The window seat

Why the hell didn’t she take the window seat?

It’s something I’ve been trying to fathom for the past few days and can’t quite work it out. I’ll start at the beginning. I recently had to go to London for a work thing, and was flown down. My workmate checked us in online, where you can have your choice of available seats. She had told me before that she is a “Window seat nazi” and as such was taking it. This was fine, for being as tall as I am, the extra legroom I can steal on an isle seat can be useful. Still, I knew I’d stare straight past her and out of her little window every chance I got.

The flight to London was exactly as above – she had the window, I had the isle. On the way back however, she steps back when we reach our seats and says “Go on, you take it this time.” Excuse me? All due respect, but are you out of your mind? Giving up the window seat. Seriously. Just like that. I just don’t see how someone can do that.

I’ve always loved airports, and flying even more. I’ll take your 8 hour flight for the few minutes of take-off any day. The excitement starts when, looking from the window, you can see the plane edge closer and closer to the runway, tax-ing slowly. Eventually it straightens up, and the engines get louder and a slight vibration runs through the plane. Your last warning comes entirely too late – the engine noise fills your ears and the pressure on the small of your back lets you know that jet fuel is being burned to launch you into the sky. You sit still as the world tilts backwards, and the world gets farther and farther away….it’s not long before all you can see is white cloud and raindrops being dragged screaming across your window. If you’re very lucky, a little screen pops down to tell you that your altitude is 18000 feet and rising.

Now the clouds are below you, along with the rest of the world, and even clear blue skies and white clouds become a wonder.

At this point, my neck begins to hurt. I’ve been sitting up straight with my head twisted down and to the right for a few minutes, and can’t seem to turn away from the blue outside. But dammit, then I noticed the wing! The adjustable wings on this airplane moved into a more aerodynamic position and filled my head with, apart from visions of Macross Plus, pride. Someone came up with that. Someone human, with all the flaws and promise the state contains. We lie, steal and cheat. We’re arrogant and vain. We’re violent and blow each other up, sometimes spectacularly. But we can fly. It’s crude and noisy and not as cape based as I’d like, but it’s a start.

What else can we do? Well, we put a man on the moon and returned him safely. A few men in fact. What’s after that? Mars? And then…?

I’ve seen the argument made that no country should be putting the money it does into space exploration because there are people on earth who are still hungry and homeless, even in the wealthiest of countries .  Funny how advancement of technology and the human spirit of exploration has to be put on the backburner, and not nuclear weapons, not-nuclear-but-still-blow-up-damn-good weapons and, dare I be controversial, MPs expenses.

We don’t spend billions on space and flight technology just for the potential gains. Although the advancements made by NASA, such as solar power technology and artificial limbs have benifited society greatly. Why we do it, part of why we do it anyway, is because we can. To make sure that we can, and to see what we can do next. Wheels, horse-pulled wheels, engines, jet engines, rocket engines…what’s next?

I love the window seat.