Kid-free zone is spreading
FAMILIES WATCH OUT. The no-kids campaign is spreading to economy class on planes. From now on, no babies or children are allowed between rows seven and 14 (now renamed “The Quiet Zone”) in economy cabins on AirAsia X routes. Adults who want a seat in that block have to pay an extra US$11.
Regular readers may recall that Malaysia Airlines banned infants from the entire first class section last year.
As these policies spread, unfortunates in other parts of the economy cabin will of course get vastly more than their fair share of crying babies and sticky, whining children.
Or at least YOU will. I’m going to pay the extra fee and move to The Quiet Zone, leaving the rest of you to enjoy my three kids.
Mwah ha ha ha ha.
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IN OTHER NEWS…
THERE ARE pitched battles in Hong Kong over a shortage of baby milk powder. This is shocking. Mothers may have to look for drastic wacko hippie alternatives such as breastfeeding their babies. Quelle horreur.
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A MILLION people attended the Rural Olympics in India last week to watch games such as Being Run Over By a Tractor. I am not making this up. Other games in the 80-year-old sports festival in the Punjab area included Carrying Bicycles With Teeth and Pulling Trucks With Hair.
For people who like more conventional sports, there’s a 100 meter run—for contestants aged over 80.
I imagine that one takes a while.
Meanwhile, on the western side of this planet, Lance Armstrong is looking for a new sport. I know there’d be massive support if HE signed up for Being Run Over By a Tractor.
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THE ALL-SINGING Les Miserables movie, a surprise hit in Asia, should really be labeled “not suitable for children or men”. It’s filled with scenes of full-frontal emotion, leaving audiences weeping. Although I did get a laugh from the fact that even when the heroes are hiding from the bad guys, they sing at the tops of their voices (I paraphrase): “We are HIDING! I hope they don’t HEAR US. WE MUST KEEP TOTALLY SILENT! LA LA LA LA.”
Now I know what “suspension of disbelief” means.
I had this musical about a criminal in my mind when I received a link to a recent news item from a reader. An armed masked man broke into a house in Lake City, Florida, and confronted 14 women. But being extremely religious, the ladies were entirely fearless. “In the name of Jesus, get out of my home,” homeowner Jacquie Hagler barked. He put the gun barrel to one woman’s head, but she was unafraid. Shocked, Derek Lee, 24, turned and fled. Police caught him quickly, but news reports said the women had already forgiven him and wanted to help him.
This is of course pretty much the exact same story of Les Miserables, or would be if the Florida villain had fallen to his knees and started singing his repentance in an operatic tenor. Maybe he did.
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WENT ON A walk with friends and family yesterday across the Tai Tam country park in Hong Kong. Then we stopped in a field and consumed lukewarm water and squashed sandwiches. It was great. Life doesn’t get better than that.
My friend Shirley took this pic (below) of us playing ball games. Strangely enough, the humans were in focus but the ball had vanished. Some people reckon it’s a trick of the light, but I prefer to go for a more believable explanation: Steve threw the ball so fast that it entered hyperspace at the exact moment the pic was taken.
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I’M BACK AT the office today after a short Chinese New Year break. Boooo. But what can be done? One has to be philosophical about these things. Talking of deep thoughts, here’s some wisdom-you-can-use from a young gentleman called Sixth Form Poet: “Honesty is the best policy. Unless you want people to actually like you.”
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