Ahhhhh the lovely Gina provides, long overdue but worth the wait - I have a new one to complete as well, which is going to be hard for me to get into words, I love the challenge, anyhow read on;

Date: 23 August 2005
Lesson Plan 1: Comedy 101
Subject matter: Gina Schauffer
Deadline: long gone
Words: No longer than 400 words, no less then 350.

Question: Take a personally humorous moment within the last week (or before deadline) and discuss why and how you find the subject matter funny.

Why do relationships between passengers on aeroplanes progress at such lightening speed? Last time I checked, air travel didn't involve time travel.

First there's the introductions, usually pre-empted by the fact you've just stood on your neighbour's foot or woken him/her up as you gently removed their slumbering head from your dead shoulder.

This quickly progresses to love, kids, marriage and employment, followed swiftly by Reasons for Travel.

Then - and this is where I come undone - this can progress to deep and dark secrets, hope and fears, or even, heaven forbid, the exchange of details with a view to meeting up again groundside.

In mine and may other weary travellers' defence: You're thousands of miles up, more than a little drunk, with endless hours of mind-numbing travel stretching in front of you. Naturally, the person sitting beside you is going to come across as the most wildly interesting person you've ever had the pleasure of meeting.

And naturally, you're going to feel no qualms whatsoever about revealing intimate personal details to someone who for all intents and purposes could be an inmate on parole, on his way to Vegas, looking for a good time.

And in fact, on a recent trip, I did meet what seemed like a charming, well-travelled, dare I say it, dishy, City broker, clearly loaded and generous with his iPod. So you have a few laughs, you have a few too many bottles of wine, get a reprimand from a stewardess - all of which convince you you've found your new best friend.

Without hesitation you reveal everything bar your bank account details - only to find your in-box clogged the next day with mails from a complete stranger, claiming to know your favourite song and dog's name.

Worse still, when you do finally agree to meet, the charming banker from your flight-addled memory turns out to be a limping ex-army man with a massive under-bite and a chip on his shoulder to match.

We're a strange old breed, humans. By the way, how's your in-flight meal? And would you mind if we swapped seats, I really do prefer the aisle seat.

ed: Must say Gina has a great sense of humor and in my reply to her was as follows - 'You had me enthralled the whole way along, a few grammar and spelling mistakes in there (but that would be the same for mine), but overrall a brilliant story with a often familiar, joked about punchline and 'yep that will probably happen to me' attitude. It's a keeper!'