Wing and a prayer

FLYING FROM BARCELONA ON A WING AND A PRAYER. … LITERALLY.

 Have you ever seen one of those American plane disaster movies?

 We should have been suspicious when the pilot almost implored us to pay attention to the plane evacuation procedure. At this time, the only sound coming from our old British Airways plane was the low pitched whistle that engines have when they are just turning over. “Ladies and gentleman we will now begin our taxi to the end of the runway ready for take off.” said our pilot. ( He appeared to be one of those typical sounding R.A.F. type “chappies” who, probably flew bombers in the Second World War.)

The plane remained stationary, but the noise was HORRENDOUS! Below us, machinery clanked and knocked against each other. High pitched whines issued forth from the engines, and every cable seemed to scream as if being stretched to breaking point. Inside the cabin the walls and windows seemed to shudder and shake as much as the passengers belted into their seats. Julie's eyes almost popped and I turned up my iPod headphones trying hard to drown out this din of impending doom, and we still hadn't moved!

 However, by some miracle we got into the air although the plane still gave the occasional lurch and shudder as we progressed. Every now and again a mysterious series of clanks reminded us not to relax too much. I'm sure by the time we reached Barcelona a lot of prayers had been said.