Airports are interesting places. They are full of entertainment. Very small children provide acrobatic displays, tumbling headfirst over the seats in the waiting area, balancing on top of suitcases – this is particularly good when the cases have four wheels and spontaneously roll off in random directions – and climbing onto and falling off the conveyor belts at check-in. All of this is done, of course, to the ultra high pitch squealed enthusiasm of their siblings. Sure where would you get it?
Then there’s the coffee outlets. These can be particularly engaging. The system is simple. They sell boiling hot coffee in paper cups that are too hot to hold. Pick a good seat, where you can observe the queue, and sit back. The lady with a large carry-on bag, an equally large handbag and a plastic duty-free bag containing a litre bottle of Bombay Sapphire, a small bottle of something called “Destiny”, and three large bars of Toblerone, one broken open with the silver foil sticking out in jagged folds. She adds to this burden, a chicken and sage stuffing sandwich, packed in a triangular box and held precariously between her little finger and her left hip, and goes to the end of the counter to await her regular americano. When it arrives, she picks it up with her right hand, where it joins the duty-free bag, and has gone three steps from the counter before she realises that this is damn hot. She enters the first stages of shock. Her eyes open wide. Her mouth opens suddenly and she pants short and loud bursts of breath. She looks around desperately for somewhere to put it down. Five more steps to a flat surface. Bang. Down it goes in desperation as the bottle of Bombay Sapphire clatters against the stainless steel table frame and hot coffee splashes over her hand. Over the next twenty five seconds, as the pain recedes, the panic subsides and the spilt coffee is dried, the embarrassment sinks in. The chorus of, “Oh you poor dear”, “Are you all right?”, “Can I help?”, only make matters worse. Red faced and red handed, she slips away to hide in quiet oblivion. 
Ah, the joys of airports. I have WOW Airlines to thank for my extended stay. My flight, scheduled to leave at 12.10 is now predicting boarding around 14.40. Oh good! Lots more to look forward to.