This just happens to be another aeroplane story which is still fresh in my mind, as it happened this month, on my trip to Australia. It is a very long trip from Durban to Brisbane, so it was broken up by my excellent travel agent, Helen Aitcheson (subliminal advertising inserted here ), into more manageable flights. I have recently deserted SAA for Emirates Air, because their reward system and benefits far surpass SAA. I enjoy seeing how many languages are spoken by their flight attendants. Emirates take great pride in the babel of languages spoken by their multilingual airline personnel on board. But a downside for me is that Emirates code share with Qantas. A bit of trivia here.
If any of you think that poor spelling is another attribute of our Australian brethren, they of the annoying predilection for beating South African sports teams, think again. For years I inadvertently spelt their airline QUANTAS. I was seriously put out to discover that they do not use the letter u. Who on earth spells a word going straight from a q to an a? The Aussies do, for a good reason. Qantas is an acronym for Queensland and Northern Territories Aerial Services, and was founded on 16 November 1920. It is the oldest continuously operated airline in the world.
Having my pride dented by this discovery, I still bore Qantas a grudge. My first trip on this airline was, if not a nightmare, at very least a bad dream. We had an unpleasant woman serving our section of the plane. For some reason she was particularly obstructive, and refused on several occasions to get me water, or allow me out of my seat to get my own. I was thoroughly intimidated, and being too much of a coward to risk her unreasonable wrath should I ask yet again for water, I arrived in Sydney parched and dehydrated. Some days later I came down with a severe kidney condition. Thank you Qantas!!
On my recent trip I had to eat humble pie. We had stopped in Perth for a night's rest before flying to Brisbane. The flight from Durban to Perth was a joy. It had been operated by SAA, but the Perth to Brisbane leg was a Qantas flight. Amazingly, considering their criminal past, Australians in any official capacity are the biggest legalists on the planet. On a previous trip I was made to unpack a suitcase because I had packed 2kg over the allowed weight. With a queue building behind me, I had to take out items that I imagined weighed 2kg, only to have it weighed again, and then told I was still 400g over, and was made to unpack a second time. With this as my background, I anticipated this flight with trepidation.
It started really well. The check-in lady was very warm and helpful. Once on board I was thrilled to find that the on-board staff were equally kind and caring. I had sat down in the wrong seat, but even that was dealt with politely. The man who sat down in the seat I had vacated greeted me heartily. He was a large, red-faced chap with a full beard, and he overflowed a bit into my seat, but he was affable, and his wife was sitting across the aisle, so I knew he would speak to her, not me. I happily began to read a book I had been wanting to read, when he tapped me on the arm. My ipad, in a black cover, was sticking out of the seat pocket where I had shoved it in my haste to change seats. My neighbour was holding an ipad in a red cover. He gestured with it towards my seat pocket. "Will you be using your ipad on this flight?" he asked jovially. I looked at him, a little perplexed. "I think I may use it," I answered, wondering what on earth it had to do with him.
"My mother-in-law was wondering if she could use yours to play on," he said cheerfully. "Hers doesn't seem to be charged, and is completely flat. I see you're reading, so we wondered if you could let her have yours for the flight!" I have no idea what my face looked like, but I was dumbfounded. What on earth were they thinking? Did she want to read my emails, check out my photo gallery, see what apps I had? After a few fraught moments I said I thought I WOULD be using it after all. He said no worries, and passed my refusal across the aisle.
Nearly five hours later, as the cabin crew were preparing the cabin for our descent into Brisbane, I went to the loo. When I got back to my seat my neighbour had gone off to use a loo as well. I began to clear out my seat pocket, putting my ipad and a few other items into my bag, when I discovered, lurking at the bottom of my seat pocket, an ipad in a red cover. "What on earth?" I muttered to myself. WHY would this man put HIS ipad in MY seat pocket? I took the offending ipad out and pushed it back into his seat pocket. A few moments later he arrived and sat down. He spotted the red ipad immediately. "Where did THIS come from?" he asked me. "I have absolutely no idea," I said firmly. "When I came back from the loo I found it in my seat pocket, but it isn't mine!"
He looked at me quizzically, then put the two together on his lap, and said, "Well that's fine then, isn't it?" I stared at him in dismay. "WHAT?" I thought. "Is he going to steal it now? Is he going to walk off this plane carrying a second ipad, one that doesn't belong to him? What about the REAL owner, the person who forgot it in their seat pocket, probably praying for an honest person to hand it in? And now this THIEF is going to help himself to it!!"
I was in a quandary. We had been told to remain seated as we were commencing our descent, but I wanted to go to one of the cabin crew, and announce to him that there was a thief on board, thus unleashing the full weight of Australian legalism on the man next to me.
As I looked around the cabin, a sinking feeling began in the pit of my stomach. I looked around the cabin. iPads with red covers were everywhere - in passengers' hands, on seats, some still hanging in convenient straps over the seats in front. I looked at the seat in front of me. "For ipad use only" it read. "Oh LORD!" I thought. I turned to my neighbour and tapped his arm. "Does Qantas supply these iPads?" I asked. "Yeah," he replied. "Every seat has one!" I honestly felt like flinging myself into the brace position as if preparing for a crash landing. "I am SO SORRY!" I told him earnestly. "I had no idea. I thought you were asking me for my own ipad for your mother-in-law to use." At this he guffawed. "Hey Ma!" he said loudly, so the cabin could hear. "SHE thought you wanted to use her PERSONAL ipad!" The people around, Ma included, laughed merrily. I wilted quietly in my seat.
So Qantas had the last laugh. It was a great flight with a lovely cabin staff and a jovial neighbour, and guess who was the cross, uncooperative one on that flight.
This got me thinking. We are so prone to do this to "other" Christians, the ones we have pre-determined are not our type. In fact, we have had one bad experience with one person from that group, and it defines our view of them from that time on. Maybe we should enter one of their churches, read from their red hymnals, look at them more kindly, and we just may find that we are more carnal than they.
Blessings till next month, Fiona
If any of you think that poor spelling is another attribute of our Australian brethren, they of the annoying predilection for beating South African sports teams, think again. For years I inadvertently spelt their airline QUANTAS. I was seriously put out to discover that they do not use the letter u. Who on earth spells a word going straight from a q to an a? The Aussies do, for a good reason. Qantas is an acronym for Queensland and Northern Territories Aerial Services, and was founded on 16 November 1920. It is the oldest continuously operated airline in the world.
Having my pride dented by this discovery, I still bore Qantas a grudge. My first trip on this airline was, if not a nightmare, at very least a bad dream. We had an unpleasant woman serving our section of the plane. For some reason she was particularly obstructive, and refused on several occasions to get me water, or allow me out of my seat to get my own. I was thoroughly intimidated, and being too much of a coward to risk her unreasonable wrath should I ask yet again for water, I arrived in Sydney parched and dehydrated. Some days later I came down with a severe kidney condition. Thank you Qantas!!
On my recent trip I had to eat humble pie. We had stopped in Perth for a night's rest before flying to Brisbane. The flight from Durban to Perth was a joy. It had been operated by SAA, but the Perth to Brisbane leg was a Qantas flight. Amazingly, considering their criminal past, Australians in any official capacity are the biggest legalists on the planet. On a previous trip I was made to unpack a suitcase because I had packed 2kg over the allowed weight. With a queue building behind me, I had to take out items that I imagined weighed 2kg, only to have it weighed again, and then told I was still 400g over, and was made to unpack a second time. With this as my background, I anticipated this flight with trepidation.
It started really well. The check-in lady was very warm and helpful. Once on board I was thrilled to find that the on-board staff were equally kind and caring. I had sat down in the wrong seat, but even that was dealt with politely. The man who sat down in the seat I had vacated greeted me heartily. He was a large, red-faced chap with a full beard, and he overflowed a bit into my seat, but he was affable, and his wife was sitting across the aisle, so I knew he would speak to her, not me. I happily began to read a book I had been wanting to read, when he tapped me on the arm. My ipad, in a black cover, was sticking out of the seat pocket where I had shoved it in my haste to change seats. My neighbour was holding an ipad in a red cover. He gestured with it towards my seat pocket. "Will you be using your ipad on this flight?" he asked jovially. I looked at him, a little perplexed. "I think I may use it," I answered, wondering what on earth it had to do with him.
"My mother-in-law was wondering if she could use yours to play on," he said cheerfully. "Hers doesn't seem to be charged, and is completely flat. I see you're reading, so we wondered if you could let her have yours for the flight!" I have no idea what my face looked like, but I was dumbfounded. What on earth were they thinking? Did she want to read my emails, check out my photo gallery, see what apps I had? After a few fraught moments I said I thought I WOULD be using it after all. He said no worries, and passed my refusal across the aisle.
Nearly five hours later, as the cabin crew were preparing the cabin for our descent into Brisbane, I went to the loo. When I got back to my seat my neighbour had gone off to use a loo as well. I began to clear out my seat pocket, putting my ipad and a few other items into my bag, when I discovered, lurking at the bottom of my seat pocket, an ipad in a red cover. "What on earth?" I muttered to myself. WHY would this man put HIS ipad in MY seat pocket? I took the offending ipad out and pushed it back into his seat pocket. A few moments later he arrived and sat down. He spotted the red ipad immediately. "Where did THIS come from?" he asked me. "I have absolutely no idea," I said firmly. "When I came back from the loo I found it in my seat pocket, but it isn't mine!"
He looked at me quizzically, then put the two together on his lap, and said, "Well that's fine then, isn't it?" I stared at him in dismay. "WHAT?" I thought. "Is he going to steal it now? Is he going to walk off this plane carrying a second ipad, one that doesn't belong to him? What about the REAL owner, the person who forgot it in their seat pocket, probably praying for an honest person to hand it in? And now this THIEF is going to help himself to it!!"
I was in a quandary. We had been told to remain seated as we were commencing our descent, but I wanted to go to one of the cabin crew, and announce to him that there was a thief on board, thus unleashing the full weight of Australian legalism on the man next to me.
As I looked around the cabin, a sinking feeling began in the pit of my stomach. I looked around the cabin. iPads with red covers were everywhere - in passengers' hands, on seats, some still hanging in convenient straps over the seats in front. I looked at the seat in front of me. "For ipad use only" it read. "Oh LORD!" I thought. I turned to my neighbour and tapped his arm. "Does Qantas supply these iPads?" I asked. "Yeah," he replied. "Every seat has one!" I honestly felt like flinging myself into the brace position as if preparing for a crash landing. "I am SO SORRY!" I told him earnestly. "I had no idea. I thought you were asking me for my own ipad for your mother-in-law to use." At this he guffawed. "Hey Ma!" he said loudly, so the cabin could hear. "SHE thought you wanted to use her PERSONAL ipad!" The people around, Ma included, laughed merrily. I wilted quietly in my seat.
So Qantas had the last laugh. It was a great flight with a lovely cabin staff and a jovial neighbour, and guess who was the cross, uncooperative one on that flight.
This got me thinking. We are so prone to do this to "other" Christians, the ones we have pre-determined are not our type. In fact, we have had one bad experience with one person from that group, and it defines our view of them from that time on. Maybe we should enter one of their churches, read from their red hymnals, look at them more kindly, and we just may find that we are more carnal than they.
Blessings till next month, Fiona
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