Early morning coffee ramblings. →[More:]
I'm making an early start today, my flight's not for hours yet but I have to go to the dentist this morning. I'm hoping to be out of there by 10.30, then it's 2 hours on the Tube to Heathrow, probably 45 minutes lining up to check in, then I'll have plenty of time to get through security (queues at Heathrow can take 90 minutes).

One of my co-workers is also flying out of Terminal 3, so I'll probably meet up with him and his wife for coffee once we're all airside.

There is no food in the house, so breakfast is plain oatmeal made with water and a banana. This will be one of those days when I eat food I wouldn't normally feed to a dog, and at strange times.

The food at Heathrow is not good - mass catering, high prices, lots of starchy stuff.

Plane food is worse, especially since the airlines cut back on their catering and stopped doing 'fruit plate' meals, which I always used to order. I knew they'd be made fresh that day, unlike the preservative-laden chilled meals, and instead of getting 'chicken or lasagne', I'd be served a little box of melon, pineapple, strawberries, kiwi, grapes, usually with a pot of yoghurt or cottage cheese, plus a selection of cheese and crackers, and a dessert pot. Always the person sitting next to me would say 'wow! I wish I'd ordered that' as they chewed on their microwaved mystery meat.

All the airlines have stopped doing meals like that, after 9/11 they had to cut costs, so now the alternatives are veggie, kosher, halal and that's about it.

I'm hoping to get some sleep on the plane - I have my eye mask and blow-up neck pillow. The main movie is 'Ocean's Thirteen', so I'll have gorgeous George on a loop for seven hours if I can't sleep.

I am so in need of a break. The atmosphere at work is awful, because in the New Year one-third of the staff will be sacked. I'm fairly certain I'll be ok, I'm being sent on a couple of courses and have been asked to say nothing about them to other staff. Everyone is worried, and of course management is exploiting the fear because they know people aren't going to complain for fear of being put on the list.

All in all, life is good. I'm excited about this trip, looking forward to seeing friends, having a little fun. I'm making a side trip up to Woodstock for a couple of days, and there is so much to see in Noo Yawk that I didn't get to see before.

OK, I need to get in the shower. Be good bunnies. See you in NYC.