Well, Doug Ford won a majority again. It's unbelievable that so many people in my adopted home province of Ontario are so...foolish. Even if the alternative candidates are uninspiring, the lesser of two evils is the approach people should take. But at least the Conservative candidate in my riding was unseated, and at least the NDP is the opposition again. This is bullshit, but I have to remember that the federal Liberals under Justin Trudeau won three straight elections in my 30s, and they won four straight elections under Jean Chretien and Paul Martin in my childhood/youth, so the good guys (or neutral guys) can stay dominant for years, too.

Anyway, moving on to the next topic. The second-last photo I posted from my Europe 2008 trip was a 747 at the airport, and fittingly, a 747 at the airport will be the second-last photo I post from my Europe 2020 trip.

Here we see a British Airways Boeing 747-400 (reg # G-BYGC) decked out in BOAC livery, taxing at Heathrow Airport. I knew BOAC was a historical relic and I had to take some pictures, even if they're obscured by the large window and frames in the lounge.

For my younger viewers (I'm confident that my regular viewers who are older than me already know this), British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was created in 1939, and famously mentioned in the Beatles song "Back in the U.S.S.R." (which I believe is also Vladimir Putin's motto). BOAC ceased to exist in 1974 when it was merged with British European Airways (BEA) to form British Airways.

This plane was going to be preserved, but they ended up scrapping it in 2023.

Also, based on where it's parked, that big Air Canada 777 in the foreground might well have been the plane I flew home on.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_fleet
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Overseas_Airways_Corporation
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Tags:   BOAC British Airways plane jet 747 Boeing Boeing 747 airplane aircraft aeroplane 747-400 Boeing 747-400 airline airliner airport Heathrow London Heathrow LHR 2020 Winter 2020 March 2020 winter travel Air Canada 777 Boeing 777

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My plane back to London landed at 4:40pm, and classical music came through the speakers as soon as the plane was ready for disembarking. I made my way through the airport to the bus stop, right as the bus pulled away. I got on the next bus about 20 minutes later.

I checked into the ibis Styles London Heathrow Airport hotel, hoping I'd get an airport-facing room. I wasn't disappointed! The window was dirty, but I had a great view of the runway and planes taking off. Those 747s sure rumble the surroundings when they take off!

Speaking of that, I'm lucky to have gotten a few pictures of British Airways 747s when I did, because they retired their 747 fleet a few months later. According to Wikipedia, British Airways was planning to retire them in 2024, but the chaos of the pandemic in 2020 left them with little choice to retire the 747s early.

* * * * *
This afternoon my wife and I went to the Auschwitz exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum, five years after I visited the actual Auschwitz concentration camp. One thing that I felt more personally this time were the stories of families being torn apart upon arrival at Auschwitz, never to see each other again. This is because now I have a child of my own. It gave me new resolve to resist any encroachment on the Canadian way of life that a certain orange sociopath running America might have in mind.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways
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Tags:   plane airplane aircraft aeroplane flight takeoff departure Boeing Boeing 747 jet British Airways Heathrow London Heathrow LHR airport Heathrow Airport evening March 2020 March 2020 winter travel winter 2020

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I boarded the plane and it left right on time at 3:35pm. I got moved to an overwing emergency exit seat, so I got extra legroom, and there wasn't anyone sitting next to me, which was great. So far, that was 3/3 flights with an empty seat next to mine.

This was especially relevant because coronavirus (as it was still known then) was spreading exponentially while I was in Europe.

On the day I flew to Europe, there were only 36 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the four countries I'd be traveling to, whereas on the day after I got back home, there were 1,131 confirmed cases. Of course, we know now that there were almost certainly a lot more cases in Europe at that time, but due to limited access to testing, the reported numbers were what we had to go by.

Anyway, it was neat to see the fuselage of the plane reflected in the engine; I hadn't seen that before. At another point in the flight, I saw windmills, which I thought were possibly in the North Sea between Britain and Belgium.
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Tags:   Plane airplane A320 Airbus A320 British Airways airline airliner aircraft aeroplane sky flying flight travel 2020 winter 2020 winter travel March 2020 Europe Europe 2020 window seat out the window

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