Money, money, money!

Yesterday my wife went out to the back garden and found money on the grass. There were a number of banknotes scattered about. Had the leprechauns left a present? No. The dog had gotten hold of her purse and had savaged it. Thankfully, she (the dog, not Mrs Pluto!) didn't eat the money or I would have had to check dog poo for days!

Up, up and away.

The trip to New York was a tremendous success and I earned lots of extra brownie points. However, a major problem developed the day before we left. I was checking the e-tickets and discovered that my wife and I were not sitting beside eachother. I tried unsuccessfully to change the seats with the travel agent but the nice staff at the check-in sorted things out. (Many thanks to those lovely people at Belfast International Airport)

When we boarded the plane we discovered we sitting beside the emergency exit over the wing which meant we had extra leg room. Happy days. Then I read the safety instructions on the card in the seat pocket. Apparently in the event of an emergency landing I had to remove the emergency door, shout "Release seatbelts. Come this way!" ensure that the emergency chute had deployed and help passengers escape. I only wanted to change my seat, not join Continental Airlines cabin crew!

I felt that, with such a responsibility, I should have a dry run to see if I were up to the job and to ensure that the evacuation procedures worked. My wife thought differently; she had her way.

Happy Birthday to me.

Today is my birthday and, being a generous type of person, I thought I would celebrate it by buying cream buns for some of my colleagues. When I complained that none of them had wished me a Happy Birthday, I was set upon and given the bumps. For a person of my advancing age this was very undignified. To add insult to injury they told the pupils it was my birthday. As a result kids have been coming up to me all day, not to wish me Happy Birthday, but to try and guess my age.

Sometimes it is better to say nothing.

My secret is out.

I was applying online for my visa to visit New York and had to answer the following question?

Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage; or in terrorist activities; or genocide; or between 1933 and 1945 were you involved , in any way, in persecutions associated with Nazi Germany or its allies?

I wonder how many people actually answer "Yes" to this question? My wife left me to complete her application and I was tempted to tick the "Yes" box for a laugh, but I knew there would be consequences (more from my wife than the US government) and thought better of it.

The Big Apple

I thought it would be nice to take my wife on a short break at Easter, so I spent some time surfing the net (always a dangerous thing) and came up with the idea of a trip to New York. Of, course Mrs Pluto warmed to the idea. I know that the pound is not great against the dollar at present but I am making a huge investment in brownie points.

My son went to NY last year and has raved about it ever since. Before I booked the trip we discussed what we could do and my son went on at great length describing the city. My daughter obviously was getting a bit fed up with his presentation which seemed to be written by the NY Tourist Board and sent me a text message from her bedroom which was directly above the room we were in: "Please book the trip to shut him up!"

So, next week we are flying directly from Belfast to Newark with Continental Airlines. I have ranted at some length about Ryan Air so it was pleasantly surprising to discover Continental's baggage allowance. It was so generous that I contacted the airline to check that I had correctly read their website. I spoke to a lovely American lady who assured me that we were allowed 2 bags each up to 23kg per bag, a carry-on bag up to 18kg (Continental's carry-on allowance is more than Ryan Air's check-in allowance), and a personal item such as a laptop. (Wait a minute! I talked to an American lady? I thought I was phoning someone in London!) My aim now is to convince my wife that the baggage allowance is a maximum weight and not a target.