On my way...

And so the great adventure begins. D Day (departure) Sept 20th is finally here. I arrive at Heathrow hoping for a cold, wet and windy day to make me feel better about leaving home and heading for the Dark Continent, but no such luck its bright, sunny and warm and I know I will miss London when I am gone.
To ease the feeling of impending loss a ‘friend ’(whose name I won’t mention to protect their identity – you’ll understand later) was able to ‘bump’ me up to business class, which gives you access to the BA lounge at Heathrow. Now for those of you who have never had the ‘pleasure’ to travel business class, will not appreciate the pure luxury this provides the poor traveller before their long, arduous journey begins.
On entering the lounge you are confronted with rows of buffet tables, with hot and cold food, wines, beers, soft drinks, tea and coffee. Whilst eating you can peruse the numerous newspapers or magazines on offer (no Guardian though), then when you are finished you can make yourself very comfortable on the various sofas, arm chairs ne chaise lounges that litter the area whilst watching cable television... or setting yourself down at the various computers to do some work or just surf the net. And to top it all its all completely FREE... yep... I couldn’t believe it myself, indeed I had to call ‘another friend’ just to check because I had spent the first ten minutes looking for the price list and checkouts.
Once I realised this, and acutely aware that my diet in Ghana may fall well short levels I was enjoying at home I partook of everything on offer with, It must be said, some gusto. Eventually with a full stomach, two glasses of Chateaux-neuf-du-pape (a wine I had never tasted and wasn’t about to forgo the opportunity now), and a lovely conversation with a Swiss couple, I headed to my departure gate. I duly arrived at gate 10b, handed over my ticket only for the gentleman to inform me (with a little too much relish I feel) that I’d missed my flight... by about 6 minutes. The plane was still not to leave for another 20 minutes but the gate had already been closed and that was that. I was stuck !!!
Over fourteen months planning and preparing, two months waiting for this very day and I managed to miss it. Anyway, I checked in for the flight the next day, returned sheepishly to my brothers house nearby, to face the barrage of ridicule I would no doubt face from family, friends and fellow volunteers. I happily concede I deserve what I had coming... and duly received.
Hopefully my next posting, further disasters permitting, will actually be about my time in Ghana itself... wish me luck, I need it!!