TRAVELLING IN A TUBE WITH THE NEGHBOURS FROM HELL!

We are still fizzing about an experience we had on a flight home earlier this year.  The experience was not exclusive to our particular carrier. 

Parents in front of us spread out across three seats with their very young baby, intent on keeping all strangers out.  The cabin hostess told them they would have to free a seat.  They were forced to, when the last few travellers boarded and a single man asked for  the end seat in the row.  No, he didn't mind a noisy baby, (baby was not noisy) he was just glad to have a seat, after all this was a full flight. Hogging seats is a trick often tried on all sorts of transport.  This was by no means the worst behaviour to occur on this flight.

Nice mum and baby, but this picture is not of the family on our flight.

A large group of adults, young and older, set out to behave as they chose; they grouped together,   making sure that passengers of a different persuasion did not impinge upon them.  They flagrantly ignored international air safety rules, flouted the polite requests and directions of the cabin staff.  They pushed past orderly queues for the toilets, a hostess carrying a pot containing hot water was knocked off balance and a passenger bore the brunt of a spouting of the hot water on the hand.  There was not even a demonstration of the merest remorse.  These people ignored requests to keep out of the galley, and just helped themselves to cold water, draining the supplies, meaning there was no water for anyone else who might need to have some during the remainder of the flight. 
                                                                                                
                                                                                        
It was wearing getting landed with that arrogant, allegedly godfearing, totally inconsiderate  mob,  in the confined space of a tube many thousands of feet towards the heavens.  It would make you question, if  a deity existed, was this some idea of a warped sense of humour.   We could only hope that the weather conditions remained kind to us and that the flight crew would remain on a calm course, unaffected by the turbulence in the cabin.

Forty minutes from landing, many of the overhead lockers were opened anywhere  these people had possessions. They pulled out their hats, some luggage, jackets and so on.  Staff firmly asked these passengers to stay in their seats, and  they moved along shutting the overhead locker doors.  Did those passengers stay in their seats;  in a word, no!   This time the plane banked with the doors open.    Every instruction, every request was flouted.  They did just what they wanted, and to hell with everyone else!  I have been on some curious flights before, nothing though as bad as this one. What those people did was inexcusable.  Carriers should name them and refuse to carry people who misbehave to this extent.  It is totally unacceptable.

A friend of ours, who left Jerusalem before we did, said that he preferred the overnight flights home to America, when such individuals and  like-minded families did not usually travel.  He could curl up and get some sleep, arriving unharrassed.  Lucky guy.  We did not have that choice; there were no overnight flights to the UK from that part of the globe.  Doubtless, we would have selected one, if it had been an available option.

Plane pictures courtesy of planepictures.net

WHAT VOLCANIC ASH DOES

The volcanic ash from Grimsvoten, Iceland, that descended on us, is sticking like a limpet to any surface it has landed on. This morning, I spent time rinsing the car, it was absolutely no use. That stuff does not come off with water alone. No wonder rain was not much assistance. The car windows and the windscreen were in need of special attention.

The volanic ash is abrasive: I have no desire to etch the car windows with doodles from attempted cleaning. 

The car roof was equally as resistant to the clearing of volcanic ash: I lifted a layer of ash with a soft tissue napkin. Where it lifted, another skimming of ash has descended. Everywhere else, the dust has increased in density.

The car windscreen responded to a soft tissue napkin quite well, till the next ash coating formed. If this is what I am finding, likewise my neighbours, I can only think that an aircraft would be subject to a greater deluge of the stuff. There had better be an international inspection of remote flying controls. On board visibility could become severely restricted. 

O'Leary, (of Ryan Air) ex-sidekick, Walsh, has had an aircraft flying on behalf of British Airways and Iberia. We do not know what type of aircraft, or any other essential data about the flight. After giving out a load of science-speak, which he knows the majority of journalists and media groups would not be able to question knowledgeably, nor would a large proportion of the general public, we are left with less understanding than before. We do know that there are gaps in Walsh's report as it stands and that there are vested financial interests to keep going at any cost. What we do not know, because we are not scientific specialists, is what all those gaps in the report are. It should not be forgotten that the UK sits in a small space by comparison to other continents, and there are fewer ways to get round any ash clouds.

As this is the second eruption in a year to affect Northern Europe, one useful aspect of all the posturing, is that research into the affects of volcanic ash is now being given a higher profile. 

Air space in Northern Germany has been affected today, planes in the area affected are grounded. No-one is doing this for perverse fun. Thank heavens, I say, for a far-reaching aviation safety inspectorate. 

If it's good enough for the American President to re-arrange his travel itinerary around the volcanic ash cloud, it is certainly appropriate for everyone else to have to do the same.

I trust to my eyes and in addition my throat. I can see and feel what the ash is doing. In simple every day language, the volcanic ash sticks and is very difficult to remove without abrading the surfaces it sticks to. That says quite a bit in my book.

The silver lining in the ash cloud is that it should provide a boost to agricultural and small growers by improving their soil no end.