Tuesday, March 27, 2001
Again, sorry for the lack of updates. Haneal finally left today, and it was an interesting day, to say the least. He was originally booked to leave on Saturday, but wanted to spend the weekend here and went to the BA Travel Centre in the mall on Thursday to change his booking to Monday. He said after a lot of hassle (including them not finding the booking for a while) they finally changed it for a £10 fee, and all was good. Or so we thought... but more on that later.
Anyhow, the day started in the usual-ish manner... I went to my early morning lessons and skipped the afternoon ones to help Haneal pack and generally spend a bit of time with him before he leaves. Lunch at the Italian place at the corner, Bagatti's (yes Rina, I had Fried Mozzarella), last minute shopping... and then three solid hours of Liverpool vs Man U on Winning Eleven 5 until the minicab arrived. That game is the best, really. The fact that we're pretty even makes it very competitive, and though I managed to win most of the games over the last week, it's always the last game that counts. It's the one you always tease the loser about for however long it is until the next game is played. Haneal's Man United took an early lead minutes in to the final game when Sheringham found space in the box and finished smartly. They then defended en masse and held it at 1-0 until the 72nd minute. Nicky Barmby sprinted down the wing and crossed for Michael Owen to head home the equaliser at the far post. Six minutes later, I wrapped up the game when Robbie Fowler scored with a spectacular diving header from Berger's corner. Liverpool 2, Man United 1. Awwww yeah.
Right, where was I? After wallowing in the glory of that come-from-behind win, we set off for Heathrow's Terminal 4. Heathrow may be the busiest airport on Earth, but it really doesn't look like it. Each of the four terminals are small, crowded and ugly. I'm too used to massive, beautiful structures like Singapore's Changi or HK's Chek Lap Kok. You know, airports that WORK and don't force you to wait over 30 minutes just to check in. Then, when we got to the front... we were faced with a puzzled (but cute) trainee, who politely explained that his booking was cancelled by the travel agent. Cue confusion, followed by thoughts of "dumb trainee", followed by her equally puzzled supervisor coming down to say that, well, the booking really is cancelled. To BA's credit, they managed to find him a seat on a flight leaving five minutes later, and in the confusion also managed to miss the fact that his bag was 9 kilos over the 20kg limit.
Terminal 4 is the smallest of the ugly, smelly and crowded Heathrow terminals, and with an hour and a half before flight time there seemed to be little to do other than laugh at people joining the back of the check in line. Then, salvation. An arcade, filled with ancient games (Virtua Cop? Virtua Striker 1? Behind Enemy Lines or whatever?), pub games, and a brand-spanking new game... Confidential Mission. Think Virtua Cop with a James Bond theme. I put a £20 note into the change machine, expecting to be given a choice of denominations... and I get 20 £1 coins. As I bend down to pick up my haul, suddenly every single card in my wallet decides to fly out and scatter on the floor. D'oh. Still, we got in plenty of games of Confidential Mission, where Haneal showed off his Army skills by being very accurate and I showed off my skill of always managing to hit a civilian, no matter how obvious it is that the person in front of me is not a bad guy. "Dude, you just shot an old lady with white hair and a walking stick". "She looked like a terrorist! Honest!". We finished playing with 30 mins left before his flight leaves, and on the way there notice a free Daytona machine. Risk missing the flight, or play Daytona? What do YOU think we did?
(Oh, and he won, damnit)
Lastly, instead of a £5, one-and-a-half hour Tube journey home I decided to spend £20 on a 25 minute taxi ride home in one of London's ultra-professional black cabs (and no matter how much I dislike this place, I'll never stop praising black cabs--they RULE). Right from the start, my driver decided to go like a bat out of hell, leaving me sliding across the back seat in an experience reminiscent of being on the MTR at off-peak times. As we stopped outside my house, I noted the meter read £19.40 plus a £0.60 surcharge for some reason or another. I figured a £20 note would cover the fare, and I'd add a pound coin on top for a tip (which normally does the trick). By the time I fished the money out of my pockets and got out to pay, I saw the meter had crept up slightly--obviously he forgot to switch it off. I figured the cabbie would realise the meter showed a lower fare before I got out, and if not, I gave him enough to cover it anyway. I gave him the cash, and took a couple of steps away before he called me back. "I still have to give you change". I told him to keep it. Then he seemed to get a little mad. "I don't need your charity! This is rubbish! Take your damn change! I can't buy shit with this, not even a cup of coffee.". I was puzzled, especially since £1 is about HK$12 back home, which buys quite a lot (I still have to convert £s to HK$ to have any sort of idea of quantities), and I know you can DEFINITELY buy a cup of coffee for less than a pound. So I'm standing there while he counts out pennies into my palm, trying to figure out just what the hell is going on here. Is he some cheeky ass who doesn't like being tipped? Then he stopped at 20 pennies. "So what do I do with this?". "It's yours! Keep it! I don't want your dirty money!". I still look puzzled. "You don't know what I'm talking about, do you?" he says. "See, the meter says £20.20, you have to add the 60p, that means you only left me with 20p for myself". Cheating ass kept the meter running and is charging me for it! So screw it. I paid the fare I was legally obliged to pay, so I just walked away. It did annoy me though, especially since black cabs had a spotless record in my mind and really impressed me with their professionalism. I'm not going to regard them all as evil sods now, but I'm certainly not going to be so free to sing their praises.
OK, rant over. Now that I have a lot of time on my hands, I'm going to be updating frequently with details of what happened over the last two weeks. I also got the brilliant Metal Gear Solid 2 demo (I have it Gaz, jealous?) which makes me really, really want the final game. Also on my desirables list is the wonderful new Game Boy Advance, which is out but not yet in my hands. Oh, Gaz, did I mention I got the MGS2 demo? And lastly, Anand and Rina, keep fighting! Go on! I want more Star Trek/Star Wars fights! Since both of them are so similar anyway...
Currently in my...
Consoles: Winning Eleven 5 (PS2), MGS 2 Demo (PS2)
DVD Player: GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies
Toilet: Edge
Posted at 10:04 AM
