Red-eye to Ascension Island from Brize Norton. Aircraft an Airbus 330-200. Not crowded so those behind row 4 could have 2 seats each. A better arrangement than 1 per larger seat,with more legroom up front. This VIP seating still far short of business in KLM and there is no little Dutch house full of Jenever either.
A bit of turbulence – enough to have the seat belt signs on and off the whole flight. Mind you, we were over the English Channel before the takeoff seatbelt sign was extinguished accompanied by the usual code of bings and bongs. It can’t be anything to do with safety surely? After all, we had been at cruising altitude for ages. Perhaps it kept the passengers in their seats for longer while the crew handed out iPads as flight entertainment. No instruction leaflets ….. Interesting.
Ascension – a volcanic lump of rock in the Atlantic about 500 miles from anywhere. Claimed by the Crown in 1815 and strategically important on and off since then– balmy and a comfortable 24– 30 deg the year around. Comfortable that is if you are acclimatised and not just landed from freezing UK on the way to the cool and wind caressed Falkland Islands. That is not to say it is not windy here. The frigate birds riding the wind are a testament to that. It is not the icy draft down the back of the neck that makes you shiver, but the gusts of hot air – someone has opened the oven door again.
