Tuesday, 19th July: Packed bags, had a last minute haircut before catching the taxi to railway station. The journey on the Stansted Express was uneventful and I arrived early at the airport. A queue began to form in front of the check in desk, but with a subconscious gap, as if Harry Potter himself was taking space in the queue under his invisibility coat – an illusion maintained until other travelers passed through the gap on their ways to their separate destinations.
Stansted was relatively quiet and security particularly tight. It was a shoes and belt off day, rather precarious as todays trousers were loose around the waistband. Fortunately they did not drop. Post security, it was the usual wait with a cup of tea for the call to gate.
Todays plane looked small on the tarmac, being a turboprop Bombardier DASH 8. However, with a lower flying altitude of about 7600m, it promised to be visually more interesting.
This was justified during the flight across the Channel on a still day. The sea was remarkably calm and with the blue sky, it seemed more like part of the sky. The flees of container ships and faster ferries left white contrails and seemed to be flying rather than floating.
The illusion was shattered when the continental coast came into view and was replaced by another interesting phenomenon. There was a clear algal bloom changing the sea from light blue to cyan. It could only be a thin layer as the ships passing through left a darker trail of original sea colour behind them.
Low continental cloud then obscured the view until we were closer to Duesseldorf.
Arrived at Mrs T's with a fresh supply of English tea bags to see her through the coming months.
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