writer's moll

If you’ve ever boarded a plane and wondered why, after the usual half hour’s feverish activity of seat finding, stuffing of overhead lockers and fastening of seat belts, the plane still doesn’t take off and when the pilot explains that the reason for the delay is that a couple of passengers have failed to show up for the flight so their luggage has to be unloaded, you’ve then wondered what sort of idiots could be so stupid and irresponsible, I can tell you. It’s people like me – apparently sensible, responsible citizens, who arrive at the airport in plenty of time, check the board regularly for information, but who, for some unknown reason, believe their flight is the one that leaves an hour later than the one they have tickets for and so remain blissfully unaware that a couple of hundred passengers are sitting on the runway wishing them all sorts of mischief and when they present themselves at the departure gate for the flight they think they’re on, stare gormlessly in disbelief at being told they’ve missed their flight. You have to hand it to British Airways though, they let us on the flight and even put our luggage on a later one and delivered it to the apartment the next day.