Some, though, were settling in for a long wait.
He acted as the family enforcer, discreetly settling problems with some of the thousands of royals who live in the capital.
In the very first second of opener On Sight, you are left alone in a field of distortion, a squelch of 303ish acid that rolls up and down a scale before settling into a loop of abrasive snarls.
After settling in Britain in 1966, Hornery also had guest roles on television in The Troubleshooters (1967), the sitcoms George and the Dragon (1966) and Dad's Army (1973), Doctor Who (1979), Sapphire & Steel (1981) and many other programmes.
We are not talking about Churchill and Roosevelt settling the hash over cigars and cognac.
The Irish finance minister, Michael Noonan, reportedly said: "I think everybody should pay what's due and abide by the rules in Europe but I have no objection to the British government settling their account by way of instalment over 2015.
EDF had planned to sign a long-awaited funding agreement with its Chinese investment partners in March, thought to be key to settling procurement plans for the £24.5bn build, and the precursor to a final investment decision.
The risk is that the government fails to realise this potential, and my experience so far is that instead of striving for more, sadly, we're settling for less.
He shares the opposition to same-sex marriage expressed by his rivals but says the supreme court is settling that question.
But the sad fact remains that until public opinion cares more about children drowning at sea than it does about immigrants settling next door, politicians will be loth to take a lead.
Standing on the front step amid a grove of palms, I felt like Robinson Crusoe settling into camp.
