Musical Adventures in an Airport

I was voluntarily bumped from a morning flight to an evening flight.

And was compensated very well.

The delay of  9 hours gave opportunity to people watch and to hear the sounds of the airport.

Right as the transport train arrives or departs from picking up passengers there are about 4 beats of a jazz motive. Nothing recognizable, but just enough of a tease to make me want to hear more.

The voices of people also have been musical. From those speaking in foreign tongues to the small child screaming "I WANT TO GO BACK ON THE PLANE!!!!" all the way down the concourse to the ripple of chuckles and laughter as adults heard his screams.

My new friends from Connecticut were stereotypical Italian Northeasterners: loud, friendly, very talkative and fun to talk to.  He was a survivor of 9/11 having escaped Tower One; she is suffering from mild MS. We exchanged contact information and I've been invited to connect with them when I go to New York. She wants to show me NY - Lincoln Center, the Met, Broadway, and the museums. He promised deli visits, pizza, and hot dogs. They were just so entertaining.

I've not been too entertained by the nonstop calls for flights and for repeated calls for delinquent passengers. Though I have been amused by the threats to cancel people's boarding passes for nonarrival.

Me, I'm sitting 20feet from the gate.

I think I'm safe.

Even if I fall asleep there is no way I could miss the calling over the intercom.

~*~*~

And then there's my colleague who thought it would be ok to practice her recorder in the middle of a crowd gathered at a gate.

[Recorder: small medieval instrument popular as a pre-band/elementary school music instrument.  Most reading this have sat through some child's concert debut on this instrument.]

I'm not talking playing beautiful melodies on it.

I'm talking practicing while trying to remember a melody she made up in her head last year.

Let's just say it was less than appreciated by those around us.

There is a time and place for a recorder music.

In the middle of a packed airport is not the place.

~*~*~

Nine hours in the airport can be quite tedious, but it was musical and productive.

So next time you are in the airport notice the sounds around you.

Hopefully, you will make new friends and hear some new sounds.