Ken Anderson’s Weblog

I hate travelling, and yet I seem to spend far too many hours each week doing it. Travelled to Stockholm this week and had to use the infamous Terminal 5 at Heathrow. I entered with not insignificant trepidation. This is the place the press have proclaimed to be our nations greatest blunder. People disappear as soon as they enter the door – forwarded to Italy with their bags, never to be seen again.

I kept expecting to hear the twilight zone music as I walked into the terminal through its new revolving door. Got inside, stood there a minute. Nothing happened. Couple more steps and I was still in the land of the living, actually the accurate balanced British press were wrong for a change. The place was not deserted. Dogs were not sleeping with cats. I couldn’t find any parties being thrown by British Airways top brass. People were polite, helpful, friendly. Okay, I might have gone a little far with the friendly bit. It was nice though. The new building is very open and gives the impression of a reasonably tranquil environment unlike other airports where you are faced with long queues, hundreds of displaced confused people in a relatively small area, and worst of all, rude inpatient staff.

It was like stepping into a large elevator where you are serenaded by easy listening music and there is calm. Yes Terminal 5 is an oasis. I didn’t check a bag however because I was going to Stockholm, and that pillar of British society, The Mail newspaper carried an article that said all bags were sent to Italy regardless of their destination. Last thing I needed was a fashion conscious Italian critiquing my Lowepro.

 I have to admit, I am a fan of T5. I think everyone forgets, especially the newspapers because telling the truth does not equate to sales, that other large new terminals all had their own issues. Dallas/Fort Worth, at the time the largest new airport in the world, took months to sort out problems, as did Hong Kong, Denver and several others that no longer come to mind. But our wonderful uplifting and always truthful press had decide it was the worst job ever and as a Nation we should be ashamed, hang our heads and kill ourselves safe in the knowledge that they, the press, never exaggerate, lie, or in any way attempt to stretch the truth to sell newspapers. The fact that most are no more than a pox on our society has gone unnoticed it seems.

Stockholm is a very beautiful city. It is set around multiple rivers and inlets. It’s hard to walk for more than 5 minutes and not encounter water. For me it had a very sophisticated feel on the surface and yet you could tell that Sweden was a country with a harder almost wild west feel. It is not a very populous country. Stockholm, in European terms is fairly small. There substantial areas of the country with little or no human inhabitants, which for me, gives it the same attributes of some of the American northern tier states like Montana.

This time of the year is also a wonderful time to visit as spring comes late to that part of the world.