A man was flying from Seattle to San Francisco. Unexpectedly, the plane was diverted to Sacramento along the way. The flight attendant explained that there would be a delay, and if the passengers wanted to get off the aircraft the plane would re-board in 50 minutes.

Everybody got off the plane except one lady who was blind. The man had noticed her as he walked by and could tell the lady was blind because her Seeing Eye dog lay quietly underneath the seats in front of her throughout the entire flight.

He could also tell she had flown this very flight before because the pilot approached her, and calling her by name, said, "Kathy, we are in Sacramento for almost an hour. Would you like to get off and stretch your legs?" The blind lady replied, "No thanks, but maybe my dog would like to stretch his legs."

Picture this:

All the people in the gate area came to a complete standstill when they looked up and saw the pilot walk off the plane with a Seeing Eye dog!

The pilot was even wearing sunglasses.

People scattered. They not only tried to change planes, but they were trying to change airlines!

True story....

Surely, the next-to-the-last line must be an exaggeration, mustn't it?

The story reminded me of a Wheeler Airline pilot nearly fifty years ago. Wheeler had the contract to fly us from radar station to radar station in the Canadian Arctic.

This bloke always wore a jacket that said: SOUTHERN ONTARIO FARMERS' COLLEGE on the back.

If anybody asked about it, he would explain that he had enrolled, but then flunked the medical. So he hadn't done the course, but they let him keep the jacket.

He would tell the passenger that, when they measured his hand-eye co-ordination, the college told him it wasn't good enough to enable him to be entrusted with a valuable tractor.

Another true story in a similar vein comes from London's "Drain" as it is affectionatley known by the railway staff. The Drain is the Waterloo and City line and is the only underground railway operated by, as then was, British Railways. It goes from London Waterloo via Bank to City and back, no branches and underground. Not surprisingly it is a tedious line for the drivers.

After one run the guard came through to the driver's cab with a white stick left on the train by some hapless passenger. The driver thought he'd have a bit of a crack with it, so put on his sunglasses and stepped out of the train. Tapping his way down the length of the platform he stopped by one passenger and asked "Excuse me sir, would you mind guiding me to the driver's cab at the end of the train?" The passenger promptly reported him to the railway management and he was suspended from duties for a week.

Some people have no sense of humour.