Monday 19 September 2011

Rules Are Rules


I think there's a conspiracy to put puy lentils into every conceivable airline's menu. Can't think of a meal I've recently had on a plane that didn't include the damned things. They're obviously the new black.

One of the flight attendants told me I wasn't allowed to use my electronic cigarette. I enquired as to why, when in essence it is no different from an inhaler which I can use with no issues. She couldn't answer the question, nor could any of the other cabin staff when I widened the discussion. Don't you just hate rules that have no rationale backing them up?

Have to say that, so far, Greece doesn't give me the impression of a place facing financial melt-down. Mind you, I'm not sure what a place facing financial melt-down is meant to look like. I guess when your only option is to default on loans from France and Germany, the problem ain't really yours in the first place (well, at least not in the short term); it's Germany's and France's problem.

I'm always disappointed by Greek cuisine. While I love the salads, the meats are always tiny pieces of barbecued burnt offerings; dry, leathery and indigestible. Civilised weather here though - expecting 30 degree temperatures today and blue skies, not the incessant rain of back home.


4 comments:

Alan Burnett said...

"Mind you, I'm not sure what a place facing financial melt-down is meant to look like". Where have you been living for the last 20 years?

Geo. said...

Ah, but my inhaler doesn't introduce a vapour into the cabin space containing Diethylene Glycol and TSNA's ;^)
...Maybe there's a market for a 'clean' electronic cigarette that solely delivers shock aversion therapy!

Chairman Bill said...

Ah, but George - it ain't diethylene glycol - it's propylene glycol, which is used as a solvent in oral and injectable formulations, and thus totally benign. If it wasn't, I'd be dead. Nor are there any tobacco derivatives, as I have zero nicotine juice.

Geo. said...

Good to hear that your ciggy is safe Chairman but I'm guessing that the airline ban is due to the fact that 'not all electric cig's are born equal'. The overall safety verdict is still out - The FDA tested two brands and 19 different varieties - found Diethylene Glycol in one variety and TSNA's in all of one brand and in two varieties of the other.
That said, they're likely safer than inhaling the gazillion toxic substances from a traditional Sir Walter special!