Segmented Vacation

It’s been a little over a week since I arrived in the UK, but it feels much longer due to the way I’ve worked out our living schedule. This entry could be quite long, so I’ve marked it with subheadings. Feel free to pick and choose, or to carry on with your day at work or wherever you may be.

Arrival at Heathrow’s and Riz Mamoo’s

Day 1: My flight was delayed about an hour due to an indication problem. I wasn’t sure what that meant but we had to refuel at one point. Anyway, they played the news (BBC) and then got on to the movies. The selection was pretty weak, so I ended up starting off with Freedomland, where Julianne Moore and Sammy L. do something dramatic, and then I moved on to Last Vacation, where Queen Latifah and LL Cool J attempted to be comedic. Still can’t believe that LL would think himself good enough to be on screen. Read for a little bit (social life of information) and slept maybe an hour. The flight was 6.5 hours, much shorter than normal, and much shorter than the return flight, which is scheduled for 8 hours now.

I arrived at Heathrow around 10pm, and went through passport control (customs) and headed out to the arrival area, where Liza was waiting for me. It’s always surreal whenever I haven’t seen her for 5 months – everything and nothing has changed. She had taken a night train from Paris after backpacking for a while. We met my uncle and grandmother outside and headed back to his place. I’ve never been here as a driver, and I don’t think I could handle the left side thing.

We arrive at mamoo’s house and it’s everything you’d expect it an english townhouse to be. Apparently, Arisha (4 years old) had waited up for me but eventually fell asleep. At the last minute, she thought that maybe she had mistaken my identity.

I want to see Zia bhai! I love Zia bhai!! … is he a boy? does he have short hair?

Liza and I stayed in the attic-room. It was pretty warm, it turns out that we brought the DC weather, and it’s been like that ever since we arrived here. Who’d have thought there would be cloudless days everyday in the UK?

Day #2:  We woke up early to go have Dim-sum (chinese breakfast) in Chinatown.  Arisha was as cute as ever.