There's A Seven Forty Seven Coming Out of the Night - Saxson

As far as long haul is concerned my trip home was more or less without a hitch, and a great story to relate, and while not wishing to sound like a UK basher, it's only when you reach Heathrow that everything turns to 'rat sh*t'. OK, not having checked in on-line I had to run the gauntlet with the airline 'check- in clerk' who would not be moved regarding consigning my (wheely) back pack to the hold, I don't remember ever having my luggage taken from me on any flight before except in Tokyo when they wouldn't allow my tripod in the cabin. Re-jigging my bag I returned to check-in to find a different lady who was equally determined that the bag was heading for the hold, but did placate me by seating me at a window at the emergency exit. These days seats with much more leg room command an extra tariff, in this instance Aus$ 160 (£102 GB), but there was no charge on this occasion.

Boeing 747

You may find this part of the story interesting enough not to skip?

The 8 hour leg Sydney to Bangkok was a dream with exceptional service from the cabin crew, decent food, a drop of wine and no delays but most importantly no need to remove our belonging when the plane was cleaned and re-crewed in Bangkok unlike the outbound journey. That done, we re-boarded to be met by an announcement from the Captain saying there had been a fuel spill resulting in a short delay, but by this time I had switched off and simply waited to go. However, with close on 350 passengers onboard there was the inevitable mutterings, but that was when one of the male cabin crew singled me out (reason not known), crouched in front of me and simply enquire "do you drink wine sir"? Many of you will know the answer to that, as he went on to ask if I had a preference of grape variety. For easy drinking I told him that Merlot would be a choice, but in recent years I had graduated closer to Malbec due to the time I have spent in Argentina. "Unfortunately we don't have either of those, so would you like a Shiraz or a Cabinet"? Either would be fine, and he headed off towards the front of the aircraft. By this time the passengers around me were looking a little miffed, but even more so when he returned with not one but two 'proper' wine glasses announcing that as I couldn't make my mind up he had brought me both and asking my opinion of them later in the flight.

About 2 hours from London I discussed the merits of each of the wines with him, my closing remark being "I would be happy to have a case of each in my cellar (aka 'under the stairs')". He then returned to his duties but just before landing he appeared again clutching a bag containing the 2 bottles pictured above, as a parting gift. I'm certainly looking forward to my next flight, and of course sampling the above.

Latest Statistics

With Cuba having joined our ranks on 28 July, preceded by American Samoa, Senegal, Grenada, and Botswana, the Stat Counter continues to increase in leaps and bounds. We have never witnessed a country reach the 10,000 readers mark but as UK numbers swell it may not be to long before we do. As can be seen the USA have also reached 'four figures' with a further 8 nations making the 'trebles', and if they're not careful Italy look like joining them soon.

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Your log size of 25,000 has 13,736 entries.

	Num	Perc.	Country Name
	9405	68.74%	United Kingdom
	1126	8.23%	United States
	523	3.82%	Taiwan
	450	3.29%	Canada
	215	1.57%	Australia
	193	1.41%	Estonia
	142	1.04%	Germany
	126	0.92%	France
	110	0.80%	New Zealand
	103	0.75%	Netherlands
	96	0.70%	Italy
	82	0.60%	Japan
	68	0.50%	Brazil
	63	0.46%	Spain
	55	0.40%	India
	49	0.36%	American Samoa
	48	0.35%	Poland
	45	0.33%	Colombia
	42	0.31%	Sweden
	40	0.29%	Thailand
	31	0.23%	Belgium
	29	0.21%	Peru
	25	0.18%	Philippines
	25	0.18%	Israel
	25	0.18%	Romania
	24	0.18%	Dominican Republic
	23	0.17%	Hong Kong	lt;span class=" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12"> Hong Kong" border="0" height="11" width="16 ">
	23	0.17%	Singapore
	22	0.16%	Mexico
	22	0.16%	Switzerland
	20	0.15%	Hungary
	19	0.14%	Ireland
	18	0.13%	Korea, Republic Of
	18	0.13%	Finland
	16	0.12%	Malaysia
	16	0.12%	Russian Federation
	14	0.10%	Norway
	14	0.10%	Serbia
	14	0.10%	Indonesia
	14	0.10%	South Africa
	14	0.10%	Malta
	13	0.10%	Czech Republic
	13	0.10%	Sri Lanka
	12	0.09%	Denmark
	12	0.09%	Turkey
	12	0.09%	Saudi Arabia
	11	0.08%	Argentina
	11	0.08%	Portugal
	10	0.07%	Chile
	10	0.07%	Greece
	9	0.07%	Ukraine
	9	0.07%	Bulgaria
	9	0.07%	Pakistan
	8	0.06%	Croatia
	8	0.06%	Vietnam
	7	0.05%	Lithuania
	6	0.04%	Jordan
	6	0.04%	Austria
	6	0.04%	Bangladesh
	6	0.04%	Egypt
	5	0.04%	Macedonia
	5	0.04%	Slovakia
	5	0.04%	Cuba
	5	0.04%	Costa Rica
	5	0.04%	Madagascar
	5	0.04%	Europe
	4	0.03%	Grenada
	4	0.03%	Ecuador
	3	0.02%	Jersey
	3	0.02%	United Arab Emirates
	3	0.02%	Oman
	3	0.02%	Lesotho
	3	0.02%	Belarus
	3	0.02%	Satellite Provider
	2	0.01%	Nepal
	2	0.01%	Guernsey
	2	0.01%	Lebanon
	2	0.01%	Georgia
	2	0.01%	Venezuela
	2	0.01%	Senegal
	2	0.01%	Armenia
	2	0.01%	Guyana
	2	0.01%	Luxembourg
	2	0.01%	Puerto Rico
	2	0.01%	China
	2	0.01%	Slovenia
	2	0.01%	Mauritius
	2	0.01%	Qatar
	1	0.01%	Malawi
	1	0.01%	Kenya
	1	0.01%	Botswana
	1	0.01%	Montenegro
	1	0.01%	Maldives
	1	0.01%	Faroe Islands
	1	0.01%	Bermuda
	1	0.01%	Latvia
	1	0.01%	Anonymous Proxy
	1	0.01%	Morocco
	1	0.01%	Trinidad And Tobago
	1	0.01%	Iceland

PS - There will be no time for 'resting on Laurals' as my Next Adventure commences TOMORROW
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