On a recent flight from Denver I got talking to an Air Stewardess, whilst the plane was on the ground. Whilst we were talking, a fellow passenger interrupted, to say he reckonised my voice from the radio. That was nice. It's started to happen more and more lately.

Later on, the conversation turned to airline stories. I told her about my abhorance of people with ludicrously selfish amounts of hand luggage, and agreed with me. She then went on to tell me about a flight she was working on the previous week.

A fifty-something lady marched onto the plane, with a very large handbag over her shoulder, and a very big pull-along case behind her. She stopped at her seat, and looked around expectantly for assistance.

Eventually, the stewardess - a short lady, also in her early fifties - came over and asked what help she needed. When she told the passenger that the vast crate on wheels would have to be checked into the cargo hold, as there was no way she'd be able to lift it, the woman seemed annoyed. She stated that there was no way she wanted to check it into the baggage hold as it was far too valuable.

Before the stewardess could respond, a gentleman passenger stood up and offered to help. He began to hoist the case up towards the overhead locker. He heaved, and struggled, huffed and puffed, and eventually managed to lift the case above his head and squeeze it into the locker. He exclaimed how the case was incredibly heavy for its size.

"So, what the heck is in that case, that weighs so much and is so valuable?", the stewardess asked.

"Oh...", the passenger replied, "It's my sewing machine.".