Flight to nowhere

I boarded the plane today, took off, got halfway to Norway, then the plane turned around and came back to Heathrow. Exactly as scheduled.

Last year I mentioned Comic Relief, one of two UK "signature" charities. (The other being Children In Need with the perenially damaged Pudsey Bear.) This year, for "Red Nose Day," British Airways hosted "the highest stand-up comedy gig" -- a show at 35,000 feet.

You'd think, with Jess being an employee of BA, that's how I got a ticket, but you'd be wrong. BA created a lottery, with tickets costing £3, and a friend of mine won. They said they raised nearly £100,000 -- so over 30,000 entries -- and gave out 75 tickets. How lucky is that?

They put on quite a fete, letting us into the business class lounge with a full champagne and buffet, with more champagne on board, and they sent us all home with a bottle of champagne! Needless to say, quite a few people were pretty legless by the time we got off the plane. The ground staff were equally bewildered -- apparently, nobody told them there would be a flight leaving from Heathrow and going to Heathrow, and they were very curious about what was going on. (I even took a photo of the departure board.)

You wouldn't recognise the comedians, but they were all famous in the UK, and it was a lot of fun. They've promised to put up a highlights reel on YouTube next week, so watch this space, You may even see me wearing a red nose.

Oh, and it also won a Guiness World Record. Tomorrow I think I'll participate in the Guiness Record attempt for largest kazoo ensemble...