Prize

Here is what I won from my March Madness bracket:

A cap, a pair of shorts and a couple of t-shirts - all Seattle Supersonics branded.  Seattle Supersonics being the basketball team who ceased to exist just before I very first moved to Seattle (though there is frequent talk that if the NBA expands then they might be revived).  I guess because I won this in a basketball competition, I should have expected some basketball merch - and I'm okay with this.  And this is all good quality clothing, with the added bonus that everything seems to fit me good.  I assume they just picked it out from their store, because everything had it's price label on - the items came to about $200.  Not bad for 5 minutes of work filling in my bracket.   

Notes to Self

The next time I travel back to the UK, a couple of things I need to remember:

- Try to get an aisle seat rather than a window seat.  For a long flight such as this, and a small bladder like I have, then there are few worse feelings than being trapped in the window seat needing to go when the person next to you is fast asleep and there isn't enough room for me to get past.

-  Do not plan to buy the sweets you want at Heathrow, get them before you go to the airport.  WHSmith's selection at the airport is pitiable (and expensive).  For example, I know that in the past that they have stocked Fruit Gums, and I was banking on getting some at the airport as this is my snack of choice for road trips, but did they have any?  Did they heck.

Song of the Week #107

It's time to get personal.  I think the next few selections will probably feature tunes from albums that I own.  So expect a lot of stuff from the 90's and 00's.  Like this one.  And, bonus fact, this band was actually formed in Seattle - so I might have heard this song first on local radio.

Sobering

After a couple of weeks of staying in warm and welcoming homes, it was quite sobering to come back to my cold and quiet abode here.  Without expecting much in the way of human companionship, it has made me more determined than ever to have a canine companion of my own one day.  It's also striking how different my lifestyle is compared to friends and family - I don't live a full and busy life, I don't base my life around family, work and/or hobbies.  I kind of base it around nothing.  It should make my life more stress-free, but instead I end up finding fault in the little things.  And I think it results in my life being a lot less fulfilling.  And that is kind of disappointing, and something I need to reconsider.  But I know I can't compare a day during the last few weeks against a typical day.  I'm not going to go out every day, I'm not going to eat out or have meals cooked for me every day, I am eventually going to have to do some work as part of my job, etc.  So I should just appreciate the fact that I had a very enjoyable last few weeks, but that was a vacation and now I'm not on vacation.  I clearly need more time off!  Another reason why I really want to take a sabbatical from work.       

Tired

I'm back.  Am I really expected to work tomorrow?  I doubt I'm going to get much done.  Between a not very good last night of sleep in the UK, absolutely no sleep during a nearly 10 hour flight (which felt a lot longer), and the fact that I'm now writing this at 11.30 pm local time - that is an awful long time without some decent shuteye.  No wonder I'm so tired.  And so much to do tomorrow - yikes....    

Checking In

I nearly forgot to post something today.  I think that's because I'm slightly discombobulated due to not being able to check in online for my flight tomorrow.  And that's frustrating because of all the bells and whistles I had to go through today in order to be eligible to check online.  I had to get a negative COVID test, which had to be taken via a supervised virtual video visit.  Then British Airways pushed this app on which you download all the required documentation.  But then when it came to actually checking in, absolutely no reference was made to this app at all.  It's quite bizarre.  But I've not been able to check in on my return flight to the US before - I think because the US is super stringent on having airlines check that all passengers have the correct documentation for entry.  And if that also includes COVID documentation now, I fear this could mean some big lines at the check in desk tomorrow.  The hope of course is that I can't check in because I don't have a seat currently assigned because I'm getting an upgrade.  But I fear that is wishful thinking, and I don't want to needlessly raise my expectations.       

London

A trip into London yesterday - and a chance to brave the crowds.  Almost as if we weren't still in the midst of a pandemic!  A quick trip to one of my favorite museums - the Imperial War Museum - before meeting up with a couple of friends and going on a bit of a walk around central London, naturally with a few pub stops on the way.  It was strikingly busy with tourists, and there might have been even more people than normal, thanks to it being St George's Day (which I had absolutely no idea about until getting to Trafalgar Square, and seeing they had some kind of family event going on).  It's been a long time since I've been somewhere crowded, so I must confess to not feeling entirely comfortable walking around with no regard to social distancing and mask-wearing.  Perhaps that is because I haven't yet reached that level of acceptance with COVID that others have - which is perhaps reflective of how it still feels in the US compared to the UK.