The New Normal and Away Fixtures

Amid all the media speculation about what will be the new normal following the easing ofcurrent restrictions, Fantasy Bob notices that the challenges facing air travel loom significant.  In and out of airports and on planes themselves, it is difficult to imagine how physical distancing can be successfully achieved.  Some pessimists - or are they optimists - think that this spells the end for mass air travel.  They look forward to a new age of the train, although it seems to FB that many railway stations and rolling stock present similar challenges when it comes to physical distancing.

Vision of the future?

If it is the case that air travel is about to become a thing of the past for other than the super rich, FB will have lived through its rise and fall.  He can remember his first flight - when he was 13 from Gatwick to Girona courtesy Dan Air.  The plane had propellers.  It was a few years before he was in a plane again but this time is was a big DC-8 on its way to Chicago.  FB was given a window seat over the wing.  Seasoned passenger as he was on the basis of his Dan Air flight, he was prepared for everything.  But when the plane came into land he saw the aerilons move as the pilot manouvered.  His stomach fell, his heart surged.  He thought a bit had fallen off.  Should he tell the stewardess?  His hand was most of the way to the call bell when his Aberdonian reticence got the better of him.

From that humble start ,FB became a seasoned passenger.  At the height of the madness he made business flights two or three times a week.  He's been half way round the world (and back again).  Rather than counting sheep one of FB's falling to sleep tricks is to count the number of air ports he has used.  He gets a different total everytime.  He has gone through the stage when airlines treated passengers as persons of value, to the present approach which treats them as mere commodities.  He has seen airports change from interesting temples of modernity to unbearable shopping arcades on speed.  He has lived to tell the tale.

FB has actually taken a plane to play cricket.  This was slightly outside his customary stamping ground of the East of Scotland leagues, where transportation is normally conducted in his Volvo with 5 or 6 juniors and their kitbags hanging on for grim life. 

This was a charity tournament at the Oval, no less, to which a colleague had unwisely invited him.  He had to check in at some ungodly hour in the morning and failed to persuade the staff that his cricket bag should be considered hand-luggage.  It was a great day out and involved FB batting with and outscoring Mark Ramprakash - but that is another story.  And FB outscoring anyone was not normal far less the new normal.

Star strick - Ramps can't get over meeting FB

Given that we are now about to enjoy the new age of the train, FB also recalls that he travelled by train to play cricket a similar number of times.  This was when his then club's supply of Volvos was heavily constrained for some long forgotten reason.  The weekend brought a fixture at Stenhousemuir.  There was no alternative but for FB and his then skipper to hie to Waverley and get the train to Larbert and then hoof it.  No problem.  A reminder also that it was the first age of the train that was instrumental in spreading cricket far and wide in these islands.  It widened hugely the range of fixtures that could be planned.  Chaps and cricket bags struggling along the platform must have been commonplace.

What goes around comes around.  The new normal may be little more than the very old normal heated up a bit.