Written yesterday morning, at the beginning of what turned out to be a salmon day...
The war on moisture continues...
Sitting here in an Air France plane at Geneva airport, where, along with every other traveller in Europe, we have had new restrictions added for hand baggage, such that no single container may exceed 100ml, and the whole lot has to be put into a single plastic bag of about 15 cm by 15 cm. This is clearly a harmonisation of the regulations for EU air space not least because Heathrow has been getting it in the shorts, with people routing via Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt rather than putting up with the hassle. I suppose a stupid consistent approach is preferable to an inconsistent stupid approach.
I believe it is a bad approach simply because there are so many holes in the procedures, as seen by the boarding pass fiasco in the States, and the recent pilot's protest in the UK, where they explained that it does not make a lot of sense to stick a finger up every passenger's bottom if you persist on loading large cargo containers unchecked to the same plane.
So, having been blissfully unaffected by all this at Geneva until now, this morning I arrived to find a placard telling me that this is now the regulation in force, and to comply. (I am curious as to how they can manage to impose this regulation Europe wide, but not manage to advise passengers ahead of time.)
Now, I am happy to go along with the security kabuki theatre, totally ineffectual though I believe it to be, if that is what it takes to have a quiet life, Franklin's comments about liberty and an easy life notwithstanding. This morning I put in my toothpaste, some face cream that I am using to keep my skin from drying out with the sudden cold, and my shaving foam, which dread of all dreads is 250 ml. The first security guard took one look at it, one at me, pin stripe banking uniform and all, and duly passed it into the machine without comment. The eagle eyed machine operator duly noted it, and in order to protect the other bleary eyed passengers from being suddenly and unexpectedly given a smooth shave, or to prevent me making shaving foam pies, and causing havoc, it was duly consigned to the bin..
The first security guy rolled his eyes, as if to indicate that he thought that this was a waste of time and effort, but that was that. When even the staff implementing it are giving you clear subliminal signs that it is daft, then you know it is a waste of time.
Just one more example of boiling the frog. Personally, I couldn't care less, except that firstly, I cannot remember seeing a can of shaving foam of less than 100 ml, although I suspect the market will fill the gap soon enough, and secondly its just another reason why flying gets slower, less comfortable, and less effective all the time... I could grow a beard,which I did once after a longish ski holiday, and when I shaved I kept a goatee, with the result that every checkpoint I crossed, I got pulled, literally without fail, and when I shaved it off, back to normal, never stopped at all.
Still, this new security will play well ahead of the elections in the USA, supposing it gets reported at all...
"The cheese eating surrender monkeys in Yurp join the war on freedom, sorry, moisture, sorry, I mean terror..."
(Air traffic control have just given us a 45 minute delay for the flight due to fog at CDG.) Looks like being one of those days...
Heigh Ho, and today I have another presentation to this French bank, hence the plane trip. Should be good knockabout stuff, guaranteed lively audience at least.
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