Monday, February 15, 2010

Flying Circus

There is a lot of discussion these days about air travel. Who should be allowed to fly and under what circumstances. I've always been a pretty good traveler. Not much bothers me. I took a short flight a few days ago on a very small commercial jet. The pressurization system didn't function very well. There were fluctuations.

A couple rows behind me a young couple was traveling with a little toddler girl. I probably wasn't seated more than four or five feet away. The little girl probably had an ear infection involving some kind of inner ear blockage and inflammation. From takeoff on, this little girl started to emit a series of piercing screams, increasing in volume. Shortly after that she voided her bowel and bladder, then projectile vomited. In the enclosed passenger compartment, the stench was unbelievably foul. I thought to myself that it was remarkable one small child could contain that much bad smell.

I have spent a lot of time in places where strong excretory smells abound. It didn't bother me that much. I just block that kind of stuff out. I could tell it was getting to a lot of the other passengers. A lot of seat creaking, coughing and audible gagging.

The flight had been delayed, as is often the case these days. It had been a long wait at the airport. I was just glad to be on my way.

1 comment:

cut and shoot said...

Welcome back. I haven't flown since 1981. I prefer driving nowadays. Since I've been almost everywhere in my younger days I no longer even drive much either.