Tempelhof Flying Field to Croyden Airport.

I miss the boy. I wish I were on an Imperial Airways flight to Croydon Airport right now.


Let us return to adventures in Daily Dialogues...

2

AT THE AIRPORT CUSTOMS, LONDON

A

Mr. Ronald Long slowly passes along the counters, behind which stand English Customs Officials in dark-blue uniforms, at Croydon Airport.

C.O.: Have you anything to declare, sir ? Just have a look through this list while I attend to this lady, will you ? (Handing him a printed list stuck on cardboard.)

R.L. (after carefully going through the list, says, when the official is free): The only thing I have to declare is my Leica.

C.O.: May I look at it, sir ? Thank you, have you the original invoice, sir ?

R.L.: Yes, here it is. As you see, I've had it over a year.

C.O.: So I perceive. Well, there's only a small duty on it,sir.

R.L.: May I pay by cheque ?

C.O.: Oh yes, sir. Just let me have your full name, home-address and telephone number,if any, as well, and you can take the camera with you. Nothing else in the way of spirits, scent, binoculars, jewellery ?

R.L.: Nothing at all, only the camera.

C.O.: Very good, sir, thank you.

B

American: This is my tenth trip to England. All I have is a bottle of 4711 (forty-seven eleven), a few cigars, and a partly-full bottle of liqueur.

C.O.: No cameras, lenses, optical instruments or the like, sir ?

American: No, I'm not interested in them.

C.O.: (looking through the contents of his bag): There'll be duty in the scent and cigars, sir, but I'll let the part bottle of liqueur through. You'll get the receipt at the desk, sir.

American: O.K.*, thank you.

C

Mrs. L.: No, I've nothing in the optical or camera line at all.

C.O.: Any scent, madam ?

Mrs. L.: No, nothing. The only things which might possibly interest you are these pieces of cheap jewellery for my nieces.

C.O.: I'm afraid they're subject to customs duty, Madam.

Mrs. L.: Oh, don't say that. All these "genuine" pearls and diamonds together are not worth more than £5.

C.O.: That may be, madam, but they're still jewellery from our point of view. Here's the regulation about it. (Points to the paragraph about jewellery on the printed card.)

Mrs. L.: So I see. Well, I suppose there's nothing to do but pay up and look pleasant ! It seems to be a case of Hobson's choice.

D

Business Man: I have a few cigars here for my personal use, and a box of chocolates for my wife.

C.O.: I'll just put them on the scales, sir. (Weighs them separately.) That's all right. Nothing else ?

B.M.: No, nothing else.

C.O.: Very good, sir.

E

Motor Coach Driver: Take your seats, please.

Mrs. L.: Where are you taking us to, driver ?

Driver: We're taking you to the headquarters of the Imperial Airways, Victoria Station, madam.

R.L.: I suppose we shall have to find our way to our friends from there alone ?

Driver: Yes, sir, that's right.

F

R.L.: How delightful to be home again and see all these rows and rows of little house with their patches of garden at the back.

Mrs L.: Yes, and don't forget the warm, cheerful fires inside the rooms.

R.L.: I don't. I'm looking forward to toasting my toes before Neville's fire to-night.

Mrs. L.: The wonderful thing is that one feels so fresh after the trip. After all, we've come five or six hundred miles in a marvellously short time, and I feel as fresh as a daisy.

R.L.: So do I. It's a pleasant change. I always feel tired for a whole day after making the journey by train and ship. Well, here we are at the Imperial Airways ! There are Neville and Muriel waiting for us !

*Okeh is a Choctaw (Red-Indian) word, and means " so be it ". Etymological fairy takes about its being an abbreviation of OTTO KRUEGER, or of an illiterate American's way of writing ALL CORRECT (orl krekt), may be disregarded.

Well, Imperial Airways was obviously no Ryanair. Apparently, Imperial Airways was in business from 1924 to 1939, so our Mr and Mrs Long must have been travelling between the wars.

I do believe in etymological fairy tales, I do ! Er, I do! Otto Krueger, not so much.