27

Only 27 people in economy on bwo and my flight from Tel Aviv to London last night. I assume it's because it was Saturday. Good to remember this. I have done this route many, many times in the past few months and the flight is always packed.  The flight was so empty, I scored the whole emergency exit row, opposite the backward facing flight attendant. We got to chatting during the taxi and wait to take off. She told me that indeed the route to Israel is not one of the most desirable and least bid upon, as people are (how did she put it again) rude and aggressive. The emergency exit rows cost $75 if you book them in advance and she told me this little story from her flight from Heathrow to Tel Aviv. An elderly (religious) gent and his serious wife were sitting in two of the emergency exit seats.  When the door closed, their aisle seat was still free and a young man asked her  (the flight attendant) if he could sit in the empty seat as it has way more leg room. The seated couple protested vehemently. "We paid $75 for these seats, so you can't just sit here". The Flight Attendant told them, "you did not pay of this empty seat" and told the guy to move there immediately. She told me she's Italian, and even in Italy people aren't that nasty. Nice.

We woke up this morning to cold rain and darkness. We took a drive into Richmond to go scope out the area we hope to be moving to. It is very nice. There are miles of nice walks, parks, a huge common and the Thames down the road and of course lots of shops.  We stopped and parked in the town and even with the miserable weather there were many people walking about.  A buzzing place. The guide book (Lonely Planet's London) I read on the plane said that Richmond's river walk is totally packed in the summer and that the quieter park is where the locals hang out. We drove back through Kew, past the house we nearly ended up with, it now seems a bit far and out of the way.

Work again tomorrow and believe it or not I have that "Sunday Evening Feeling" just like I would get on Saturday evenings before work at squint central Israel. It seems that wherever I go in this world, my weekend ends with a touch of a downer. It will be a busy week and then next weekend I'm off to the US.