I was reading Mia's blog last night about "Border Security" a reality TV show set at Sydney Airport in the Customs Hall. It got me thinking about my Dad and some rather bad luck he has had.
My poor Dad, God love him is very sweet but always seems to find himself in really funny situations. Take for instance the time he came home in the middle of the day to find two men had broken into his house stealing my mother's jewellery. He chased them down the street, they jumped on a train. My Dad ran home, got in his car and drove to the next train station guessing they'd alight there. He called the local police on his mobile and told them what had happened and where he was headed.
He got to the station and saw one of the thieves. He grabbed him and held him by his shirt collar against a wall. What happened next is terrible but so typically unfortunate it HAD to happen to my Dad. Two young undercover female police officers crash tackled my dad and sprayed him in the face with capsicum spray until he had trouble breathing and needed to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. The guys got off and my Dad got a "please don't sue us" from our dodgy local police.
My poor Dad. That was a few years ago now. Fast forward to late last year when my parents went on a round the world trip. They were in America when one of the LAX NorthWest check in staff tried to charge them for excess baggage despite the rules on their ticket allowing them extra baggage. Dad said- look according to my RTW ticket I am allowed X number of bags and X kilos of luggage. She said- "well we don't do kilos here. You will have to pay excess baggage fees." My Dad complained to the check-in lady's supervisor who fixed the problem and my parents checked in. When they got to customs my dad was pulled aside, questioned and searched for a while before finally being allowed to board the plane. He was again pulled aside in Vancouver airport and then Lansing and then Detroit and then Newark.
It was getting silly. So he made some enquiries and he was told that check in staff at LAX had marked him a security risk who needed to be searched and questioned before boarding all planes in the US. Poor Dad. All he wanted was to check in the extra bag of gifts for the Tinker as per the baggage rules and he ended up in the same category of traveller as an Afghan student pilot.
So tell me, do you have any funny or not so funny bad luck stories like these?
My poor Dad, God love him is very sweet but always seems to find himself in really funny situations. Take for instance the time he came home in the middle of the day to find two men had broken into his house stealing my mother's jewellery. He chased them down the street, they jumped on a train. My Dad ran home, got in his car and drove to the next train station guessing they'd alight there. He called the local police on his mobile and told them what had happened and where he was headed.
He got to the station and saw one of the thieves. He grabbed him and held him by his shirt collar against a wall. What happened next is terrible but so typically unfortunate it HAD to happen to my Dad. Two young undercover female police officers crash tackled my dad and sprayed him in the face with capsicum spray until he had trouble breathing and needed to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. The guys got off and my Dad got a "please don't sue us" from our dodgy local police.
My poor Dad. That was a few years ago now. Fast forward to late last year when my parents went on a round the world trip. They were in America when one of the LAX NorthWest check in staff tried to charge them for excess baggage despite the rules on their ticket allowing them extra baggage. Dad said- look according to my RTW ticket I am allowed X number of bags and X kilos of luggage. She said- "well we don't do kilos here. You will have to pay excess baggage fees." My Dad complained to the check-in lady's supervisor who fixed the problem and my parents checked in. When they got to customs my dad was pulled aside, questioned and searched for a while before finally being allowed to board the plane. He was again pulled aside in Vancouver airport and then Lansing and then Detroit and then Newark.
It was getting silly. So he made some enquiries and he was told that check in staff at LAX had marked him a security risk who needed to be searched and questioned before boarding all planes in the US. Poor Dad. All he wanted was to check in the extra bag of gifts for the Tinker as per the baggage rules and he ended up in the same category of traveller as an Afghan student pilot.
So tell me, do you have any funny or not so funny bad luck stories like these?
