Heathrow... Heathrow, Heathrow, Heathrow, hehehe... What a scary place. It is huge! I think Heathrow has about 4 terminals, and as far as I could tell, these aren't linked in any way. Do you know, to tell you honestly, arriving at Heathrow was the thing I was most afraid of when I left. I just knew I was going to get lost. I did. Horribly lost. On the plane they told us we were to exit via Terminal 2. Well, I followed everyone sheepishly... that is, until I lost them :o/ I was walking, walking, walking, and suddenly there was noone from my flight in sight???!!! so... I followed a few ambiguous signs and ended up ummm... somewhere. Wherever it was, it wasn't where I was supposed to be. So, I asked someone who kindly told me I had to go back to where I came from, and follow the signs (??). Hmmm, I ended up in all sorts of places, the scariest one being a car park... I had made it out of the airport just fine, but I had no baggage or anything, and noone had tried to stop me!! I went back, I asked someone, asked someone else, and someone else, and again someone else before it dawned on me that these numbskulls were having fun at my expense. Off I trotted in my NO COMMENT t-shirt, to take matters into my own hands. I found the nearest office which, by the way, happened to be a Third World immigration office (but let's not go into that)... rang the airline, told them I was lost and to please send someone down to lead me to my luggage :) They did... but I still never went through customs, and don't ask me how I managed that... cause I wouldn't have a clue... but there has to be a moral in this story somewhere. Walking out, I happened to triumphantly pass all those whackos who had misled me earlier... but I dare say I did have to have a chuckle with them... Hell, I probably would have done the same hehehe

After finally exiting through the gates, it dawned on me that I had no clue which Terminal I was at, nor where Sod would be. I waited a while, panicking, wandering around, aimless and lost. I decided that the best thing to do would be to call him on his mobile phone. Hehehehe, using an English payphone was whole experience in itself... especially figuring out which parts of the phone number I was supposed to dial. I worked it out, dialled, waited, and finally he answered :) A scene reminiscent of "My Best Friend's Wedding", as I spoke I suddenly felt a person behind me. I turned around and there he was :) We just fell into each other's arms, and finally pulled away to take it all in. We decided the main emergency right then was to get a nicotine fix... so we went outside, and I tell you... it was one of those rare London autumn days where the sun was shining brightly overhead. Amidst the travellers, dwellers, moving traffic, and a parked fleet of London black cabs,... we kissed :) Our first kiss :)

The end of the journey was, of course, marked by the pilgrimage to what was to be my new home. I had my first experience of London Underground tubes... the Picadilly Line from Heathrow to Holborn, the Central Line from Holborn to Liverpool Street, then Eastern Railway from Liverpool Street to Gidea Park. At long last, the end of a long, exhausting trip. I entered this new house, tried to absorb the surroundings, tried to make sense of my new housemates, had a shower and was off to bed to tackle it all in the morning. I was happy.