Now, I didn’t get much sleep last night–I was up until 2am, dealing with some issues surrounding transferring stuff to the iRiver using Linux that haven’t been mentioned anywhere else that I’ve seen (it has to do with case translation on files and directories whose names are exclusively upper-case and/or numbers), and with just general jitters.
So I got back up four hours later, gave Ford his shot, showered and shaved off a weeks growth, got in the car, hit the ATM, and got to the airport.
Checking my bags was easy, even though I might not have needed to–Independence Air’s fleet seems to be mostly smaller planes that require gate-checking of bags anyway, so I might not have needed to do the check up-front.
I got through security and everything just fine, found the gate and waited, reading Herodotus’ ??Histories?? to pass the time–there will be more about that in another post.
It was when I got on the plane that things got weird.
Independence Air, if you haven’t heard of them, are a new low-frills carrier, based out of Dulles. The flight is great for me, it’s fast, it’s direct, etc.
And then came the safety spiel, which I already think deserves recognition as some degenerate relative of Kabuki theater, with its own carefully observed format and elaborate set of ritual gestures.
This one, though, is narrated by Chuck Berry.
No, I’m not kidding. And though I had to scramble for paper to write them on, I got a couple of quotes for you:
bq. Just as in life and love, we may encounter some turbulence.
Also, when discussing the proper use of the seat-cushion flotation device, you are advised to hold onto it
bq. as tight as you hug your baby on a Saturday night.
I am not making any of this up.
Everything else about the flight was routine–it was a quick up-and-down affair, we landed 25 minutes early, by the time I made it to the baggage claim, my bags were already out, although if I had been just a little more knowledgeable about where I needed to go, I probably wouldn’t have missed the 9:15 shuttle to the Metro station. After a fairly long ride, I was able to check in as soon as I got to the hotel, which is two blocks from the metro station, and it’s just three or four from the hotel to the DNC.
But Chuck Berry gave the safety narration, and that has set a certain sort of tone for the day.
