Waiting game

Had to go and pick up a really famous Kiwi yachting sports personality Dean Barker today at Heathrow airport and couldn't help but take this picture of the the pick up guys and girls waiting in the arrival area. It always makes me smile when I come through to the arrivals and see these people waiting, always thought this was a thankless task as most of the time they never know what the person looks like and only have a name. They have to repeatedly smile as people come towards them only to be disappointed when they walk past.

I thought I'd go one better and have a picture of Dean so I could recognise him... Well in theory it was a good plan, until I realised after asking four people if they were Dean, my skills of recognising people from a photo were pretty poor. Now it turned into a game of trial and error and I soon realised that people moving with a purpose knew where they were going so I should ignore them and just concentrate on the ones that looked lost. I now realised there was a real skill to airport pick ups and I'd never dismiss it as a easy job again. I finally found Dean and got him to the South Coast!

This photo is dedicated to those 'Expert' guys and girls who pick up people on a daily basis. I'll leave it to you next time!