Travelogue 8 – Her Majesty’s Customs and Sweltering heat in London

After breezing through the immigration at London Heathrow, T4, I picked up my bag and walked through the green channel. Can you step aside sir? Sure. And you are aware that this is the green channel? Yes. I had nothing to hide. But for a sealed packet of microwaveable popcorn. It had some butter and it appears import of Dairy products is prohibited in EU. So that packet was confiscated. As per the rules, I was served a notice and I have one month’s time to appeal against the seizure. Good lord you really have to have my luck to go through something like this!

The day I landed, London was hot. That was the hottest day of the season thus far. 32 C without AC in a wooden building is a lot. The fan did help, but only little bit. As I learnt afterwards, AC (Aey con as they call it) is not a norm in the UK. Fans are more common. They do not need the AC as much and I came to know why the next day. It rained and the temperature dropped to 16 C the next day. Everything cooled down making the need for a fan redundant. That also explained why the terry wool clothing is so common…