Good Evening,

Years ago, I found myself negotiating frequent roadblocks on the way to N'Djamena's airport, conveyed in the back of a pick-up driven by a young philanthropic French conscript, Frederic Guilliot.  Even before spontaneous acts of kindness became fashionable Frederic had kindly extended the sanitary comfort of his small apartment floor to a distinctly insanitary Englishman (me!) - an offer made after the briefest of conversations whilst queueing in the bank.  This was indeed a special financial institution, not only had I been provided superior accommodation (you had to have seen my previous pied a terre at Hotel Hacienda to fully appreciate this) but I'd also managed to cash a Eurocheque! - imagine that, forget trying to pay for a cab with a Scot's bank note but try cashing a Eurocheque in Chad - 'Ne pas problem Monsieur.'

Anyhow, despite great big bottles of bear, particularly significant after several months in a very dry neighbouring state, excellent boulangerie and fine steak frites, Chad had seen the best of me and it was time to board an Air Afrique flight to Paris.  After breezing through the city and airport check-points - 'Frederic Guilliot, Ambassade de France', 'er... Moi aussie...' - we said our aurevoirs and wished each other a good life as I waved my ticket at the soldiers on the door.

We may consider UK airport security an indignity but extrapolate this exponentially and Chad had certainly taken the fun out of flying.  Pre check-in all luggage was searched, not just scanned (I doubt the facility existed anyway) but disgorged and spread out onto tables to be rifled through carefully by curious and un-funny soldiers enjoying their work just a little too much.  Stuff the whole lot back in, a task not defined by the miltary's remit, and then check-in.  Pass through a metal detector, get frisked anyway, identify your checked baggage and haul it onto the baggage train.  Later, after walking across the tarmac, get frisked once more before walking up the steps and then, when seated, be further asked to describe one's baggage 'sac ou valise?'  Those dudes made our miserable airport experiences today seem like Ultra Fastrack on speed.

With all this checking, double-checking, searching, frisking and questioning it was with some surprise that two weeks later I read of a UTA plane on the same route being blown out of the sky over Libya.  Do I feel lucky?  Well, to date, those Eurocheques haven't cleared my account, so the answer is obvious.

Have a good week,

best,

Nick