Welcome to Great Britain

My first proper step on to British soil was just after 13.00 hours on April 23, 1995. After that gruelling questioning by immigration officials and the anxiety that it had all caused I felt a little scared of what I had let myself in for. To look back now and think of all the negative thoughts about this great country that had been sowed in my mind just because of one immigration man!

Harold and my sister took me to the car park where Diane had been waiting all that time. We again seemed to walk for ever through halls filled to capacity by people from all nationalities.

I was anxious. I wanted to get out of this huge building and yet it seemed to go on for ever. Even getting to the car we had to through a tunnel.

When we finally got to the car parks, I wondered how we were ever going to find the car that we needed. The size of the car parks just completely amazed me. Again looking back thinking about the largest car parks that I had seen in Uganda at the time were hardly larger than the average car park at a supermarket.

Now it seemed cars had taken over where people had been. There were cars for as far as I could see.

People weaving and rushing between them with trolley loads of luggage. But I had never seen so many cars in one place. Yet Harold did not even stop to think as to where he had left his Red Volvo Estate. Poor Diane had sat in the car waiting for us all that time. It must have seemed like a quick stop and pick up but alas it was not to be. I have never asked her what she must have been doing all that time waiting in the car. This was the time before SUDOKU. Maybe she had the crossword.

Greetings exchanged, we loaded the car up and headed for the exit. For a while as Harold drove round looking for the exit, I panicked thinking that we were yet going to take a long time just to exit this maze.

Hitting the M4 Heathrow spur, with the Concord model that used to be on the roundabout, I quietly let a smile spread across my face. I felt at that moment that we were away from the clutches of air travel, the airport, the endless carpeted corridors, immigration, the throng of humanity; peoples that I did not even know existed.

Cars everywhere! People seeming to be in a constant state of panic. Rushing. Waiting nervously watching blinking screens. I let myself relax and decided to take in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I could not wait to explore this island and meet its people and traditions.

Uganda is renown for its dust. Red omnipresent dust. It clogs everything. Covers every surface and controls ones pace during the day. The tropical heat bakes the ground and it all turns in the stuff. When it rains, parts of the country just turn into a quagmire. It is never ending. The lack of it when I exited the airport took me by surprise. I was like "where is the red dust?" It was no where and I honestly I felt relieved. Also the tropical heat can be debilitating. On a recent visit to Uganda, the temperatures averaged 40C everyday. On this April morning, with the spring at its height, I thought the country was air conditioned.

When we joined the motorway network, I was in for another shock. Bearing in mind that this was a Sunday morning, not a lot of traffic was about. But I have been told that I was amazed at the amount of traffic about.

Cars seemed to be whizzing past at a very high speed. There also seemed to be a variety of cars. Africa has been taken over by Japanese cars. And they are all white! So to see a red Mercedes or black Toyota was great. I had only seen cars like Alpha Romeos in Time magazine or Newsweek. Now they were sailing past me.

Driving in some parts of Africa can be a real hazard to pedestrians. In many parts one will find that they have to fight for that road space with domestic animals like cows which are let out to graze for themselves.

In Uganda, the situation is just as bad. With the roads being very narrow in certain places one wonders how really nasty accidents are avoided. Driving down Worthy Road in Winchester after we had left the motorway, I half expected to see all these people walking about doing there business.

Maybe a few cows here and there. There was nothing. England seemed all to empty at the time. I wondered where everyone was? But I knew where I was. Winchester!