In life, there appear to be three kinds of people; those who look for trouble or problems; those for whom trouble or problems look for them; and those who pass through life not noticing the trouble and strife all around them, whether personally caused by them, or others.
I'm not really sure which "type" I am, although had thought I was more likely to fall into the latter category.
As we set off on holiday, I remembered the disparaging comments that I had made when told that we would be flying with XL Airways. Not that I'd personally experienced them before, but had heard of the exploits of friends and colleagues who had been delayed, in some cases considerably, when flying with them, and on more than one occasion.
However, I also realised that such travel woes, for one of these individuals, was not limited to XL Airways, as she had also been delayed by hurricanes in the Caribbean; missed flights in Florida; and rained on in Broadstairs for 15 years running.
In fact, she is so unlucky in her travels that even her Sat Nav has stopped talking to her, after she constantly ignored "him" on one recent journey!
So the journey started with some trepidation on my part. Before we left home I checked on the Internet to see how long the current delay was for our flight. There wasn't any delay. At the airport we bought some books and a paper to read in the check-in queue. But there wasn't a queue as the desk had opened early. The flight boarded on time, actually took off only 7 mins after the designated flight time, and arrived in Sharm el Sheikh 15 minutes early. The plane was a new 737-800, and whilst the legroom was a little limited, the flight couldn't have been much better.
The only thing that spoilt it was Whistler's Mother. I couldn't actually see (or thankfully for him/her reach) Whistler, and could only imagine that he/she must be aged about 4/5 years old. I am also convinced that Whistler had only learned to whistle this morning.
'Lesson One' has obviously only covered the fundamental principles of blowing air through pursed lips, with future lessons planning to develop the art of making it sound tuneful!!
It also appears that Whistler's "teacher's" last words to him/her had been "...now make sure you practice lots on your holiday!". Because, sure as eggs are eggs (I'm not actually sure what else eggs could actually be but...) young Whistler, whistled away for the best part of 4hours!
As for Whistler's mother - she did absolutely nothing, and sat motionless, as though "sitting" for a portrait, throughout the flight.
Had I brought (or for that matter bought) a pair of headphones I could have listened to something to drown out this tuneless drivel, but I had not, and did not (FIVE POUNDS! Why would I want to spend five pounds on a tacky pair of headphones? Now I know why).
As long as I don't see him or hear him again on holiday he may survive his week off school.
One word of warning to anybody facing such a predicament in future. If you don't have any earphones, do NOT put 'tic tacs' in your ears to block out the noise. They may look like earplugs and are about the same size as earplugs, but they are more difficult to remove from your ears (OK impossible to remove from your ears!) than earplugs!
Does anybody know the Egyptian for Accident & Emergency?
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