In Flight

I set this blog up (3rd time is a charm) in the wee hours of the morning before my flight was due, and it prompted me to carry my trustworthy notebook all the way to Japan. If you commit to something, you do have to bear the weight of your choice. And I did. and I am.

In Japanese fashion, the boarding for JAL started on the dot. However, our enthusiasm for time-keeping had to wait for the congestion to clear, as the runways of Heathrow were somewhat blocked. (This does in no way affect the arrival time; they do plan for delays, methinks).

I did not manage to sleep a wink, and not without help from a passenger who treated the economy class like it was his own business. overhead lights and a laptop with a glare that could light up the mines of Moria. I thought of saying: ‘hey, ‘mel-lon’, do you mind?’, but instead I silently wished he ran out of battery.

The good things about the flight:

• All the green tea you could have – hot and cold. Coffee too. Long gone are the days when a gin and tonic before 10:00 (doesn’t count if you’re in the sky, and the time at your destination is after-o’clock) was a way of getting over the opening of T5
• The spacious toilet. Yes, it was. You could sit minding your business and have your Guardian Angel, Death and the swan, and Diogenes with a lamp beside you. I mean, two out of the three are sort of immaterial, but you do need a light from time to time.
• Low sodium in meals.
• Seat arrangement – I sort of like this 2x4x2. Very clever. You can only inconvenience maximum one person as you get up. Mind you, this may have something to do with the size of the plane, but I shall attribute this to the engineer/designer who thought of it.  
• Aircon in the flight: comfortable levels. I mean, you still need the blanket sometime, but that’s just meant to be
• Getting meals before everyone else (though, the cost of being ‘special’ is high)

The not-so-good things about it:

• The aforementioned seeker of truth, lonely pilgrim who had to have the lights on. I wish they provided teddy bears…a plushie may have helped. That can’t be helped. You can’t chose your company in this case
• The frustrating thing about vegan/vegetarian meaning one and the same thing for those who cater. I like my cheese! Also I’m not a vegetarian, technically. My choice of a special meal for fear of coming across food I’m intolerant to, lead to: no butter, no chocolate, no miso soup, no ice-cream!

Reader, I wasn’t even a big fun of butter, till I read the book (thanks, Yuzuki-san), but now I firmly believe the Irish and the French treat potatoes butter. And so should everyone.

Also, vegetarian desert is always fruit, never sugary treats.

Though the healthier alternative, this is one of those moments when feeling ‘special’ quickly slips downhill and the feeling of ‘belonging’ to the collective, (the one that is enjoying their dorayaki) rises to the top. Needless to say, I shall not opt for a special meal on my return journey. I shall eat in the canteen, with the rest of my fellow dorayaki-lovers. 

Too often have vegetarians crossed the border to pescatarian territory, and not all of them are Nirvana fans so there’s no excuse. Having said that. Can one blame human nature for sticking to the out of sight out of mind principle? *

• The new window filter instead of the old curtains – makes for cool photos. 

* see insect extinction, peas from abroad, alternative crops for breakfast juice