The prize

Can someone please tell me what the prize for being the first off a plane is?

I know there is one, without a doubt, because every-time a plane I am in lands everyone just jumps out of their sits and sometimes even before turning their cell phones on (imagine!) they take their luggage out of the overhead compartment and get ready to leave. Those who were not quick enough just stand on their sitting spots, all curved up, with their backpacks all set on their backs and then… they stand there. And stand. And stand. (Remember, most times the “fasten your seatbelts” sign was still on when they jumped for their luggage as if jumping for dear life). And after quite a few minutes of waiting the doors open and the people near the exits start leaving and guess what? The people in the middle of the plane are still there, still standing like dopes, still waiting. The ones on their sitting spots are still bending with the weight of their packs on their backs and contorted like hell to fit in there.
But they do not sit, they do not budge. In my mind I hear Gandalf saying unto them “You Shall Not Sit”. (It should really be thou but that’s Hollywood for you).
And then, predictably, when the ends of the plane start getting devoid of people, then these people start to leave. After everyone who was closer to the exit has already exited the plane.

So I just know that there must be a prize for the first one to get off the plane and I have a strong suspicion that the people closer to the exits must be the ones who get this prize but the prize must be so good that lots and lots of people just have to jump off their sits, before the engines are even turned off, and stand there crowding each other for such a long time in hopes of maybe by some obscure and unnatural phenomenon being able to pass everybody on their way to the exit and get there first.

Only I’m a really simple kind of guy and I’ve never felt the urge to join the dope race and so I just sit calmly until I do have enough room to stand up and get my things and exit the plane at my own pace. Therefore I’ve never even known what the big prize is. Can anyone satisfy my curiosity? Or is it best that I don’t know, lest I join the crowds next time?

It was good but it was short. Isn’t it always, though?

We’re back at home after four days in England (yes, England because this time around we spent a day out of London, more below).

Three days were spent in London. Sweet London, I love that town. I have absolutely no connection to it. No family ties (that I know of but It would be really farfetched), no friends, I’ve only been there the first time when I was almost 20 years old, so there are no fond childhood memories, but still I feel so much at home there it is startling. I wonder why that is…

After new year’s eve Tuxa got a whole lot better (her voice took a day off but at least she could get out into the street and stroll around) and so we could watch the new year’s parade and visit all the other places we so love.
We even got out at night one day (fully equipped for the cold which struck all day on sunday) and took some fine pictures to prove it. A shame about the cold as there was a very good busker near the Thames that night and I would have enjoyed sitting there and listen to him play on his sax for a bit but for us it would have been madness. Of course we did meet the usual assortment of (usually very young) girls with a very skimp attire who seemed to be pretty impervious to the cold, but that is always the case in the cold countries, us in full winter gear, up to our eyes in warm clothing and some of the natives wearing something I only wear at night in August in the Algarve.
And speaking of buskers, my favorite buskers were at it again in the same place I caught them last time: Covent Garden. This time I decided to buy their CD so now I know what they’re called, it is The Metropolitan Ensemble. Their performances are quite unique, totally out of the ordinary, they play around with the music and the people in a show of what I think demonstrates true love for the music. I bought the CD not so much for the musics but in the hope that it will remind me of that place and those people from time to time.

Then there was Oxford on Sunday. It was my first time there and I can tell you this: If I had ever studied at Oxford I think I would have enjoyed my studying so, so much more. We did visit a couple of colleges and while we where only permitted to see a small fraction of it, the atmosphere, the buildings, the gardens, the rooms, the architecture… It is just overwhelming, so beautiful, so peaceful, so inspiring…
Definitely a place I would have liked to spend some time at.

And now I’m tired so I’ll end my ranting here. Oh and as for photographs, this time I decided not to lug my big camera around because it is heavy and I’ve been there many times before anyway but of course I still took Tuxa’s small camera and shoot lots of pictures anyway. I just can’t help myself! :-) So there will be pictures, in time. Keep watching this space.