Reason to Hate the French No. 364

I am, of course, a disgusting racist given my hatred of the French. Lovely country rather spoiled by those how live there sort of thing. And now a new reason to add to the pile.

Yesterday was the day that your blogger was to spend a happy 2.5 hours or so on his way from Lisbon to London in the care of British Airways. The (unknown to your blogger) strike in France meant that our flight was somewhat delayed. Like, for four hours. Time we spent, inside the plane, on the tarmac at Lisbon. 

Joy, I think you might understand, was unconfined.

There was also the small problem that BA is still having with its catering staff. It is not, as I had assumed, all over. There is still no catering on their flights. Actually, the small bag with a sandwich and a botttle of water one is given at the door of the plane is rather better than the slop they normally have, so this is a plus.

However, the conflict means that no drinks trolley is loaded.

I don’t normally drink at lunchtime (one of those rules to help Timmy deal with alcohol and the real world) but a four hour delay on the runway would have been made that touch better by a gin or two, of which, as above, there was none.

I cannot, of course, complain about the Brothers and Sisters exercising their right to withdraw their labour and thus improvimg the quality of my sandwich. I can complain mildly about BA’s management (how difficult is it to put a bottle of gin on a plane?) . And I will complain loudly about the bloody French.

That bastard country owes me four hours. Payment will be accepted in time at Madame Claudine’s.

In

9 responses

  1. Greve Reasons Not To Be Near France

    I won’t say it was deliberate, but it is certainly true that I bore yesterday’s national day of protest in mind when I planned my trip to Japan

  2. B's Freak Avatar
    B’s Freak

    Would you really rather have been stuck for four hours on a tarmac with people who were pissed in both the English and the American sense of the word? Now, if they were kind enough to pass out cannabis or valium, that might have been helpful.

  3. Tom Kratman Avatar
    Tom Kratman

    Errr..Madame Claudine’s? Some place I ought to check out if I am ever again unlucky enough to find myself in Frogreich?

  4. It’s madam(e) Claude, not “madame Claudine!!
    My “connoisseur” sources tell me this open-minded Gallic lady used to officiate near the Madeleine church, a posh neo-classical temple where Emperor Napoleon married the highly libertine baroness Beauharnais…
    Darn French!

  5. What I fail to understand about airport delays is why they so often make you wait in the plane on the tarmac. Two weeks ago I was at Schipol. The bus took us to the aircraft on time. Then we sat for an hour while they waited for some cargo to be delivered to the plane.

  6. Once the plane has “left” the stand, it is on time for their reliability stats.

  7. The gold metal in the “fail to understand” stakes goes to the punters who have checked in then fail to reach the departure gate.It’s not as if they have to travel over a couple of mountain ranges. Perhaps they are too pissed and lose their way.This is the cause of substantial delays whilst they ground crew rummage through the hold for their luggage.
    I rather like the thudding sound as a couple of Samsonites hit the tarmac, followed by the sound of the door closing!
    Sad bastard or what?
    t

  8. The French

    Tim Worstall wants the French to give him back four hours of his life….

  9. The dumbest practice is on the 40 minute Dubai-Qatar flight. The passengers must check in 2 hours beforehand, then sit around in a spacious airport lounge bored beyond belief.
    Once they are in flight and have reached crusing height, the airline decides that now would be the best time to feed everybody, making use of a 10 minute window before the descent starts. Stewardesses charge up and down the aisles cramming food into everyones’ mouths and tearing it out of their hands in the same movement. Only half the trays are collected when the pilot tells the crew to take their seats for landing.
    Surely giving everyone a pack lunch in the departure lounge would be more sensible than this.

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