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Friday January 2, 2015

The mice in Spain fall mainly on the plane


Mice can be nice but not always on a plane

A few years ago I remember reading about a British Airways flight that was cancelled in the lead up to the festive season because a mouse had been discovered on board. Unable to find the creature, the transatlantic flight had to be grounded, dashing the hopes of passengers en route to New York.

Here in Spain, another furry fugitive has also been responsible for causing disruption on a Qatar Airways flight that arrived in Madrid from Doha. The mouse was seen running down the aisle of the plane causing alarm among some passengers. While the cabin was fumigated, those waiting to board the return flight at Madrid’s Adolfo Suárez Barajas airport were forced to wait for six hours, several missing flight connections. The mouse died, fortunately averting any chance of it gnawing its way through any vital electrical wiring.

Many moons ago when my son was very young I watched Mouse Hunt, the film featuring a malevolent little rodent that thwarted the plans of two hapless brothers hoping to sell an inherited decrepit mansion. But surely far worse than a mischievous or stowaway mouse has to be a frisky snake?

Qantas airways has had to cope with a few unwanted serpents on its scheduled flights. In September 2013, a Mandarin rat snake was discovered at Sydney airport on a plane bound for Japan and in the same year, a tenacious scrub python clung to the wing of one of its planes heading for Papua New Guinea. The valiant creature hung on for nearly two hours despite the high winds but was discovered dead on arrival.

Fortunately I’ve never knowingly shared a flight with either mouse or snake, though I did once find A Lizard in my Luggage but that of course is another story entirely.



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