Arrival at Heathrow

Tie shoelaces. Retrieve carry-on items from overhead compartment. Thank flight crew. Deplane.

Climb steep ramp. Turn left. Proceed along a long, narrow corridor with windows not designed for a view (i.e., placed high in the wall) but still overlooking the runways and “Warning! Asbestos” stickers on the wall. Turn right. Continue down an equally narrow, uphill corridor with no windows, still surrounded by dazed Japanese students who have flown from Tokyo via Moscow. Turn left. Ascend a short escalator. Pit stop. Wonder why there is such a vast array of contraceptives available in the vending machines in the bathroom that's “For arriving passengers only!” Realize that this makes sense. Continue down corridor. Walk fast to pass straggling fellow passengers and therefore get ahead of them in the passport line. Turn right and enter the room with the long, serpantine line (like the one at Dulles - it looks long but it moves fast, and is much better organized than the three to ten separate lines at Sheremetyevo).

Stand in line behind a college kid with a small Dockers satchel and wearing a red baseball cap with “Budweiser” stitched into the back. Figure he's off a flight from the States. Marvel that the guy orchestrating the passport line is the same guy as on previous couple of trips. Play tennis game on cell phone in line to make the time go faster. Listen to fellow passengers' various cell phone conversations. Reach front of line - “seventeen,” says the recognizable guy. Go to counter 17 and present immigration card & passport. Answer the same questions as on the last 10 trips.

Proceed to baggage claim. Give thanks that the time in close proximity to the metal-on-metal screech of some repair procedure is shortened by the fact that the bags from Moscow are already on the carousel. Proceed through the unattended green customs corridor, through the terminal and into the tunnel to the tube.

Descend. Hear the unique and familiar warbling of the rotating banner ads, one of which reminds you that the city you've arrived in, like the city you just left, is making a bid to host the 2012 Olympics. Wonder what the average Londoner or visitor to the city can do to “back the bid” for the Olympics as the signs exhort. Descend further escalators. Give thanks that the moving walkway is working. Buy tube ticket - £3.80 one way?! Definitely more than in the past. Wonder why Blackberry is momentarily not working in the country where it was purchased.

Park self and baggage in train for long ride. Look up and laugh involuntarily, again, at the word crawl repeatedly informing passengers that “This train is for COCKFOSTERS.” Hear many languages. Welcome to London.

[I tried to post this upon arrival using Blogger's email-to-blog feature, but that didn't work out. So I've backdated it with the time when it should have been posted - local time, of course. For authenticity's sake, I have avoided the temptation to add hyperlinks]