sam is stupid". I mentioned the dust in the reception and they promised to give the information to the cleaning crew to take care of it. Maybe the cleaning team didn't take the information, because in the evening I could still see the line I draw there in the morning in the dust.
Since the shopping was unsuccessful last night, I went to another TK Maxx today. To the one far enough to use the underground. Total success and for 20 GBP I got myself a sweater and two Jamie Oliver bowls. That's however where the success ended, because I started to make my way back in the rush hour, when the tubes are so packed that most of the people were left on the platform to wait for the next ship to come in. Having squeezed myself into the next one, it turned out that there are traffic jams also underground, where we made a longer stop in the dark tunnel before each station and waited until the train in front of us had left the station. The air was counted and limited as well. Got another box of raspberries from Marks & Spencer.
Our London office is getting dog friendly and a new colleague had two chihuahuas with him. One was clearly a guard dog, by the way. Barked furiously, but once you tried to pet her, she just in case backed a bit and kept barking from afar. Reminded me of the battery powered dog I had when I was a child. That one used to bark with high voice as well and kept shivering all the time.
Walked through Marks & Spencer again. Didn't buy any raspberries. Got a lot of cheese.
Still remembering the tube experience from last night, I called Uber to go to my recruiting event. Turned out that it took longer with Uber than it would have taken with tube, but at least Ahmed didn't make stops in dark tunnels and there was also enough air. From the event I scored the contacts of three developers and a thermo water bottle.
I had the return flight booked for 10:20am on Friday and planned to arrive in Tallinn at 5pm. Same day. Learned from the Paddington experience on Tuesday, I now walked straight to Heathrow Express, sat down in Business Class, because that was the closest to the entrance and the train almost leaving and was in airport in no time. There was exactly enough belt in security for one person at the time to put their stuff on the tray. Through the security and found out that the flight has been delayed by 40 minutes. Started to work and the flight was delayed by additional 50 minutes. And then the departure time was changed to 25 minutes earlier. Anyway, finally the plane arrived, gate number was given and there was exactly enough time to go to gate. Boarding started almost immediately, everyone on board we still waited half an hour in the gate and then another 25 minutes in the traffic jam to finally reach the runway and take off. Rescheduling in Helsinki was smooth, I had time to eat a Karjala pie and some raw oatmeal with berries, reply few emails and it was time to board the plane. 10,5 hours after leaving the hotel and already home. At least my husband was already home :)
I also made it smoothly to the Paddington station, where I got the feeling that I've never been to any underground or train station or bought any tickets. Looking however at the rest of the crowd, it seemed that they have never walked down the streets. Around 40% of pedestrians used the left side traffic logic, around 40% right side traffic logic and the rest of them just slalomed their way through crowds. Same situation was also on the stairs, in the tube and by different entrances. Also there's a huge construction boom in the city. I don't think I managed to walk even 100 meters without having any kind of construction related obstacle on my way.
Got a room on 7th floor and based on the bathroom the hotel had made a step closer to the rest of Europe and installed only one tap, so that one can actually regulate the water temperature. And not wash left hand with cold and right hand with boiling water.
I walked to TK Maxx, then to another TK Maxx and then home through Marks & Spencer food hall. Among other things I also got a box of sapphire raspberries, straight from Portugal, just because they looked so delicious. Spoiler: they also tasted delicious.
Took my jeans from the shelf I had put them yesterday and couldn't see the blue color under all the dust that the part that was on the bottom was covered with. I could have left messages on all the other shelves as well, like "Jane was here" or "Sam is stupid". I mentioned the dust in the reception and they promised to give the information to the cleaning crew to take care of it. Maybe the cleaning team didn't take the information, because in the evening I could still see the line I draw there in the morning in the dust.
Since the shopping was unsuccessful last night, I went to another TK Maxx today. To the one far enough to use the underground. Total success and for 20 GBP I got myself a sweater and two Jamie Oliver bowls. That's however where the success ended, because I started to make my way back in the rush hour, when the tubes are so packed that most of the people were left on the platform to wait for the next ship to come in. Having squeezed myself into the next one, it turned out that there are traffic jams also underground, where we made a longer stop in the dark tunnel before each station and waited until the train in front of us had left the station. The air was counted and limited as well. Got another box of raspberries from Marks & Spencer.
Our London office is getting dog friendly and a new colleague had two chihuahuas with him. One was clearly a guard dog, by the way. Barked furiously, but once you tried to pet her, she just in case backed a bit and kept barking from afar. Reminded me of the battery powered dog I had when I was a child. That one used to bark with high voice as well and kept shivering all the time.
Walked through Marks & Spencer again. Didn't buy any raspberries. Got a lot of cheese.
Still remembering the tube experience from last night, I called Uber to go to my recruiting event. Turned out that it took longer with Uber than it would have taken with tube, but at least Ahmed didn't make stops in dark tunnels and there was also enough air. From the event I scored the contacts of three developers and a thermo water bottle.
I had the return flight booked for 10:20am on Friday and planned to arrive in Tallinn at 5pm. Same day. Learned from the Paddington experience on Tuesday, I now walked straight to Heathrow Express, sat down in Business Class, because that was the closest to the entrance and the train almost leaving and was in airport in no time. There was exactly enough belt in security for one person at the time to put their stuff on the tray. Through the security and found out that the flight has been delayed by 40 minutes. Started to work and the flight was delayed by additional 50 minutes. And then the departure time was changed to 25 minutes earlier. Anyway, finally the plane arrived, gate number was given and there was exactly enough time to go to gate. Boarding started almost immediately, everyone on board we still waited half an hour in the gate and then another 25 minutes in the traffic jam to finally reach the runway and take off. Rescheduling in Helsinki was smooth, I had time to eat a Karjala pie and some raw oatmeal with berries, reply few emails and it was time to board the plane. 10,5 hours after leaving the hotel and already home. At least my husband was already home :)
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