Back home again

So, I'm finally home, after nearly four weeks out of the UK. After the efficiency of most things in Finland (except for the traffic lights, more on that another time), Heathrow brought me down to earth with a bump. No offence to Finnair, their captain landed the plane smoothly, as ever.

No, it was after I got off the plane that I got the welcome to the UK normally reserved for citizens of other countries. I know I live in Finland now, but I still have a British passport. This was part of the problem and it is, of course, all my own fault. I registered back in June for the Iris recognition scheme, with the intent of speeding up my regular trips into the UK.

The first time I used it, all went well. At that time, the regular queue for passport control was shorter than the Iris queue, but I wanted to try it. Today, feeling smug, I joined the much shorter Iris queue and, after two failed attempts, had to go and join the end of the regular line. "You have to open your eyes really wide", said the ever-so-helpful immigration officer. I can do that. I spent nearly an hour doing so yesterday, having some photos done for my new employer's press website. (I'll post some when the photographer manages to find one or two decent ones from the hundred or so he took).

Add to this that the baggage handlers loaded the luggage on the wrong belt and that I had to chase after the Hertz rental bus as it tantalisingly pulled away as I approached, and you get the idea of how irritated I was by the time I picked up my rental car and drove on the left hand side of the road in a manual car for the first time in a few years. If you were not on the M3 around 10pm this evening, you made a wise decision.

Still, I am home. As I opened the car door on my driveway, I got a waft of the warm summer night air and heard the chimes from a distant church clock striking the hour. Although the family are fast asleep, it is good to be home. And I have sorted the first job on my "honey-do" list; fixing the broadband connection! Looking forward to my first business trip to the UK and a weekend with the family. I'm picking eldest daughter Ellie up from Gatwick on Saturday after her holidays, I haven't seen her for a month.