the last flight out

air traffic commutes, i imagine like all commutes, fluctuates depending on the day, and the time of day. Monday morning at Heathrow is a nightmare, by 7am there are massive queues all over the place, and even though i have a priority pass, i don’t bother getting it out, as clearly everyone else has one as well. the place is clogged with people returning home after long weekends in london, commuters who live in london but work elsewhere and people like myself, kicking the week off with a round of meetings somewhere abroad. by the time i reach the executive lounge, it is high rush hour, there are hardly any seats and the staff are struggling to keep the free breakfast items stocked up. but there are other times where the situation is much the reverse. there is something rather spookily cool, yet also melancholy about waiting for the last flight of the day, which is what i find myself doing now. it is late, i am in Stuttgart airport. almost all the flights have gone, the shops have closed and so have all the lounges except the British Airways one- but there are only 2 of us in it. The night flight to london is the last anyway, but tonight it is delayed and no one is sure when we will actually even board. so i sit and pour myself some more wine and enjoy my kindle. when i get bored i go for a stroll through the totally empty terminal, staring at all the empty gates and dark shops. lots of people i work with hate these moments, feeling that such times are digging into their personal time. i feel the opposite, i would take this any day over a 8-6 stint in an office.