About those ribbon thingos

[ChrisGreaves]

So many of you have been wondering about those post-and-ribbon things at airports that I ventured into a bit of research at CDG this morning, having mis-read my ticket and arrived six hours early, before the crews who set up those post-and-ribbon things arrived to set up those post-and-ribbon things for the flight before mine!.

By the time I was allowed to go through pre-check-in-check-in, check-in, baggage-scan, passport-control etc I was still pretty well the only candidate.
I must have walked bloody miles, sashaying back-and-forth like a bored duck in a mill-stream⁽¹⁾.
Miles and miles of vacant ribbon-corridors, just to get to the desks I was about three feet away from a few minutes before, staffed by seven bored Air-Transat clerks.

Here's the reason: It's to give us all a final leg-stretch before we settle into our seats for the next 8-hours!

You''re welcome.

(signed) "Bored", soon to be of-Toronto again.

⁽¹⁾Or, if you are a bored topological mathematician, "like a mill-stream around a bored duck"

[Rudi]

Six hours early...
I just crawl under them ribbon thingos. (Its easier to go under than over when you have luggage!)

[ChrisGreaves]

I just crawl ....

Easy for you ...

[Rudi]

I gather you are still journeying home...
If so, have a safe flight and pleasant journey home.

[BobH]

I just disconnect them, pass through, and reconnect them behind me. Of course, I haven't flown since 2000 so the devices might be different now.

[Rudi]

I just disconnect them, pass through, and reconnect them behind me. Of course, I haven't flown since 2000 so the devices might be different now.

Why bother reconnecting them.
They are retractable like a measuring tape, so have fun and just release it and watch it whip around and create a lot of ruckus as it retracts

[BobH]

That tends to draw attention from the low-functioning enforcers who are now empowered (at least in the US) with means beyond their abilities to manage.

I do not enjoy a pummeling anymore (as I once did in my misspent youth).

[Rudi]

Just a tease.
But...
If your'e interested, a simple point with the index finger to another unknowing passenger does wonders to sow some confusion.

[ChrisGreaves]

I gather you are still journeying home... If so, have a safe flight and pleasant journey home.

Thanks Rudi (et al.) I am home.
I have found the little SIM card that I took out of my other cell phone so I couldn't accidentally get tagged with those roaming-thingo fees.
It was a good flight home, if you can count 45 minutes jam-packed in peak-hour Metro and all-stop RER train plus six hours sitting wondering which of my fellow-passengers might have been contemplating bringing a bomb on board but maybe got discouraged at the last moment, plus 8 hours in-the-air with a vegetarian meal cunning disguised as re-heated rigatoni. Didn't fool me.
The touchdown at YYZ was the smoothest I can ever remember, and I always know if it is rough or smooth because I feel everything - I'm gripping the arm rests so tightly.

It's good to be home, but it sure feels odd now that everyone in the street is talking in English ...

Thanks, guys, for keeping me sane (hah hah!) and being there for me when I felt lonely.

[ChrisGreaves]

If your'e interested, a simple point with the index finger to another unknowing passenger does wonders to sow some confusion.

OK, Rudi.
What didn't you understand about "six hours early" and "the only passenger in the entire hall?"

[Rudi]

Good to hear you're home safe. Home, sweet home...
One of the things I dislike about travel is the endless waiting. Checking is usually 15 odd minutes but then there is another few hours of waiting. Then on the plane you take your seat and you're waiting again. In the flying stage, you're waiting, after you land you wait for the train.........and then on the return leg, you got to do it all over again!
Phew....

Thank goodness I don't see THIS too often. Tooooo many ribbons....

Air-delays_999030c.jpg

[ChrisGreaves]

Tooooo many ribbons....

Where are the officials when you really need them?

What is really needed here are a few elected officials and a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

[Rudi]

Cut the ribbons and let the chaos begin...

[ChrisGreaves]

Cut the ribbons and let the chaos begin...

I re-examined the photo and though what a great "flash mob" scene that would be if at a given signal, everyone in the know just released the ribbon-end nearest to them.
It would seem to most people (who are wondering what kind of re-heated rigatoni they'll be served for lunch) as if the entire ribbon-maze had self-destructed spontaneously.