4334/17253
It was a long day. It only really struck me how tough a day it had been as I sat on stage interviewing Brendon Burns and realised just how tired I was. Luckily he had a lot to say and I was able to ride out the wave of fatigue. There was still the rest of the chat with him and a whole other hour with James Acaster to go.
I had been from my Belfast bed untimely ripp’d at 6.30am. I had made it clear that I needed to be back in London by mid-afternoon at the latest so I’d be in time for the podcast and the person booking the flights had taken no chances. It was at 9.30. I was hoping for something at about noon at the earliest, but hadn’t noticed this detail until it was too late to change things.
The flight back was quick and relatively painless. I was one of the first people at the gate and took a seat and waited for the flight to be called. Most of the other passengers weren’t taking the chance and began queuing to get on the plane straight away. The queue went out of the room, up the stairs and a long way along a corridor (I only discovered this when I went to the loo). It was a good half an hour before we’d be let through the first barrier and even then the people at the front would only get to stand in another chair less area to wait to go outside. I really don’t understand what it is that makes people queue like this. It was an Easyjet flight, but the seats are now assigned, so it’s not like there’s any danger of you being left behind. The only conceivable reason to queue for what amounted to the best part of an hour was to ensure that you got your hand luggage in the overhead lockers. But by no means all the people queuing had large cases. So what was their rush? Especially the people at the back of the queue who weren’t even guaranteeing themselves anything. They got got stand up for a long time and then sit on a plane waiting for everyone else to get on, whereas I was relatively relaxed, got on with the last dozen passengers and slid my backpack under the seat in front of me. But there was still some room in the overhead locker had I wished to put my bag up there. But I figured that that would just delay me on the way out. A sense of urgency and a need to queue had been created simply by a few people deciding to queue. The airline even offer a service where you can pay for early boarding (as an annual fee if you wish). If you’re that bothered and that rich then why not pay to go on a proper airline?
I did end up sitting next to a tall and wide man whose arm encroached into my chair space. But he would have been there if I’d been on first or last. I was always destined to be in seat 5D. No amount of queuing could have saved me.
I got home without incident, did a bit of prep for the podcasts and then wearily headed to the theatre. Due to a mix up we had no cameras delivered, but luckily things got sorted in time for the shows.
The podcast recordings were fun and appreciated by a small but enthusiastic crowd. The episodes will go up every Wednesday in free audio and video formats, with Katherine Ryan this week. Do spread the word about these if you enjoy them.
The backstage bits were particularly interesting this week with Brendon Burns angrily picking apart the plot of Mad Max 2 (which is the main artistic artefact from his culture) and James Acaster discussing a game of badmington that he had come from, in which he had had to play bare foot. You can only see these extras as part of your impressive package which you get for subscribing for a pound or more a month here.
