I have taken an overnight bus I’ve been at Antananarivo airport from 5am. The time moves tortoise-like as I wait for a 2.30pm flight which has a « going to be late » label hanging on it. Chickens are picking at the concrete in the airport parking lot. Takings are probably meagre but they know, as a kind of compensation, that nothing will be disturbing them for some time. From the international section of the airport one flight is due out (mine) and one due in for the whole of the day. No hustle or bustle!

I have wandered around the international and domestic sections of the airport killing time, hoping there’s a coffee somewhere. I’ve had a look at the toilets, which is always one of the revealing features of a country.

Bought an overpriced copy of “Le Monde”, stamped “Air France copie”, which came in on last night’s flight from Paris. Found a cup of strong coffee. Watched the President’s Boeing 737 being readied for takeoff and was warned off by security heavies for getting too close with a camera in my hand.

I don’t like hanging around so I order a beer though I’m not usually an early morning drinker – it’s only 8am – even if in Shakespeare’s England they did it.

I finish my beer in a leisurely manner, (650cl and 5.5°) and enjoy the effect. Then I notice a young, poorly dressed and harressed-looking woman sit down at the next table. She is with what I suppose to be her four young children. What could she be doing here, I wonder. Is it a special treat? Will they wait to watch a plane take off?

I watch with more than surprise as the waitress brings the mother’s order. It’s a small bottle of coke and five glasses. The oldest child, a boy of about 13, pours the drink. Even though the mother refuses there is just a sliver of drink in each glass. The children watch the drink in their glasses for some time before the first of them puts a glass to her lips.

I am not particularly generous person, just fairly normal. But there are times when travelling that I feel uncomfortable by the inequality that I see around me. I know myself what it was like to have very little money at times. So I feel embarrassed for this lady with her young children and so when I finish my beer I call the waitress, pay for my beer and give her money to buy a large bottle of coke for the lady with the children.

I wait until I see that the waitress brings the coke to the lady’s table but leave quickly to avoid her knowing who paid for it. It would have embarrassed me to have her thank me even with her eyes.

The world is not very fair sometimes.