On board to Kenya

Good morning readers.
I am currently sitting on my flight, using my new laptop to type my
blog while waiting for the on-board entertainment to start.
Let me start by saying how lovely it was to see everyone in my three
weeks back in England. Really really lovely, and to those who I didn't
manage to see I am very sad, but will see you when I get back next time.
:) I really enjoyed seeing people, I especially enjoyed all the hugs
which almost made up for several months with very few :) and it has made
me look forward to coming back and settling back into London on my
return because I know that I will still have lots of lovely people around.

So yes, I am now on my flight. Still waiting for the entertainment to
start. I'm going to watch the Michael Jackson, This Is It film,
providing it ever actually starts.
I've been up since 5.30 this morning, and apologies for Ceilidh & Clare
for bombarding them with hugs at such an early hour in the morning. I
set off particularly early so as to avoid the rush hour commuters with
my many bags, and also to get to Terminal 3 in order to go to lost
property before heading to Terminal 5 for my flight. I left my favourite
scarf on the flight on my way into England last time, y'know, the
purpley one I use for everything including covering up my hair. :( It
wasn't there, and to be honest I was a little annoyed. I know it was my
favourite scarf, but they could have told me on the phone that they
charge £5 for returning lost property. Hmph. I wouldn't have made the
extra journey had I known. I'll have to make a trip to adams arcade and
buy a new one in Nairobi.

When I arrived at terminal 5 finally, I sorted out my hand luggage,
which was in my main bag so I didn't have too many bags to carry on the
tube, and made sure I was carrying my photos around with me that I had
printed for the Pokot Gallery at the Kapenguria museum. I had a few
really big ones printed so they wouldn't fit in my bags without fear of
bending. So I carried this large folder all around the airport, bought
some stamps to send some stuff, rushed around up and down escalators,
all carrying this folder of photos. Then I took the train through to my
gate, went in Boots, got some coffee, and realised that my flight was
boarding. So I went and stood in the queue, which was very short by this
point. And then I realised that I didn't have the photos. !!!!! So I
raced off as fast as I could to the other end of the B departure area to
Boots, which is where I remembered putting it down, and it was there
behind the counter. Phew. Of course by the time I was on my way back to
my gate the signs were saying that the gate was closing, so I panicked
and had to run with my coffee and everything to the gate. I was the last
person on board.
So that was fun.

It's odd, as soon as the engines start and the plane starts to move I
get incredibly tired and have great trouble keeping my eyes open. It's
annoying as I like to watch the plane take off and see the ground
disappear, but to do so I have to have had my eyes shut leading up to it
so I feel more able to keep my eyes open. Very odd. Anyway, we took off
today and I shed a couple of tears as we ascended into the cloud cover
over Heathrow and the ground disappeared. I said goodbye to London with
a heavy heart this time. Lots has happened in the last few weeks. Hmm.
So....

I am now watching The Fantastic Mr Fox. Not quite what I was expecting.
Very well embellished I think, and updated. I don't like the cussing
though. Not necessary. Happily we did get fed, although it was a cold
chicken salad, which I didn't really eat very much of. Also happily it's
the flight with the decent entertainment system which means I can watch
what I want and when I want to. Woo. It's been too long since I last
listened to my Fantastic Mr Fox tape though, so I don't remember the
story accurately. But the film was ok. It had an AMAZING cast, which I
think made up for shortfalls in the actual film.

So, when I get to Kenya I'm not entirely sure of what I'm doing. I think
i'm gonna stick around Nairobi for a couple of days trying to sort stuff
out, before heading on up to Kapenguria for the end of the week. I'm
tempted to see if I would be allowed to drive up there, but I doubt that
would be possible. Also the thought of doing it makes me very nervous.
I'm very looking forward to getting this project finished. I've had
enough of it now, and I would like to do something different.

I suppose I had better put the laptop away now, disturb my neighbour to
have a leg stretch, and then settle in to another film. Oooh, exciting
times.

Back again. I'm bored, and I can't really be bothered to watch any more
films. There is lots of stuff I want to see on the entertainment
channel, but I don't really want to ruin a good film by watching it on a
tiny screen on the plane. Also I tried to watch the Michael Jackson film
but then decided I didn't want to watch it on a plane full of people. So
I watched couple's retreat instead. It was fun. Didn't realise it had
veronica mars in it.
So, apart from the fun of watching crappy 'funny' films I saw Malta out
of the window. Which was cool. I didn't see properly from the air when I
left there at Christmas. It looked pretty from the air anyway, and so
tiny! Talking about pretty, the sun is setting now, or rather we're
travelling away from the sun.
I think I might go get more chocolate. Mmmm.

pfft.