Last week I had to go to Romania for a meeting with a team of coders, landing at Cluj-Napoca on Tuesday. Scheduled to return on Wednesday, I duly turned up at the airport by 08:00, joining the long line leading to the security checkpoint. Wait. A long line? We’re talking about an airport with a single runway, one transfer bus (you could actually walk the 50 yards to the plane, but hey, if they have it they might as well put it to some use!), about a dozen flights a day, all of the small turboprops with a capacity for around 60 people - which usually fly half empty.
So, what was the reason for the holdup? An overzealous
security guard, who stared at each bag on the x-ray monitor while squinting his
eyes as if it would bring more detail to the picture. After the long
radioactive scrutiny, he would open the bags, shout a few things to their
owners, and sometimes pull things out of them. Dangerous stuff such as sticks
of SEMTEX I thought.
When my turn arrived, some forty minutes later, I was
rather curious apart from annoyed at what was captivating this guard. I should
have guessed. Romania must have a healthy black market for….spray deodorants.
My tiny Nivea sample spray tin was also taken, with a bad boy stare from the
guard.
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