AeroBlog

Or maybe Luftblog sounds better.... hmmm. YES! I like it! (I flew KLM -- Dutch Royal Airlines today and heard the word Luft alot.)

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We are about an hour from landing, so it seems to me to be time to listen to a segment of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, read by Stephen Fry. This is different from the narrated version, although it is read by a Brit. I am not sure which one to prefer. E was very thoughtful and has provided me with this bit of vacillation and indecisiveness. Hoorah for indecisiveness!

KLM has best airline headphones encountered thus far. Or maybe it is just that their planes are more insulated… not sure. However, little suspended screens for film ‘watching’ are not fun and so I have finished reading two books – Of Cats and Kings and Girl in a Red Tunic – read the ‘fake’ Guardian (the free one they give you sometimes as you get on a plane), listened to the classical station until the loop got a bit old after the 5th time and then listened to a bit of The Beatles documentary channel. I had to stop after listening to William Shatner’s rendition of Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds. He sounds like he had a significant enema of Skittles before the reading because it is so fruity.

Morning started fairly well at 3.30 with the alarm. However, I got ready quickly and found that I could have gotten twenty more minutes of sleep just fine and been in perfectly good time for my taxi. Oh well. I was the fifth person to enter the airport this morning immediately after its opening. So, that was too early, as check-in for my 6.15 flight didn’t begin until after 5am. Oh well. Then, Norwich International Airport has one of those ridiculous Airport Improvement fees – this annoys me. Oh well, at least it was only £3 instead of the 10 euros at Knock Airport. And at least no one took my ProActiv and contact solution. Although had they been in my hand luggage they probably would have as I was randomly selected for a ‘Liquids Search’ – good GAWD, they must have sad, affection-deprived people sitting in cubicles somewhere thinking of new and idiotic ways to annoy passengers and security workers. Then the coffee shop didn’t open until 5.30 and I could not get a coffee at 5.28. Oh well. The sun rise was lovely!

Flight to Amsterdam takes less than an hour. If it has not been mentioned before, I would like to point out that waves do not move when viewed from the air. You can see the ripples, just nothing moving. This is interesting.

Amsterdam Airport is okay, but a little boring. You cannot take liquids (i.e., water) into the boarding area here, either. Even if you buy it in a shop in the airport. This is inane. Is this a US flight thing, or does this happen for every flight? I do not know.

This flight video does go into great depth to let visitors to the US know what to do. There is a little video with dark silhouettes carrying backpacks and briefcases. They approach desks manned by other dark silhouettes and mime having their fingerprints and photo taken. This is repeated at least 29 times, presumably in 29 different languages. Sometimes there are subtitles, sometimes not. I had to close my eyes before I memorised the pattern. I did not drool.

Girl with a Red Tunic is an ‘historic’ murder mystery. It is one of the silliest pieces of pumped out tat ever. One ought to have known better since it does say ‘A Hawkenlye Mystery’. Anytime (well mostly) a book has the formula ‘a/an ++’ below the title, one ought to squint suspiciously at the volume. However, my reason was temporarily clouded because a) books were 3 for £1 at the charity shoppe; b) it has a little pseudo-familie tree drawn on the third page; c) on the page facing the familie tree, there is a map entitled ‘The Weald of Kent and East Sussex, c. 1200; and d) it has an olde worlde picture-e of a laydie with a wimple on the front cover. Oh, foolish bargain hunter! WHY, OH WHY didn’t you just get the other two for 75p each and deal with it?

Perhaps should prepare computer for stowing as people do seem to be rushing busily back and forth through the cabin. Oh well. I should very much like a large glass of milk and a nap when arrive at hotel.