I travel an awful lot, and I can honestly say I’ve experienced most of the world’s travel systems, so I like to think I’m a bit of an expert. I’ve taken taxis in New York, where it’s practically an Olympic event, and flown on most major airlines, and I also have to drive a lot when we’re filming ‘At Your Service’, so transport is my speciality! I think that transport is the thing that’s changed most since the early days. Certainly air travel used to be a high-class affair, full of glamour and expense, and now it could hardly be more different. With everyone squashed into tiny spaces nowadays, behaving well has become more and more important.
D R I V I N G
A friend of mine was in his car at the traffic lights in Galway when an elderly American couple pressed the button to use the pedestrian crossing. Through his open window he could hear the exchange as the lights turned green for pedestrians, accompanied by that beep beep for the visually impaired. The man began to cross, but his wife didn’t know what the sound was and hesitated by the lights, so he walked back to her and said, ‘It’s okay, honey, you can cross now.’ ‘What’s that noise?’ she asked. ‘Oh, it’s for the blind people,’ he replied helpfully, leading her across the crossing. ‘They let blind people drive in Ireland?’ she was heard to say as she crossed.