My blog was never meant to be a diary. However, flying to London Heathrow from Paris Roissy made me want to write about this. My latest Roissy experience was in stark contrast with the former one at the same airport, which had been exceedingly slow - and that was before the Glasgow airport events and the botched bomb attacks in London: the customs were severely understaffed, people (and I) queued endlessly and there was just enough time left for boarding. This time, things were much different. Staff were everywhere, checking-in was faster than ever and when we started queuing at the customs, we were told to go to another queue, a sort of fast-track queue, and, suddenly, we found ourselves in the new state-of-the-art Terminal 2F, recently opened by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. A high-ceilinged elegant glass structure welcomed the visitors over two vast floors, enabling them to watch the planes soar into the sky. This dynamic side, which is a much vaunted British quality - and justifyingly so - may now have landed on the French side of the Channel again.PS: Alan Johnston is now free.
