Snow and more snow, that’s what was forecast and sure enough it came down. I got up to find a snowy Tooting Bec and make my weary way trudging through the fresh snow to Paddington where I had planned to have a leisurely breakfast with an old friend and then hop on the Heathrow Express to terminal 5.
After having wiped away the remnants of my breakfast from around my mouth my friend and I moved down to the platform and looked up at the board. Horror story – the Heathrow was cancelled due to a broken down train. So after a very short consideration of the alternatives, I chose to take a taxi. The underground is no fun with a 23kg bag even if it’s on wheels. There are often no escaltors and I can barely lift it up or down stairs.
I bit the bullet and although it was going to cost a fortune, I chose the least stressful way I could think of. Up at the taxi rank I was greeted by a long line of people with heavy bags, many of them there for the same reason as me. A man in a high-vis jacket was calling out Heathrow terminal numbers and pointing stranded passengers to various taxis. 
My terminal was five and I squeezed myself into the taxi with 5 men, one eye surgeon, a lawyer, two American engineers and an Italian chap going to give a conference presentation in Geneva. There was barely room to move and bags were piled up on the front passenger seat as well as on our laps. I reminded me of the journey from hell (Inverness to Sheildaig) earlier in my holiday.
5 mins into the drive, the lawyer received a text to say his flight was cancelled so the driver 
dropped him off at an underground station. Then there were five of us. It was a 45 minute drive but it passed happily with us chatting and swapping stories. The Italian was hard to understand but told a funny story about being stuck in a lift.
I was pleased to find the eye surgeon was a nice chap and after I had relayed the story of my Chinese eye operations, he gave me some top tips on how to reduce the risk of having more problems.
So the journey to Heathrow started out very stressful but in the end it was a really nice drive with some great company and laughs. And I got some free medical advice which will hopefully mean I don’t have to undergo any more painful eye operations. Let’s have a bit more snow – it’s a great way to meet people.