A long journey home

One week before Xmas, the holiday atmosphere is definitely in the air. It is the time for last minute gift shopping and wrapping. In all those years I lived abroad, Xmas always imposed a strange feeling on me. It is a holiday for families to get together, but what if you are the only family member in that country, you don't really have any family event to go to. But I still enjoy the Xmas lights on the streets, but not so much those plastic Xmas trees every where these days.

I had a short business trip to Sweden. This is not a smooth trip to start with. We landed in Copenhagen on time, but the train going to Sweden was delayed for almost an hour, so here we are, waiting in the cold and finally got on cramped train. I have to appreciate the Scandinavians for their mild temper and good manner. In the jammed train, nobody really complained and pushed around. Maybe those nordic countries are not the most exciting places to live, but their well educated people really make their countries a more attractive and welcoming place. The train delays are not so often, but it could happen when union strikes for better pay, etc.

Had a two rather uneventful days in Sweden, everybody seems to be in good spirit - well, why not, we have had an extremely good year in our business, as they say, money pouring in, and Xmas is a few days away. In a country where everybody is relatively equal in terms of living standard, they are in preparation for a merry Xmas and new year.

The jouney back home is a bit ordeal. Again, plane landed at heathrow on time despite the fog. But then it turned out that tube from heathrow was shutdown due to some fire alarms. We were directed to tak the bus to Hatton cross so we can get on the tube from there. In the overly crowded bus (totally like in a third world country), a very loud frenchwoman just can't stop her criticism of all the woes in Britain. And when we were finally getting off the bus, she shouted something very loud "I never want to come to your FXXXing country anymore". I turned to her, can't believe some people could be so rude. All of sudden, I start to appreciate the patience and decent manners of Scandinavians. After all, complaining doesn't get you anywhere, and tolerance and understanding could help big time in a situation like this.

Apparently London is a popular destination for tourists around Xmas and new year. Standing beside me was an American woman and her French companion (very usual indeed!) and they had Eurostar train to catch in Waterloo. They were looking at the tube map trying to figure out where to transfer. I pointed out the jubliee line they should take from Greepark, and they asked me if they can still catch the Eurostar departing at 7:40, I said "it will be tight", feeling quite sorry for them. The tube system in London is not great, and not that reliable either, there are unexpected delays all the time. But what can I say, obviously this hasn't stopped people from coming here!