My briefcase was posher than me!

SEATED in business class some years ago with British Airways, I was on my way to Brussels for a Nato conference. I was a UK radar expert, my paperwork securely held in my official MoD briefcase with its heavy brass lock, below which was the Government logo EIIR and a royal coat of arms embossed in gold. The briefcase sat on my lap hidden under the little table flapped down from the seat in front of me. I was totally immersed in an interesting magazine and did not respond to the announcement that the aircraft was on its final approach to the airport and that all tables should be in an upright position. Along came an officious stewardess who reprimanded me for not putting my table back to its safe position. I complied, only to have a highly embarrassed lady apologising to me for her bad manners when she spotted my briefcase. ‘I’m so sorry, sir, I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that. I didn’t realise you were a Queen’s Messenger!’ My moment of glory.

John Langley, Newport, Isle of Wight.