Almost every time you get on an aeroplane to go somewhere, several learning experiences come your way. Some of them are subtle, coming to you gradually, but some land right in your face. Recently, for example, on a trip to Orlando I hit one in the latter category at the very start of the trip at Timehri. I preface this by mentioning that while I hear the frequent gripes from Guyanese about Caribbean Airlines, I have to say that my experiences with them over the years have been usually good, but in this case we started off on the wrong foot. I tend to be a late boarder on aeroplanes, mainly to avoid the jamming, so in this case I came to the departure lounge when most of the other passengers were on board. Passing through the doorway to the tarmac, along with five other passengers, we ran smack into serious rain. Everybody came to a halt. We stood under the overhang, waiting to see if the downpour would lessen.
When it didn’t, I turned back to the doorway and told the staff member there, “It’s raining. We need umbrellas.” He was clinical and succinct. “No umbrellas.” I repeated the point about rain and got the same deadpan, “No umbrellas.” I headed back out to the tarmac, but the
