Good and bad seatmates

     The first time we flew into London, we used Virgin Atlantic. It was a great flight. My wife always takes the window and I reserve the aisle seat in hopes that no one will choose the middle seat. This has not worked in the last five trips. In any case, on this first trip to London I traded my aisle seat to a rabbi who was returning from a conference. Two members of the clergy are almost two too many. But, the rabbi was a longtime citizen of London. As the plane came down in altitude over Scotland it turned west and followed the Thames from the Tower Bridge to Heathrow he pointed out each attraction as if he were a guide for Lonely Planet.
     The second time we flew into London it was a short-hop flight on Aer Lingus from Dublin. Again I was in the middle seat, the aisle seat now taken up by a huge man with a terrible cough. While I did not have to encounter him, I did receive his cold which lasted the week I was in London.
     On a return trip from Paris on Air France a couple of years ago, again I was seated between my wife and a total stranger. This new person was an attractive young woman who was coming into SFO for the first time and I could point out landmarks of interest to her. While being a generous host to this new flyer, I fooled no one. I would have talked to her even if she had a bad cold.