Good Luck Heikki
After paying the bill and checking out of the Hostelliere de Genève, Georgios and I walked along the lake shore again toward the office. Despite taking it easy, we were still damp with perspiration once we arrived at the office.
We had our meeting with Georgios’ boss, Marc and this was very productive; well worth the visit.
The road leaving Vevey heading for Lausanne.
Later, before walking to the station to catch my train to the airport, I bought a few things at the staff shop (especially some Thomy products for Laura and her boyfriend Tom).
After checking into my flight I went to the BA lounge. The Geneva lounge is very nice indeed. Quiet, except for the gentle background sound of bird song and lots of space to find a quiet area to relax and await the calling of your flight.
As I went up to the self-service, bar area, I saw a young guy who looked familier. Yes, it was Heikki Kovalainen, the number 2 McLaren driver. He sat with his girlfriend or his McLaren P.A. (I don’t know which), out of the way at the back of the lounge. So, I left him alone.
I picked up a 1 litre bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin at the duty free and went to my gate. There, I was upgraded again to Club/Business. When I got onto the Airbus, in the seat in front of me was Heikki.
Again, I left him alone to sleep through the flight. Certainly, he didn’t want to eat the kind of food being offered up, even in Club; it wouldn’t match his dietary requirements. It was very nice for airline food.
When we landed, I could help bu reach over, shake his hand and wish him well for the forthcoming practice session at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. Rather unsportingly, I added that on race day I hoped that his finish second, behind Kimi Räikkönen. He just smiled (and probably though ‘What an arsehole!’ and who could blame him?) and then collected his bag and walked towards the luggage collection point. He’s a nice lad, very polite and a damned fast driver who will do well in F1.
Security was the usual pain-in-the-arse. This time, just to confuse me (see my last post on this matter) I had to leave my laptop in my rucksack (having removed it in Geneva) and removed my trouser belt and shoes. In just two days, all had changed again!
Talk about a job for ruddy life!
A quick drink in the BA lounge and then off for my delayed BA flight to Manchester. ‘Do you know that you’ve been upgraded to Business?’ said the lady checking in my bags. ‘Yes’, I replied ‘but there is no Business section on the Heathrow to Manchester flight, so it’s meaningless.’
Once I was off the flight and eventually collected my bag, I trundled my circuitous way to Terminal 1 from T3 (thanks to the ‘improvements’ made by Manchester Airport Management!), I walked over the sky-bridge and hopped onto the Trans Pennine Newcastle train, via York.
It was good to be home after the tedium of travelling.
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