Thursday 19 November 2009

The 'Go-around'

Imagine yourself on an aeroplane.  It's night time, you're tired, the seat-belt signs have been on for a while.  You're settling in for a landing.  The houses are getting bigger.  You can distinguish buses from cars on the roads.  The plane's wobbling a bit; it's windy.  The ground is getting closer.  Any moment now you'll see the airport grounds and feel the aircraft touching down.  Then the engines kick in.  That can't be right? You ask yourself.  Surely we'll speed into the ground?  Then the plane heaves; it's trying to lift up.  For a moment it seems to hang. Although it feels much longer. Then you're up again, getting higher while the ground gets smaller.  What just happened?
Well, that's what happens when the aircraft in front of you fails to clear the runway!  Luckily, last night was a beautifully clear night and it was no problem to see London mapped out in front of me like a three-dimensional Google Earth.  It's cliched I know, but everything looked like a model, a tiny Royal Albert Hall, a minature London Eye, the whole of Hampstead Heath in the size of my palm.
And so a second circle of London, which they call a 'go-around', before we finally did land.  Feels strange to be back in England again so soon, but back again I am.  It doesn't seem quite so dark here, even if it is more windy.  The sky is brighter and doesn't stay dark for so long, at least not yet.
But I'm armed with plenty of swedish chocolate and new ideas for my writing.  Today I think I need to relax, get some shopping in, empty my bags, re organise my flat so that it's not in such a mess and try not to miss my girlfriend.  At least not too much...

2 comments:

  1. Hi James,

    It's Paula, I used to work with you at the soul destroying TCR.

    p.s. I didn't leave the annoymous comment 'ask a weird person a weird question'. I assume that is Jon Davis, as I'd mentioned in passing that I'd been reading your blog.

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  2. ah...Hi Paula

    Glad to have you on board and hope you're enjoying the blog...do you have one??

    James.

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