Stowaway Aboard!

Is it possible, in these days of heightened security and terrorist threats, to get all the way through a major international airport and on to the plane with an out of date boarding pass?

The answer is a resounding YES.

I've been off to Scandinavia once again this week, this time with my new colleague, New Boy. After a couple of days in high pressure meetings with intercontinental colleagues it was time to return back to Blighty.

We duly arrived at the major international airport where New Boy and I proceeded through security, through the airport shopping malls and cafes, through passport control - because not being signatories to the Schengen Agreement we are the great unclean of European travel - then, having checked in at the gate, we boarded the orange-and-white plane bound for Essex International Airport.

So there we were sitting comfortably - what with having purchased Speedy Boarding - waiting to set off. The cabin crew counted all the passengers and then put a call out for two people they were missing. No answer. They then did another count and, at the front of the aircraft, still seemed to be agitated and they consulted the Captain. The stewardess then announced that for some reason the passenger numbers did not tally so they needed to check all boarding passes, starting with those who checked in on-line.

Slowly but surely they worked their way down the plane painstakingly checking each name off against against a long list of passenger details.

Finally they arrived at my row. I handed my boarding pass and, after 30 seconds, I was duly ticked off the list. Then New Boy handed in his boarding pass. 30 seconds...60 seconds...still couldn't find his name. Then the stewardess noticed the problem. He was sitting on the plane with a boarding pass for the same flight at the same time but for the previous day!

It transpired that when New Boy had amended his flight, as I had done, from the evening flight to the morning flight, he'd somehow failed to notice that he'd also changed the date by one day. He hadn't even noticed when he'd printed it off.

New Boy unfortunately had to leave the flight - once he'd explained his error the Captain was happy to take him but the ground crew at Scandinavia International Airport would not let him fly.

Once he was off the plane the crew then did a very thorough check of all baggage and overhead lockers and stripped all the cushions off the seats in my row as well as checking all seat back pockets and underneath the seats, just in case he'd left a present for us - that extra check was appreciated!

What gets me is that New Boy's boarding pass, with printed bar code, was scanned when passing through the security area and then again at the gate when boarding - the ground crew even crossed someones name off a paper list as she scanned it! At no point did anyone or any computer notice that it was out of date - can anyone get on a plane with any old boarding pass?

As for New Boy, the good news is that he was able to catch the next flight home on the same day - just a delay of 7 hours.

LC James
Airside
27th May 2010

Northbound Flights Resume

Good news enough to warm even the coldest hearts - after much delay, the weekend heatwave heralded the arrival of the Cuckoo.

Saturday morning echoed to the calls of a Cuckoo here in the Rural Shires. Not only that, the Turtle Dove also arrived in the parish its delicate purring drifting on the warm air from the nearby hedgerow scrub.

Interestingly, the Visiting Minnesotan didn't know the call of the Cuckoo - in the US they don't have our proper cuckoo-ing clock-living cuckoo, except in the very far western islands of Alaska, which are virtually in Asia anyway! Instead they have several similar shaped species none of which go "cuckoo".

So why the late arrivals? Most likely they are linked to the recent low temperatures and prevailing northerly winds - we were scraping ice off the windscreen only two weeks ago! A few birds may have pushed on northwards into the cold but most - the smart ones in my book - will have waited, perhaps sunning themselves on the French Riviera or in the Bois de Boulogne.

Saying that, the Turtle Doves prefer not to loiter in French airspace, what with them being amongst the favoured targets of le homme avec le fusil de chasse - the man with the shotgun! so they may have enjoyed a stop-over on the Costas.

As spring glides kindly into summer, keep you ears open for nature's welcoming sounds - Cuckoo, Turtle Dove, lawnmower. ice cream van, champagne cork!

LC James
Landlocked
26th May 2010

Cuckoo calm

Have you heard a Cuckoo yet?

I can't believe we're halfway through May and that most familiar of bird calls has not been heard yet in our quiet corner of the Rural Shires. Typically, the first is heard before the end of April so it's somewhat concerning that the fields and woodlands remain silent.

I'm aware that the Cuckoo is in severe decline in Britain and I must say they have become quite scarce in these parts in recent years, but it looks like the decline may be about to deliver a local extinction within the parish, a real loss to local biodiversity especially with this year being the International Year of Biodiversity - mind you the local Hedgesparrows and Meadow Pipits will breathe a sigh of relief at the loss of a parasite!

If the Cuckoo does disappear it will be a very sad day for everyone...fingers crossed one turns up soon!

LC James

Landlocked

14 May 2010

LC James supports the International Year of Biodivesity

Homecoming

As a member of the diaspora it is my loyal duty to head back across The Pond this week for a couple of days in Hibernia.

And chosen mode of transport? Aer Lingus of course - purveyors of the finest cup of tea in the sky!...and a damn site better experience than that other Irish crowd, O'LearyAir!

I love Ireland...always have. Coming from an Irish family in Liverpool, where almost every kid in the class was of Irish descent as were most of your Christian Brother teachers, you didn't have much choice. In fact, when questioned as to where I'm from I've often replied, "East Dublin"!

This time I'm spending just a couple of days in Dublin's hinterland. A drive up into Co Meath for a night in the Knightsbrook Hotel, a plush new golf and spa resort, a fine dinner and several pints of the world's best Guiness.

How do they do it? In Ireland it's almost like drinking yoghurt. You feel like asking for a spoon to eat it with! And each pint glides down so smoothly...

As for the Knightsbrook, it gets my vote and recommendation. Facilities are excellent, the decor and furnishings top notch and the staff superb - courteous, attentive, helpful. The only downside it that it can be a bit tricky to find - its on the left just as you arrive on the outskirts of Trim around the back of a new property development - keep your eyes peeled!

Tomorrow I'll spend on the edge of Dublin attending to a little business on behalf of my Scandinavian Paymasters. But I shan't let that get in the way of enjoying the craic with some old friends!

Any way, best get back to enjoying the Black Stuff!

LC James
Hibernia
12 May 2010

A Walk Atop the Lowland Hills!!

With the sun finally deeming to shine, Darling Wife and I spent the afternoon walking in the hills above Oakham in Rutland.

The border lands of Rutland and Leicestershire are a most attractive corner of little England. A real snap shot of rural idyll. Rolling hills, hidden villages, winding streams and verdant woodland make this a most enjoyable and interesting area in which to take a good walk.

Clad in Hunters after Saturday's continuous rain and with a flask of coffee and a biscuit packed, we took to the hills whilst the sun shone. Well marked bridleways and footpaths criss-cross the area and we took a familiar route of around 6 or 7 miles in length. This isn't Scotland or the Peak District but we did climb - or more accurately, walk - to a height of around 650ft which provided for excellent views down the length of Rutland Water and right across England's smallest county.

To add to the feeling of altitude we were fortunate to see a Raven, the first I've ever recorded in these relatively lowland parts. Compared to nearby Crows and Magpies it was considerably larger with a stronger bill and in flight its tail was characteristically diamond shaped.

Interestingly, although more than half a million people live within less than an hours drive of our locale we saw absolutely no one during our walk. No one else enjoying the spring sunshine, smelling apple blossom from orchard relics, sitting besides a gurgling stream enjoying a coffee or listening to warblers announcing their spring arrival from bud-burst oaks.

Peace, tranquility, time to talk and reflect...and some decent exercise for once.

LC James
Rutland Alps
9th May 2010

Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside!

What with it being a Bank Holiday weekend and with the Daughters off on a Guides camp, Darling Wife and I decided to take the Bentley for a spin over to southwest Lancashire to visit my mother, who resides within salt spray reach of the golden sands.

I do like the big skies that come with the flat lands and even flatter beaches in that part of the world. Over twenty miles of golden sands stretch between Liverpool and Southport and these days, I promise you, most of it is pretty damn clean. Very different from my childhood when open sewers vomited filth into the Irish Sea. And providing a shoreline backdrop is Britain's longest chain of sand dunes, over 100ft high in places and carpeted in swaying marram.

These are big open spaces with seas that retreat over a mile at low tide, yielding all sorts of flotsam and jetsam cast up on the yellow sand, free gifts from Neptune. Coal washed up from undersea seams off the Point of Ayr in North Wales and which burns with a green/blue flame due to the salt; logs and even whole trees washed down from Pennine and Lakeland forests; great wrecks of razor and cockle shells following a storm; Knick-knacks of all shapes and sizes washed overboard; and always, I promise you always, at least one grapefruit!

Coconuts? Never. Grapefruits? Regular as clockwork. But I've absolutely no idea where they come from - one of life's great mysteries!

LC James
Besides the Sea
3rd May 2010