Image: Got a seat near the emergency exits on the main flight, much more leg room.

 

31.03.18 – 17) Bags packed ready to go taxi waitin’

No time for debatin’

Quicker than catchin’ a fast train,

I’m leavin’ on a jet plane

Flyin’ high in the sky like a bird on the wing,

Let those engines sing

An’ I’ll be found Texas bound

So now I’ve written this little rhyme

It’s get me to the airport on time

 

18) To Manchester airport again

Driving through the pouring rain

Sky of grey on departure day. Got there with three hours to spare

Check in open Bag checked and taken away, now I make my way

To security join the queue, 20 minutes later I’m through

And a break from my rhyme, my stomach tells me it’s breakfast time

 

19) Breakfast over 50 minutes to wait, till I know which departure gate

I look at the board again and find, take of time is seven minutes behind

So I’m hoping things’ll go right and I still make my connecting flight

 

20) Plane was 10 minutes late all we could do was wait

Get on board get the luggage stored

Then sit and find we’re now 20 minutes behind

Time abating we’re still waiting

Last few cases to be put away then we can be on our way

 

21) Another verse it’s getting worse we still can’t roll

Now it’s an issue with flight control

And I’m fearing my chances are disappearing

Of catching my second flight

But now we’re rolling let’s hope things start going right

Hopes raised but in vain now we’re waiting again

Time ticking by, why can’t we just take off and fly

Moved again, stopped now moving again

Runway at last now let those engines blast

First flight begun, but will we be on time for my second one

 

22) Flight not on track, things looking black

Cos’ of the wait we’re going to be 25 minutes late

So this travellin’ man is hoping BA have another plan

If not one thing’s clear,

I’ll try a different airline an’ travel agent next year

 

23) Now on flight info is seen arrival at Heathrow at 11.15

Not very nifty, we should have been there at 10:50

I just hope when Heathrow we land upon,

I don’t find my second flight gone

 

24) We landed with 40 minutes to go. So what I had to do

Was get to the front of the queue

Did it with ease, politely explaining and saying please

Adding “thank you”, the first to decamp I walked swiftly up the ramp

Anxiety abating, a member of staff waiting

Advice and info given, with new hope riven

Up the escalator then at a trot using al the energy I got

As a strive to arrive at Gate B45, only to learn I’d taken a wrong turn

Then thought “Damn an’ blast it” finding out I’d run past it

Then I could see B45 in front of me

Young woman said get your breath back,

Everything is now back on track

Ring home and say everything is ok, “good” family say

Boarded, seat found, sit down, wait for take off

The aisle I sat within thinkin’ “made it let take off begin”

For another poetry roam, get ready Austin,

The Road Poets comin’ home

 

25) Time to reflect as one would expect

The rush it had been I hadn’t seen

But the wet tarmac did tell it was raining at Heathrow as well

Then down it really came

Listening to it beat on the cabin window pane

It eases we’re away, to my delight we’re soon in flight

Soon I find England’s behind over the Irish Sea we go,

The Emerald Isle’s below

An we’re flyin’ through a sky of blue,

An’ I’m wonderin’ if my suitcase has made it too

 

26) Over 4 hours into the flight, outside it’s bright sunlight

Been nappin’ now my foots tappin’

Got some good ol’ country music on the go

It’s a guy I know comin’ through loud an’ clear,

I heard him for the first time last year

Rascal Flatts singin’ about how God above

Made the broken road that took him home to his true love

Now I’m hearing him again on a plane

Flyin’ through the heavens above takin me back to a place I love

 

27) Not long to go Texas below

But I may find, my suitcase was left behind

Still not too much sorrow, hopefully it will be with me tomorrow

 

28) As expected I arrived to find, my suitcase had been left behind

Not to forsaken, left an address for it to be taken

Customs cleared, away for my car at the end of my roam

Leave the airport to the familiar grackle shriek

As if saying “Trevor welcome home”.

 

29) Went for my car, didn’t get far

Toyota Prius Hybrid a model of technology getting it to start

Seemed it was a work of art

I was shown how to do it so I would know, but still it wouldn’t go

Out of luck, for some reason the brake was stuck

And much as we tried, motion was denied

So back to the drawin’ board, they gave me a Ford

Put in the key, turned it, engine starts, into gear handbrake off

An’ I’m away on my way

To my motel before day ends, unpack and out for coffee with friends