In the Smog with the Mathers Clan

Spent the weekend in London with the Mathers Clan, well at least the part of it that aren't reproducing at the moment. Congratulations to Rick and Kath on the birth of Lizzy!

Flew in to the smog on Friday evening and headed to Ronnie Scotts were they were all entrenched listening to jazz - nice! I had missed the first half of the show which was apparently very much like this, so I am not complaining. Second half was actually very good. After that ended up in a random club trying to fend off a very scary woman in a suit by telling her I was gay, whilst Katharine was swing dancing with a random Norwegian.

Next day, in an attempt to avoid shopping, we headed to Highgate Cemetery which was awesome. History meets hammer house of horror with a bit of Karl Marx thrown in. Well worth a visit. Saturday evening we went to see “Priscilla Queen of the Desert” which was extremely entertaining - the bus was fantastic!

Sunday we did the London Eye, also worth a punt, then headed for home. I was flying out of Gatwick with SAS whilst Katharine was going from Heathrow with KLM (we always use different airlines, its a safety thing).

So I was sat in Gatwick doing some work and drinking a cup of coffee when I looked up and noticed a 17 year kid, in a uniform with a large machine gun stood about 20 m away just staring at me. So I posted on my facebook about how young the police look these days when I looked up and there were 5 of them all standing around me looking menacing. Then one of the says "sit still and don't move!" which, mindful of John Charles Mendes and the potential teenage hormonal problems of my aggressors I opted to cooperate with.

Another one then appeared with an over excited beagle who jumped all over me and then my bag and not smelling drugs or explosives, then wagged its tail and wandered off. Then without a single word, the plod with the weapons wandered off after the beagle. Not to check out any other costumers, they just disappeared, it was obviously me that was "of interest".

Note to self - try and look less like a terrorist next time!

Got home at midnight which was better than Katharine who KLM marooned in Amsterdam for the night,