He took his tie off somewhere over Greenland

It’s been a funny old day. 

We began at LHR Terminal 5, making our way through the various stages which precede boarding flight BA 283 to Los Angeles.

It’s always interesting flying to this, one of our favourite destinations, for our fellow passengers are frequently of the, lets say, more colourful variety.  This time, the young man attracting my attention (and who ended up sitting just in front of me on board) was dressed head to toe in camel coloured jersey and had sunglasses with emerald green lenses.  I wonder what the world looks like through them?  Yes, green, I suppose

Our 747 awaited us, our favourite seats booked and ready.  We had a mere 10 hours 50 minutes to spend doing not very much, so I took my time and did all three sudoku puzzles in the paper before even thinking about switching the TV on. 

Strangely, Sudoku puzzles are so much easier after a glass of champagne.  Of perhaps, its only after a glass of champagne that the Super Fiendish ones can be completed?  I mean, does anyone ever check those answers?!

After lunch I began by watching First Date; a programme I’d heard friends discussing but had never seen before.  By that time I was feeling a little sleepy, so I put on Desert Island Discs and fell asleep to Jilly Cooper, only waking up again when a scientist whose name I don’t remember chose “Wind Beneath my Wings” for his wife – not my favourite anyway but a cliched and patronising thought, in my opinion.

My hero had pointed out one of the video selections – a two hour concert by my favourite Hunkentenor Jonas Kaufmann, which I decided to watch next.  The concert was from La Scala Milan and had been recorded in 2015 with a programme of works by Puccini.

Wow.

We were somewhere over Greenland when he took his tie off and brought the house down with Nessun Dorma, stumbling over the words on one section, much to the amusement of the audience.  What a grand way to pass the time crossing the Atlantic, eh?

Fortified by that, the remainder of the flight passed without incident.  I watched Bridget Jones Baby (cute ending) and Me Before You (surprisingly touching), finishing off with one of George Clarke’s renovation projects as we made our approach for landing.

Tonight, we are comfortably snooked into the Casita at our friends’ Hilltop Hacienda just north of LA, having been gathered up from our flight and driven here in super quick time through heavy rain showers.  The clock reads 9.06pm, this laptop says it’s 07.03am and my body hasn’t a clue what day of the week it is, let alone what the time might be.  All I know is that it’s a long long time since I got up this morning.

Our adventure awaits – but first, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz