Flight LH718: The Return

I arrived back to Korea on Wednesday morning, and was greeted at the airport by my lovely wife :-).

I didn't write an essay during the flight this time, much to your disappointment I'm sure, however I did have a bit of a drama during the check-in at Heathrow. I'd just put my hand luggage into the x-ray scanner and to my surprise it caused quite a cufuffle amongst the security team there. "It might just be a USB memory stick" I heard one of them say, although I was pretty sure there wasn't one in there. Anyway, the bag came out and they asked me to empty it in front of them. I opened the two pockets and emptied a few books, a scarf and the cable for my laptop... nothing incriminating. They told me they would scan the bag again 'to be sure', but again they seemed to be unhappy about something. This time the security guy wouldn't let me touch the bag but went through the pockets himself. I was wondering what all the fuss was about when from a small flat pocket I'd all but forgotten about he pulled a sharp folding kitchen knife! It must have been there all the time since I'd left Seoul (which points to a worrying lapse of security on my flight to the UK). I apologised profusely and told them I didn't know it was there... at one point I thought I was going to be taken away and roughed up, but in the end they just confiscated the knife and took my details. I wonder if I made it onto the terrorist watchlist...

Anyway, the flight summed up a fruitful, though dukkha-tinged trip to England. Thanks to everyone who showed me hospitality during my stay. It was great to see so many `old' friends again! I'm especially grateful Ant and Hema managed to co-operate making a delicious lasagne without resorting to physical violence. Now back in Korea, writing this and thinking about the trip I am missing you all terribly. It will fade - to be honest, on flight back to England I wasn't in such a rush to see anyone - but the stay rekindled memories of my former life and it was heart-wrenching to have to leave again so quickly. There's probably a lesson in there somewhere.

Finally, a little moan: where are all the other bloggers? I do love the sound of my own voice but it's still a nice bit of variety for me to be able to read about other people's lives on this blog. Don't tell me you're all enjoying life too much to be able to write about it! That's not very Buddhist!