This is a story I would not normally touch

An Italian newspaper published a story about a video that is supposed to be doing the rounds of the Net, showing a French air stewardess stripping for the captain and first mate of a long-distance flight. Well, of course this confirms ancient rumours we had all heard. But, as I said, I would not normally have touched it, except that it reminded me of a great Jewish joke I read long ago.

The flight has taken off. The Captain has done his communications over the public speaker system, then has taken the controls, taken the plane up, and settled it into its route. He is not aware that the speaker system is still on. He lies back contentedly and says: "Well, now we can have a cup of coffee, and then I'll have a screw with that gorgeous stewardess, Leah." Of course, his words ring out across the aisle. The hostesses look up, horrified. One of them rushes towards the cabin, to warn the Captain about the speaker system - but a little old man in a side seat sticks out his cane and trips her.

"Don't be in such a hurry, Leah," he says. "Let the man finish his coffee."

Silent poetry reading day?

Never heard of it before. Anyway, here is a sonnet I wrote a couple of years back:


What opens continents and seas to sight;
What turns the night of maybe into day;
What takes whatever's new and dark to light
And human spirits to the untrodden way;

What fuels the fire that makes what’s good and bold
What’s firm and strong and true and worthy of praise
Is not some miracle, or the gift of gold;
It is the vision of a human face

O, it is friendship; it is the soul’s greeting
To kindred souls, to sights that join and tend
And argue and clash and fight and take a beating

And may not reach, but value, the same ends.
Journeys may end indeed in lovers’ meetings –
Journeys begin with meetings of new friends.