I assume that Norfolk was referring to one of the TMA frequencies rather than one of those used by Heathrow Directors? We're rather fortunate on the Heathrow sector that due to airspace constraints there is a limit to how much traffic we can be responsible for at any one time, whereas our TMA colleagues get hit from many directions. We're also dead lucky that we get very, very few of the clockwork mice which Mike referred to.
My task hasn't changed much in 30 years - same two runways (albeit with slightly different names - didn't "28L" sound better than "27L"?), same stacks, same intermediate approach area, etc. Just a few more restrictions to do with London City... and the utterly infernal noise abatemrnt stuff to mess us about!! OK, our movement rate has doubled in that time but we're now doing it with fewer staff and fewer operating postions. Either we've become enormously skilled miracle workers.... or Paul Daniels has a hand in it (I'm inclined to believe the latter).
I'm assuming that Norfolk arrived last Saturday afternoon. I was there all Saturday morning and it was dead - like d-e-a-d. For a major airport in the middle of summer one had to wonder what all the baloney was about lack of slots, etc. The busiest session was before we got there, from around 6-7am, when the off-going night watch managed 50 landers! For the rest of the morning I don't think we reached 40 too often, simply because there was so little traffic offering.
However, with all this in mind, one can still be super-busy. There are things going on in the sky which our airline chums don't know about and which involve us in lots of co-ordinating phone calls, etc, so although it may apparently be quiet it may not be for us! Conversely, we can appear to be comatose when it is very busy. Under good weather conditions... nice day preferably with a slight down-wind component one can spend a perfectly peaceful hour on No.2 Director (120.4) and then discover from the Big Brother machine which registers our performance that one has done a "45 hour".
It's a bizarre job, but great fun. The problem arises when controllers cease to see the fun side and get too serious...