Squawk Radio

June 2005 026
Originally uploaded by eloisajames.

The truth is...I was only in Paris for six hours, five of which were spent sitting on a stalled airplane in the runway. We had to run for our connection and at some point we found ourselves barrelling down a long tunnel in the Charles de Gaulle airport (yes, precisely the kind of tunnel that fell down last year), and we were stopped. By an armed guard who had his finger on the trigger! I surreptitiously took a picture. My husband said that it must be terrorist action, a bomb, a piece of left-luggage, something Very Very Important.

We all waited. And waited. The guard smiled at us but wouldn't let anyone go.

Finally a guy in a pair of blue overalls ambles up and bends over the moving walkway. He flicks a switch and the walkway starts moving.

The adorable French guard waves his machine gun and lets us all go to our airplanes...

Do I need to say that when our Air France flight was then delayed for five hours, we were served wine but no food? Or that the stewards just stood around comfortably chatting while the Americans in the plane went slowly (loudly) insane?

Now we're in Florence for the summer, which is as beautiful, hot and mosquito-infested as ever. I'll try to post some pictures from here, but I'm on a phone modem upload, and having trouble...