Heathrow T4 yesterday
was not an unpleasant experience, all things considered. It was
pretty empty of a Sunday morning and the (many) security staff were both efficient and pleasant, even when I had to
have a full-body scan after some coins in my back pocket had set off an alarm. But I got away without a cavity check and then hastened to the bar for a pre-flight G&T. There I experienced the only
wrinkle of the morning, when the barman tried to get me to have
a speciality cocktail because this 'wouldn't be much more expensive' than the double measure which I'd told him twice I didn't want. I became rather irritated and he, in turn, seemed very put out I hadn't gone with his
recommendation. Needless to say, I didn't leave a tip. Which didn't
improve his mood. In contrast, mine was boosted when I joked with a waitress that I'd blame her if
we were both blown to smithereens by a bag left by a customer which
she said she wasn't allowed to move. She replied that
we'd surely re-meet in heaven. I demurred. And then the owner
returned, explaining that he'd been distracted when collecting the
coat of the young lady with him. I stressed that being a gentleman
always came at a price.
My seasoned traveller
logic failed me at the boarding gate. I figured that, once the
priority boarders had gone through, KLM would call us on a row by row basis and so I went to relax in a seat and to let the idiots stand in a line. But KLM didn't and I had to join said Plebs
Line, meaning I was almost last to my seat. The big fear these days –
rather different from when I used to fly on almost-empty Singapore
Airlines jumbo jets to Australia – is that you won't find a space
for your carry-on bag. But I was lucky and managed to squeeze mine into a nearby locker.
I've been typing this
on the plane and I've just noticed that the left-bag-man and his
partner are not only on this flight but sitting across the aisle from
me in 6D and 6E. What are the odds are on that, I wonder.
Yesterday I cited the negative power of bureaucrats and civil servants acting as a constraint on the the goals of Trump and May. Right on cue, here's a video entitled The Function of
Democracy (These Days) Is to Stop People Effecting Change.
Correction: My friend Susan tells me that pavement(sidewalk) parking isn't illegal nationally in the UK, though it might be locally. As it has long been in London, for example. Actually, it does technically involve at least one offence, because the act of driving your car onto the pavement is illegal, as is the obstruction of pedestrians. So, this is what the police are ignoring. If you're really interested in this subject, typing this into your browser should bring you immense joy: Briefing Paper Number SN01170, 10 February 2016 Pavement and on-street parking in England
I was compelled to wonder how many people would have eaten a slice of just Cake. Or, worse, Tasteless Cake.
To be even-handed, KLM didn't charge for the (small) bottle of wine which I had just about enough time to down before we landed. One isn't used to such largesse these days.
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