On Aug 6, 8:32, Joe R. wrote:
> I went to a HP Calculator conference in England about 6 or 7 years
ago
> (pre-9/11) and I carried a LOT of calculators, parts, accessories and
tools
> with me. I was very concerned about going through security and
customs but
> had almost no trouble.
I've not had any trouble recently, but here are three instances from
the past. I used to fly regularly from Edinburgh to Belfast in
Northern Ireland, or to London.
On one occasion I was taking a pre-production Acorn Archimedes to demo
in Belfast, but since I was flying I didn't take the monitor. Needless
to say, that was the time security (actually, Special Branch) asked if
they could see it working to prove it was a computer (didn't look quite
like a PC), and eventually I had to dismantle it to persuade them.
Once (late 1980s) I was travelling to Belfast with just a briefcase and
small shoulder bag; in the shoulder bag was my toilet bag, spare shirt,
socks, etc. In the toilet bag was the usual toothbrush, etc and a
teaspoon and a small scalpel. The young lady operating the security
scanner took about a 5 millisecond glance at the blurry image and said
would I "mind leaving the scalpel behind, please." We compromised --
she kept the (detachable) blade.
Last one: travelling from London back to Edinburgh I arrived with just
a few moments to spare, only to be stopped by security who spotted my
small toolcase in my bag. All the tools were OK, though they insisted
on pulling most of them out, but they took everything out of the small
side pocket until they found a small ziplock bag containing the rather
grubby damp sponge for my soldering iron. "Would you mind telling me
what this substance is, sir?"
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Received on Fri Aug 06 2004 - 19:00:58 BST