Have you ever nearly been arrested at Airport Security.

It almost happened twice to me, twice in 7 days.

Heading towards a family trip to wonderful Switzerland, we found ourselves going through airport security at Leeds Bradford Airport. I was taking a young Hawklad through the dreaded body scanner when Hawklad set the scanner off. Apparently he had an alien object in his shoe sole. Several large armed guards quickly surrounded us….

His muppet Dad had completely forgotten that his new shoes had a hidden special feature. A small Transformer like toy in a compartment located underneath the sole.

That took some explaining before we made it onto the flight……

Unbelievably as we boarded the plane, the Pilot let Hawklad look round the cockpit prior to takeoff. Not sure that was supposed to happen these days. Still Hawklad loved that and yes the pilot was asked about every button.

A spectacular week in The Alps and then trouble at the airport again. This time at Zurich.

Going through passport security, and we faced the question – ‘have you anything to declare’. Hawklad helpfully answered that one.

A couple of days earlier we had visited Zermatt on a seriously hot day. This parent had treated Hawklad to an ice lolly and for himself, an ice cold SHANDY. Hawklad was puzzled by my drink. What’s that. I explained it was mucky beer and lemonade. Dad can I try it. Mum was off somewhere and out of sight. Why not, a small sip.

So to the question, ANYTHING TO DECLARE, Hawklad decided to come clean.

YES, MY DAD GAVE ME A MUCKY BEER…

Thankfully this time I wasn’t surrounded my armed guards.

You know what, I really miss those holidays. I wish I was in Switzerland right now. I’m dreaming.

57 thoughts on “Swiss Sunday”

    1. If I was there in Switzerland, I’d probably be out every day with posters addressing climate change and the like. Maybe being arrested and released without charge, because that’s how some stop protests being effective. Still, here I am doing nowt so direct. For today I’m being quite boring and mundane, as I’m washing clothes, adding to my compost heap and painting a wall. So, nothing so dramatic as being stopped at customs a toy in my shoe or standing up with a placard or acting so amazing as our beloved wonderful Oshi from just up road:

      https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2021/04/14/oshi-owen-52-hospitality-manager-from-preselis-pembrokeshire/

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      3. Nah. THE criminals are/were occupying the poor town and the cops are protecting THEM, not ordinary citizens. They, the globalists, are a sick blight on humanity.

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  4. Hawklad’s shoes sound so cool with a secret compartment, but yeah, I can imagine explaining that to security. So wonderful that he got to look around the cockpit!
    LOLOL about him coming clean and declaring about he mucky beer. Too funny! You will be found out. 🙂
    Wonderful memories and photos. ❤

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  11. I think we can rule out espionage as a future career choice for either yourself or Hawklad. Nothing like keeping a low profile. Your photos from Switzerland are always utterly joyous for us to behold.

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  12. Always the photos are amazing. While it wasn’t an airport but a concert, my son walked through the metal detectors and set them off. Several of the ‘guards’ approached as they made him go back through twice, then grabbed the hand scanner when I remembered- yeah, slow mom moment. My son wears steel toed boots, all the time. He has worn them to the airport but since they make you remove your shoes he’s been good. I personally set one off once when I was going to the courthouse about my late husband’s will. I wasn’t thinking and was wearing a belt with a lot of metal studs. ah well..Life would be very boring if we didn’t have these incidents to shake us up from time to time.

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  14. I had quite the chuckle at Hawklad’s mucky beer declaration. He really is a pure and honest child. Hopefully you can go back and have more one day soon!

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  16. Wonderful photos as usual Gary.
    I set the alarms off in Hong Kong. It was a metal hair slide I had taken out at Heathrow and put in the side pocket of my carry-on. The guy was very nice when I asked if I could point to where he’d find it. The daft thing was, I was travelling first class (treat to me on a trip of a life time) and should have gone straight to the buffet lounge rather than through the line. Ho hum. I still got to eat!

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  18. I often set off the alarms and for some reason am often the random person that gets their hands swiped. I went to a retreat once and a friend made us all rice bags which Inhad in my carry-on bag. That one caused a bit of concern when it went through scanning. I also discovered aloe vera gel is not a good thing to pack in your luggage – it evidently looks like something nefarious. Switzerland is such a beautiful country. We loved every minute of our visit there.

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