Monday, June 8, 2009

airport pests: man, woman, and children

When I’m already seated and settled down at the pre-departure area of an airport terminal, I’d usually set my gaze beyond the glass walls, out into the airfield, the taxiways and the runway. Plane-spotting has been one of my passions for the longest time, but only those who have traveled with me know this. To the untrained eye, I'd look like I'm daydreaming or contemplating some deep philosophy. And then, the unmistakable roar of wheels and engines pervades the surroundings, grasping my full attention.

But I’m not going to talk about how boiling-hot my love for airplanes is. Instead, let’s talk about something that happened this morning, when I was in the heat of this passion.

Setting: NAIA Terminal 2, Pre-departure Area, near Gate S7.

Status: Waiting to board aircraft bound for Iloilo.

Problem: The plane-spotting activity was wrecked!

Why, you ask? Because someone in the form of a female-looking potbellied man happened to be occupying considerable space in my peripheral vision. I loathed him the very instant he stood and blocked my view. It was as if we needed a supervisor to oversee our seating activities, or as if he had proclaimed himself supervisor of a virtually nonexistent activity.

But he eventually went away – and was replaced by two annoying kids who also invaded my peripheral vision. Perfect! But the kids also went away… and by now, you should already know that another, even bigger annoyance stumbled along the way.

Behind us were around eight Americans (healthcare volunteers from Guam, we discovered) minding their own businesses (thankfully). From where we sat, one could see that the loading of checked-in luggage for our flight had commenced outside. Too obvious to miss.

All of a sudden, we heard raucous barking. This woman seated to my brother’s right was talking to the Americans (she was their guide or head or whatever, we intuited). She was broadcasting to the entire Pasay-Paranaque area that our baggage were already being loaded (making sure that passengers of the Northwest and Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific jets over at Terminal 1 could hear her clear as hell). Boy, did she get on my nerves.

The conclusion, therefore, is that I was in a very irritable state at that time. 

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