I could probably file this one under Grumpy Old Dad. You decide…

At the moment I am working in Kent and travelling back to Madrid on Fridays. Returning to work Monday on the early morning red-eye flight.

Like most others on the early flights I try to get some sleep. I normally have a window seat so that obviously helps. Sometimes I manage to get some shut-eye, sometimes I just doze. Other times I find it difficult to sleep because of the passenger sat next to me. One such occasion the other day needs to be told…

The Importance of Being… Well; Important?

The middle seat was occupied by a young woman who managed to wake me up every time I was close to dreamland. No sooner had I settled down with my eyes closed than this woman took out a laptop PC and started typing. Every now and again, and almost always just as I was dropping off, her elbows would nudge into my side. When it first happened I naturally lifted my eye mask and opened my eyes to look what she was doing.

Was she working for MI5 and trying to intercept a Russian nuclear missile strike?

Was she checking the plane’s engines and ensuring they were going to make it to Gatwick?

Was she working on some chemical equation that would save us all from a new virus that was about to wipe out half the population? Genuine race against time stuff.

No. It was probably none of the above.

How important was this woman I wondered? Come to think of it how important can anyone be who has to fly with Easyjet?

It was clearly work related. Some spreadsheet or other. She was probably just on her way to a meeting in London. Even better than that; I am sure that the people she was going to see in her meeting were still tucked up in bed snoring. A few minutes of work on a plane was never going to make much of a difference was it? If you are not prepared for a meeting when you are on the first plane out – and should be trying to relax – then you are never going to be prepared.

Why on earth do people do things like this?

Maybe the real question is: Why do people like that stop people like me from sleeping?

Arrival

Before I knew it the crew were preparing the plane for landing. I had to wake up now anyway. We landed and the lane was parked. Then the usual semi-panic of everyone rushing out of their seats to grab their baggage/ things from the overhead storage bins.

When we were allowed to disembark this woman couldn’t get off quick enough. I have usually had enough by that point and like to get away quickly, but she was almost running. Then it happened. No sooner had she got onto the airport floor than she fell on it. Those high heeled boots are no good for rushing around girl! I was close behind her.

So, what did I do? I stepped over her of course.

OK. OK. I know what you’re thinking….

Not my finest moment I must admit. But this is a woman who needs to calm down. Maybe that was a wake-up call – pardon the pun. In any case the man behind me offered to help her up. I have to say at this point, that if it was an old lady or a woman with a small child I would have helped. If it had been probably anyone else on the flight I may have helped. But this woman had kept me awake all through the flight and for no apparent reason or gain.

Should I have helped her? What do you think?

It’s a big dilemma weighing me down.

Then again… Now I have typed it up I have forgotten all about it. I don’t do fools. By the time my son is old enough to read this post he will probably already know as much and see the funny side of this tale.