(ON TOP OF THE WORLD) LOOKING DOWN ON CREATION
There were two champagne flutes on display on our shelves along with our humbler glassware. Both were engraved with the words “British Airways”. Now before you think these were pilfered, let me tell you how they came to be there. I am an inveterate competition “enterer”! It was back in 1979 when my latest prize, to my huge delight, had been a BA trip for two to San Francisco. The route to be travelled to the US was their latest one, crossing from London over to Greenland, and downward over Canada. Despite the fact that my husband’s job required regular air trips, he was not what you would call a “comfortable” air traveller. Getting him to fly anywhere for pleasure had become a real problem. He preferred to be in control at his steering wheel. However, a trip to the US proved too tempting to turn down. “Don’t worry, I’ll knock you out with a few gins and before you know it we will be there,” I said.
The excitement escalated and eventually we were on our way.
The captain welcomed us aboard, and informed us he was running a competition with a surprise prize for a passenger who could estimate the time that we would be flying over Baffin Island.
He provided various details for us to calculate the correct answer. My dear late husband, despite his dislike of flying, had some useful attributes, one of which was that he had an inborn ability with figures. We handed in our answers and Ray won the prize. His answer was two seconds out. A stewardess arrived with a tray on which reposed two engraved BA glasses, filled with French champagne.
We were assured that the glasses were ours to keep. Thrilling! Later, as we approached customs, I wondered if they would think we had stolen them. Thankfully, they did not even spot them. The stewardess returned later to invite us, as part of the prize, to meet the captain. We were led through first class and into the cockpit. Even more thrilling!
It was, that is, until my husband noticed that the captain and his co-pilot were sitting on a bench, next to the door, arms folded, having a chat. “Who’s flying this plane?” barked my husband. I wondered if I was going to have to pick him up from the floor.
The two charming officers handled the situation with aplomb. After describing the many instruments and dials, they urged us to look below. The plane itself appeared to be silent and almost motionless. And the awe-inspiring winter landscape beneath was a vista of nothing but continuous white snow wherever one looked — nothing but snow into infinity. No sign of man or beast, or even vegetation. Regretfully, I cannot remember our exact location at the time — probably over Canada. But, wherever it was, for two South Africans, it was an astonishing, unforgettable sight. Now this, for me, was really thrilling. We were apparently travelling at the time, in perpetual twilight. “Look at that faint red line in the far distance,” said the captain. “That is daylight.”
Though we had a fabulous time in America, this moving experience proved to be the highlight of our trip.
Those two engraved flutes, one sporting a small crack, still exist among the mishmash of odd glasses accumulated during our life together. And they will always bring back to me memories of that incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience in the cockpit of that BA aircraft.
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