If we had a choice, we'd walk out too

There is chaos at Heathrow airport this (Friday) evening because of a surprise walk-out by ground staff from the airport's Terminal 1. The walkout is a protest against the introduction of a tighter work time monitoring system in the Terminal. This BBC story gives the basic details, although we were surprised to read in it that

Flights from Terminal One serve destinations in the UK and mainland Europe.

Where that leaves the many flights from T1 to the Republic of Ireland, we're not sure, but it perhaps confirms the recurring suspicion of the Shamrockshire Eagle that the Republic has been creeping back into the UK anyway.

Leaving aside the little problem with national boundaries, it is true that Irish and domestic UK flights leave from the same part of T1. Which at least relieves us Irish of the burden of thinking we are being discriminated against by the longest, most dispiriting walk to the most poorly ventilated and shoddily constructed part of the airport. We think most Irish emigrants have at had least one experience of trudging from the outer reaches of Terminals 3 or 4 at 6am, wondering if the bags will make it, and with the options for refreshments reduced to a vending machine that may or not be working. The Dublin flight is always one of those gates in the upper 90s, where the cigarette smoke conveniently clusters. Most likely to save their sanity, the workers probably do indeed take the odd unofficial break. Here's hoping that a condition of settling the strike is a proper terminal.

UPDATE: the strike is over, for now. But if you want to visualise a truly ugly summer airport crowd scene, check out the picture in this BBC story.