Yes, we’re quite the local media couple these days. Following my “Business Diary” piece in the Nottingham Evening Post from two weeks ago, my partner K’s day-by-day account of his recent trip to Florida will appear in the same slot, in tomorrow’s (i.e. Tuesday’s) pullout Business section.
What K’s article doesn’t mention – and this is a bit of a shocker, so hold on tight – is that when his business partner G arrived back in the UK from the same trip, and opened his suitcase (which he had left unlocked for the duration of the journey, to comply with US security requirements), he discovered, sitting on the top of the publicity leaflets for the company…
…a live bullet.
Now, explain that one to me. Chilling, n’est-ce pas?
We’re trying to persuade him to contact the head of security at Virgin Atlantic – with whom he flew, Upper Class, from Orlando to London Heathrow. Because, well, that sort of thing is just not really On, wouldn’t you say?
Meanwhile, K arrived in Orlando to find that his Samsonite suitcase had been smashed open by airport security – just as his other Samsonite suitcase had been smashed open by airport security in Miami in 2004. And this despite the notice on the relevant website which says it’s OK to lock Samsonite suitcases, because US security personnel carry a full set of master keys. (Of course, that would have been far too much intellectual effort for them, when compared to the pleasures of a healthy bit of brute force.)
Are you beginning to see why we’re not awfully keen on travelling to and from the US these days?
(Oh, and word from K: he will never, ever fly with United Airlines again. Attitude Problem ain’t the half of it, as previous experiences had already indicated.)
troubled diva 