A flight fraught with worry
23.02.12
Somewhere around 40,000 feet I manage to find total peace and tranquillity. With nothing but hours of leisure time stretched out before me, not even the non-stop crying of an infant can irk me. Once aboard a plane, I very quickly settle into the no-phone zone and devour books, watch all the new movies I've missed, catch up on sleep or simply do nothing at all.
Another guilty pleasure flights afford is people-watching. I had plenty of time to indulge in this activity upon a recent 13-hour trip to New York, although this time around, the experience wasn't entirely enjoyable.
The plane was "light" the check-in desk clerk informed me, meaning I could have an entire row of seats (or a bed as I saw it) to myself. The holiday was off to a fantastic start.
That's until the plane was preparing for take off and my eyes fell upon a couple of young ladies who, lost in excited conversation about their holiday, had unwittingly kept their large designer handbags on their knees. Unfortunately, this minor safety oversight in the flurry of cross-checks left me wondering if the doors were secured properly either. With my imagination running riot, people-watching wasn't going so well so far, and it only got worse.
Source: The National