Heathrow Airport
Posted on September 25, 2012
Updated and reposted August 2021
We arrived safely at Heathrow , went through security to access the common area and at Dee’s suggestion found Carluccios ( easy to remember as my husband’s name is Carl ) restaurant to await whom ever was coming to have lunch with us.
We were pleasantly surprised when Carl’s cousin Debs, daughter Alexa and granddaughter Aaliyah arrived to meet us.
They all looked beautiful as always and it was wonderful to catch up a little and get to know Aaliyah.
She is 7 years old now and bright as a star. She was very polite and well behaved and ate all of her lunch. Cute as a button, Aaliyah let the grownups have their time at lunch and then that independent, self assured personality came shining through.
You have done a wonderful job raising her Alexa. Well done! and all the best to you in your nursing career. You too Debs! You have set an example for the next generation of women in your family and done a great job. I wish you well in your Yoga career also and I love the web site
http://www.letitbeyoga.co.uk
It was great seeing you all and I look forward to the next visit when ever that may be. You made the 8 hour stop overgo surprisingly fast.
We then went back through security and sat in front of the reader board to see what gate we were supposed to proceed to.
While sitting there we saw 5 men and one woman sit in the next row of seats in green, orange & red suits. I knew immediately who they were.
It was the 2012 Zambian Olympic competitors and coaches returning to Zambia.
I was so excited I jumped up and told the coach I was traveling to Western Province. He misunderstood and said they did not have any participants from Western Province. I explained and asked if I could have a picture of the team to take to Njamba. He said no problem and they all sat together and Carl took our picture. That started a chain reaction and I took pictures of them with their cameras. I think there was a male & female sprinter and a boxer and their coaches. We saw the swimmer and her coach later that day.
As it turns out the female sprinter Chauness sat beside me on the plane. When I saw she was going to sit beside me I said to her” I feel like I am about to sit beside royalty.”
The quiet polite Chauness sat down and opened up a chocolate bar. She so graciously offer Carl & I a piece, which we both declined. I declined because chocolate makes my face break out, it never fails, so I try to refrain. Carl declined because he felt terrible. He told me afterward that he had eaten some of his chocolate bar just minutes before and he didn’t offer her any. This is typical of my experience of Zambians. They will share what ever they have. Oh that we all could belike that!
My chance to talk to an Olympian was cut short. Shortly after Chauness sat down the air hostess asked if she wanted to sit with her team mates and she moved to the back of the plane.
As it turns out a very nice Zambian presently living in England took her place beside me. He had been sandwiched between the boxer and his coach, two men with very broad shoulders. He was pretty big himself, so now I was sandwiched between him & Carl. Not to worry! Nothing could annoy me on my way to Zambia. Patrick & I ended up having a very nice chat and I learned a lot more about Zambia.
Just before Chauness moved seats she politely said to me” Do you have a cell phone?” I said” not in Zambia. Why do you want to call me?” She said yes as she was gathering all of her things to move. She then said” I will write down my phone & email. I said “Ok and I will get it later “.
I passed by on the way to the washroom later and reminded her to write it down.
Later in the flight I picked up her info that was written on a napkin as I walked back to my seat fully intending to email her when I got home.
I did email her on September 10th but have not heard back. The internet is so sporadic there who knows if she will even get it. I will try again.
I feel very lucky to meet all of the amazing people I have met during my travels but I guess it is also how you present yourself. The way you think is the way you are going to go and I always think I will enjoy myself and I do.
Tomorrow we will be in Lusaka, Zambia, Africa and in only two days after that I will be in Kalabo with my Zambian family. I can’t wait!
Next episode in 2 weeks time!
