Are you a people watcher like me?
I wish I had a camera in the Qantas club this morning.
A young man and I sat opposite each other in computer combat.
He was hard to ignore when he was just 3 ft over the table.
He must have been writing a very personal letter, his facial expressions were priceless.
His head fell to one side as he looked winsomely at the screen, wrote a few sentences and then turned his head the other way staring at the screen.
He was unconsciously expressing his feelings through his face. You know what it's like when you spoon feed a baby, you can't help but open your mouth in synchronized encouragement.
I'm writing this in the plane. We've flown over the most amazing scenery, large expanses of desert separated by canyons of black which I imagine is a river.... Now we're passing snow capped mountains under the bluest of skies.
I'm sitting between two young men. The young man on my left and I have had a great conversation about computers....We have been making comparisons bewtween his mac and mine. The other has his PDA and is navigating our route with his GPS.
Technology.... I love it.
PDA. GPS, Imac, Ipod, PC, HDV... terms that some 5 years ago were quite foreign to me. Now they enable me to travel and communicate with home.
It enables me to keep in touch with family, to continue working, to stimulate the mind and simply to travel.
No, Im not the only one who does this, most of my US Tutor peers do the same. I learn something new and exciting each day.
I see by my clock on the computer that it's 8.40 am Adelaide time, so I've been on the road for 26 hours so far. I've completed 3 flights and I've another flight after I reach Chicago.
A short taxi ride and finally I can go to bed.!!!
I am making light of technology, but it's the only way I can work and travel at the same time. On this flight I've been able to go through all the 'waiting to be answered' emails do some writing, research, a little filing and even some drawings while speeding at over 700 kms an hour through the air.
So far there have been no dramas, just darn full planes.
Di Mill and I assisted the Steward to pick up a few trays. We were even offered a drink I and a tip. Di just asked for an upgrade, but he sort of smirked.
There happened to be a straw broom laying on the floor..now why on earth would they have a straw broom and a dustpan in a plane.? So I dusted off the crumbs from a passengers seat who had gone to the loo. I think I was looking for brownie points rather that frequent flyer ones..!!!
I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
Robert Wood.
