After checking in, and having no wish to become an
unwitting candidate for extraordinary rendition, I thought it wise to seek
security clearance for my tubular tungsten tipped walking stick. In the
prevailing political climate of fundamentalism and extreme official responses,
it seemed imprudent to make assumptions about what might be classified as a
weapon of mass destruction and what was merely aluminium tubing.
“Is this
style of hiker’s pole OK to take aboard?” I asked a security man, identified by
his uniform of high visibility orange oilskins.
“Too true
Yessir!” was the official response. “Believe you me, in the Isle of Man there’s
no limit to the number or variety of walking sticks that cripples or the
elderly can carry at any time.”
