‘Please wait’

Ryanair is proving even more adept than the Ancient Mariner in stopping wedding guests getting to the church on time. Strikes across Europe have prevented not only wedding parties, but also stage magicians, disc jockeys and countless holidaymakers from meeting their plans. An airport where information is as unavailable as planes is peculiarly uncomfortable. As a symptom of our times, airline delay looks like punishment for modern hubris. We used to look down on folk in the olden days who had to wait weeks for a fair wind. As for the railways, the Victorians seem to have sold tickets more competently than 10 million people a year find today, after buying the wrong deal. How could we ever have fancied we could take as much pleasure in travel as in arriving?