The case of the mysterious missing Archie!

The good news is (see below), I actually managed to get on a later flight and made it the HK airport in time to meet the rest of the family and together we flew to Cebu (Philippines) for a lovely weekend.

Air India Business class is not much to write home about I can tell you -- filthy seats and seat trays ... even filthier business class loos (I won't go into details) ... suffice to say the flush did not. Nice veggie Biriyani mind you.

The not-so good news (but we can laugh now!) is the fact that Archie went AWOL for a while on holiday.

We're now very used to him disappearing and returning solo or under the long arm of some Asian uniformed guard etc ...

(e.g#1: the first weekend we lived in HK, I took him shopping in a mall -- he vapourised right before my eyes ... much panic but I found him 10 mins later giggling away to himself hiding underneath the dress of a mannequin nearby to where we'd been standing) ....

(e.g.#2: we took the boys to see the movie 'cars'. Stupidly (we were still new to HK), I'd booked late and so the only seats available were on the front row (the neck ache row). During the movie, a lady sitting near me tapped me on my shoulder "your baby" she sqwauked. I looked everywhere and sure enough Archie had done a runner ... the lady next to me started laughing (as did much of the audience) ... from behind the movie screen you could see the pressed-on shape of Archie's face and hands trying to get back in to the seated area ... he'd slipped underneath the screen). Oh dear.

However, this time was worse ... and potentially much more serious ...

I've written before how ... erm ... careful (is that OK Jamie) one has to be in the Philippines (armed guards everywhere) .. well this time Archie out did himself.

Admittedly, we were all bored and the luggage HAD taken a long time to get to the baggage collection area - but this behaviour was in-excusable. Personally, I blame the Mother.

Anyway ... Archie was 'surfing' the carousel ... standing on the baggage merry-go-round pretending he was on a surf board ... until, that is, the final and near-fatal time he did not jump off when the carousel disappeared thru the rubber-curtained hole in the wall ... he suddenly, simply vanished.

Aghast (CF Bruce Willis in Die Hard 2 I think), I thought he'd come to a sticky baggage handling bag-tumbling end ... a concern supported by the shouts and sounds of mayhem being broadcast from behind the rubber curtain. I shouted "Archieeeeeeeeeee noooooooo" and thrust my head & upper body thru the hole in the wall only to be confronted by a not-so-amused moustachioed gun weilding security guard and a host of angry filipino baggage handlers. Archie was thrown back at me - accompanied by several expletives (from the guards, not Archie .. although I'm not 100% sure of this fact in retrospect).

We were not amused I can tell you -- the rest of CX782 from HK to Cebu found it highly entertaining however.

M