I gave Jean a lift to the airport. She had come over to Ireland to deliver a car for someone and spend some time with friends at Ballydugan.
The journey there didn’t auger well for her flight: winds in excess of 80 miles per hour buffeted the car, a bomb alert on the major M1 motorway into the city brought thousands of vehicles to a standstill and the rain that came down in torrents caused flooding and chaos in many places. I dropped her off at the airport half expecting that she would call and say her flight was cancelled and whilst it was delayed it nevertheless did go albeit late and she flew to Newcastle, with a strong tailwind behind, in record time.
Neil, was flying back on the return flight from Newcastle and he being a seasoned traveller was not phased by the nerve jangling ascent, longer flight as his plane was going into the wind and the very bumpy landing coming in over Belfast Lough, one wheel down and then another, eventually everything on terra firma. His retelling the story of how he was in a Jumbo Jet which managed to land on the third attempt at JKF airport in the States put this little episode into a broader context. Thank God for ships. They are mentioned in the Bible and have lifeboats in an emergency. On the few occasions that I have flown it has amused me to be asked to where my seatbelts. What’s that al about?
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