Dawn

Dawn

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Well, here I am back in Spain, the land of beautiful women. Most of them Spanish. And unaware that the mini has been superseded by the maxi. Happily.

I have to report that I hadn't been on Spanish soil for more than a minute before something irritated me. Specifically, my phone connecting with the internet when I hadn't asked it to. Though it was all of ten minutes before someone walked in front of me, as if I didn't exist. 

Each time I visit Liverpool's John Lennon airport it's got bigger and glossier. And the car parking charges have soared even further into the stratosphere. Followed closely by a small coffee at two pounds 79p. It's amazing to think that, not so long ago and before the arrival of Ryanair and EasyJet, the place was a collection of broken down buildings, scheduled for demolition and closure.

Talking of the two budget airlines, it's really no contest. Ryanair is always a cattle-truck experience, against which EasyJet's treatment is quite luxurious. By the way, I had intended to pay for Speedy Boarding but couldn't complete the process as I lacked the Member Password required. But there's a little trick if you want to sit upfront; Go up the rear steps, where there's usually less of a logjam, and you can often get to the front before the folks who've paid extra to sit there. But please don't tell everybody.

Incidentally, the good news for us Galicia dwellers is that EasyJet is putting on a new flight to Santiago. The bad news is that it's going to go from Geneva.

Back to (excessive?) British manners . . . I was standing in the line at the boarding gate, when somebody said to me "Excuse me. I think you've dropped something". She was doing me a favour but had to excuse herself first. Funny people.

Finally . . . I wonder how it is that, in more than 40 years of flying, I've never sat in my seat and found that the person who last used the belt was exactly the same size as me.

Finally, finally . . . Here's the name of a good Rioja I stumbled across in the UK - Izadi, Crianza 2006. It costs around 11 quid in the UK but only 8 euros in Spain. It's described as a 'modern' Rioja, which I take to mean that it's more fruity and less oaky. Try it and find out.

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