Friday 8th July 2022

I was up very early this morning, and had breakfast at 07:00 (Sri Lankan time), as I was due to be picked up from the Colombo Swimming Club by taxi at 08:00, but he was late, and I didn't leave until 08:30 in the end. Fortunately, there was no traffic on the roads, so I still got to Colombo Airport in good time to check in for my flight to London Heathrow, which was supposed to take off at 12:20.

In the end the flight was delayed by a good hour, and then, of course, we had to have our 'technical stop' at Kochi Airport in Kerala, India, so that the plane could be refuelled, as there was no fuel in Sri Lanka. All that went without a hitch, and after a very long flight we eventually landed at Heathrow Airport at 21:30 (UK time), which was the point where today's journey took a nasty turn!

I got through Passport Control very easily, but when I went to Carousel 5 to collect my luggage, it was very crowded. Some people seemed to get their luggage and move on, but there was a large crowd of us still waiting. The luggage on the belt kept moving round and round with nobody taking it, and no new luggage being placed on the conveyor belt, which was clearly very odd.

After about an hour, I went to ask what was going on. Apparently, a huge number of people were stuck in immigration, due to the staffing shortage at Heathrow Airport, and I was told we could wait hours for this to be resolved, so I took matters into my own hands and started to remove the luggage on the belt, stacking it neatly to one side, and with others joining me, we soon had the belt completely cleared!

That seemed to do the trick, as the conveyor belt started up again, and our luggage was loaded onto it. However, by this time it was almost midnight, and I had missed my coach to Bath, so I had to get a 00:30 coach to Bristol, where I then got a taxi to my son Joe's place and picked up my car, driving back to Bath and arriving at 04:00 (08:30 Sri Lankan time), so all-in-all an exhausting 24-hour journey!

Just 4 photos today - two as I sat at the Colombo Swimming Club this morning, one of the Indian Ocean and rail line, and one of a sculpture of a sandal I admired at Colombo Port yesterday.









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