You can save lots of time and get even more things done by checking in online for your flight at www.britishairways.com.
You can even change your allocated seat (sometimes) which is useful as BA will always allocate an aisle seat if your preference is window and vice-versa. Version 2.0 of the BA site (June 2006) will even include a brief description of your prospective neighbour in order to help you with this difficult choice.
You can also print out your boarding card on your 12 year old dot matrix printer. This means you can skip the short queue at the BA self service kiosks and immediately proceed to the lengthy queue for the curiously misnamed 'Fast Bag Drop'.
However, a word of caution to all you GTD'ers. Wait for the printout to fully emerge and carefully check the output before leaving the BA web site. Secondly, always, always click the 'Click here to print boarding card' icon to avoid potential embarassment.
Do not be tempted to think that because you work in IT, you know better and it will be far quicker to simply right-click 'Print This Page' to save another 2.4 milliseconds in an effort to get things done.
Trust me. I did it and because I don't know what a 'frame' is, I found myself presenting a rather unusual boarding pass at the British Airways desk that simply said:
"Click the 'Print Boarding Pass' button (you idiot) to print"
This morning at some unearthly hour, I found myself standing once again in the queue to clear security at Heathrow Terminal 4. I was almost at the X-ray machine when a member of staff approached me and invited me to 'volunteer' for a full body scan.
He took me behind some screens and for one moment I feared the BAA queue monitors were going to exact their terrible revenge for my outspoken
criticisms last week. However, he explained that the body scanner would take three scans of my body, each of which would pass a small amount of radiation through my body.
He added that people are exposed to such radiation when flying above 30,000 feet and the body scan would be equivalent to flying at this height for just 2 minutes.
This was supposed to reassure me but only planted the question in my mind: 'Is it dangerous to fly non-stop 24 hours from London to Australia ?'
He then offered me the option to decline but said the alternative would be a 'full body search by
hand over there' (pointing to an open area).
Obviously I agreed so I then had to stand at two oblique angles with my hands up and felt like a complete idiot from the hilarious TV program 'You've Been Framed' although, thankfully, I was hidden from the view of curious members of the public behind the partitions.
He then gave me the all-clear to proceed and informed me that I had the body of a 65 year old (which was a little depressing as I am only 42) and was pregnant with triplets but I did manage to jump 4 places in the queue as a reward.
Days Inn Hotel. No restaurant service 'because it is Christmas'. No cooked breakfast 'because it is Christmas'. No Sky Sports which is normally available but has been withdrawn 'because it is Christmas'. Boddingtons is available despite the proximity of 'Christmas' at a very reasonable 2.95 GBP for a pint.
The Marksman hostelry, a mere half a mile away, but a little more earthy, has Sky Sports at every booth and on big screens and sells Stella Artois for 2.20 GBP per pint.
Just got my car a shiny, new MOT certificate as an early Christmas present. The MOT certificate is a pre-requisite for renewing the tax disc which expires at the end of the month.
The format of the MOT test certificate has changed and all MOT's will be recorded on a computer system at the Vehicle and Operator Agency (VOSA).
This means that you can now apply for your road tax
online as VOSA can also verify that the vehicle is insured using another computer system.
Good news for me. One less trip into the
Post Office.
Bad news for car criminals.
Not many things make me laugh out loud.
Pete Mitchell and Geoff Lloyd on the Virgin Radio breakfast show were very funny.
Now they are leaving. Time to burn a few more CD's for the tedious journey into work.