Rainy Yokohama

No pictures this morning. The cable that enables photos to be downloaded from the phone to the laptop has been packed away ‘safely’ and can’t be found. A new one will be bought when the stores open . The second we get home you can be sure the original cable will magically reappear.

The flight out took 14 hours . BA had a brand new Airbus on the route which had that unmistakable but transitory smell that you only find in new cars and aircraft.  Everyone likes to criticise BA but the service was smooth and efficient despite every seat being taken by exuberantly happy families on their way to view Cherry Blossom season. It was not a smooth flight and became ‘lively’ over northern China. Seemingly all Beijings airports were experiencing the strongest winds in half a century . 41,000 feet above things were also turbulent. We both watched Conclave which was good until the overly sentimental and improbable ending.

Immigration at Haneda was a nightmare. There was a queue with at least a thousand people in it. Seems every flight from Europe is operating full . Thankfully, after twenty minutes, a young woman in a day glo jacket arrived took one look at Angus and announced ‘You very old’. Ordinarily a greeting like this would not be well received but on this occasion it proved to be our ticket to a ‘priority’ line that saved us another hour of standing amid jet lagged  back packers.

No news from the organisers of the trip regarding the whereabouts of our ‘luxury motor vessel’ which is somewhere en route from Borneo with its collection of Palo Altoans and assorted guest lecturers. A review of the passenger list shows that there are five ‘Bob and Laura’s’ onboard which considering the boat can only hold 36 must be some form of record.