Mastodawn

I hope the hive mind can help with finding a book for me. Many moons ago, back in the late 80s I think it was. I'm very sure I heard this story on Danish radio. Set in Sweden a child with divorced parents had to travel between them by flying back and forth from northern and southern Sweden. Back then you could "hand over" a child to the airport and flight staff for them to accompany the children to the destination. In the story the staff had help someone urgently and parked the child (main character) at a check in desk. This was where everything went wrong for the parents and staff but the adventure started. As the child took a handful of the tags that the children got to show where they were going. And they would swap these tags around so it say LAX, LHR, JFK etc. as they got put onto different flights around the world.

Am I dreaming or is this really a book?

Thanks!

#Bookstodon #BookWorms #Books #Sweden #Denmark #Sverige #Danmark #Radio #Story

Britstralian 1d ago

@woollypigs How cool! A bit like the cupboard to Narnia, but for airports.

Nervous parents will now be having nightmares!

woollypigs 1d ago

@Nigel_Lake yeah, no way a child could do that today with all the helicopter and bubble wrap parents are using ;)

vicarvernon 1d ago

@woollypigs @Nigel_Lake three times I flew as child unaccompanied. That was over four decades ago, and about ten years after a (about four hours) train journey with my sister (also quite young).

I couldn't imagine it happening now.

christian mock 1d ago

@vicarvernon @woollypigs @Nigel_Lake I think you still can, ten years ago our niece came to visit us this way...

woollypigs 1d ago

@cm @vicarvernon @Nigel_Lake yes https://mastodon.social/@henrikeriksson/116385805256191630 just pointed that out.

Henrik Eriksson 1d ago

@woollypigs FWIW Unaccompanied minor is a service many airlines still provide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unaccompanied_minor_(passenger)

Unaccompanied minor (passenger) - Wikipedia

woollypigs 1d ago

@henrikeriksson ah, I would have thought with today's parenting and after 9/11 this was a thing of the past.

Ray McCarthy 1d ago

@woollypigs @henrikeriksson
No, still real!

Though many years ago my kids did it to visit their grandfather. Just Shannon to Belfast and back.
The story sounds better than "Home Alone".
I wrote a story where some teenagers pretended to be adults and flew to Shannon from Copenhagen via Heathrow. They pretended one of them was blind and that the real wolf was a guide dog. Actually only one of the people was a human and one was a Fae (Aés Sidhe). They also had DIY passports that required glamour.

woollypigs 1d ago

@raymaccarthy @henrikeriksson ohh I would like to read that ;)

Ray McCarthy 1d ago

@woollypigs @henrikeriksson
It's the 2nd book in a series, but no actual cliffhangers in any.
https://www.corvidspress.com/fiction/otherworld-series/carrying-the-shining-sword/
Available as an ebook almost everywhere (Smashwords is DRM free and simplest). In theory a POD paperback exists, but not yet released.

The penultimate book and last are proofed, but not published. The penultimate book is a "reverse Narnia". As C.S. Lewis lived in Belfast, that's where it's partially set. Four"fairy children" arrive in a present day Belfast house!

Carrying the Shining Sword – Corvids Press

woollypigs 1d ago

@raymaccarthy @henrikeriksson thanks, adds to the pile of books that one needs to read.

Ray McCarthy 1d ago

@woollypigs @henrikeriksson
My pile is several thousand high because I check Project Gutenberg daily (Free quality proofed PD) and Mobile Read for bargain / free commercial ebooks.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=26

Even my paper TBR pile is high due to inherited books.

Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links) - MobileRead Forums

Find hot e-book deals and freebies and other noteworthy e-books resources. (No promotional posts or affiliate links allowed.)

@woollypigs I grew up in Sweden and I think I know this. I haven’t thought about in line 35 years. I think it was a Swedish kids tv show?

woollypigs 1d ago

@stojg ohh I have no memory of it being a tv show, though we had access to swedish telly soooo maybe?

@woollypigs hard to tell, all the nordics channel swapped kids shows as far as I can tell, but could be from any country really. I can’t find it either, which is frustrating.

Edit: I know the story, but can’t tell if it was a tv show, a book or something else, or a just a shared dream?

woollypigs 1d ago

@stojg yes I remember that too, if you missed it on Danish TV you could catch up on Norwegian or Swedish telly.

Shared dream now this is Twilight Zone territory ;)

Leigh Garland 1d ago

@woollypigs can't identify the book, but can confirm about airport handovers. I was once held, age 11 at Al Manama by armed police. Not the adventure you might hope for 😅

woollypigs 1d ago

@toychicken now that's a story ;)

Leigh Garland 1d ago

@woollypigs yeah it was a doozy!

I was visiting my mum in Bahrain, and my grandmother had given me some Christmas presents to take. Already wrapped.

The guards stopped me, because one present was a video cassette, and they needed to check there was no pornography on it.

It was in fact, Paul McCartney's frog chorus. Me and three armed guards watched it in a little ante-room. At the end of the song. They ejected the tape, and handed it over... 1/2

Leigh Garland 1d ago

@woollypigs What none of us knew was that there was another music video. A psychedelic Wings/Linda McCartney number, which included a relatively innocent bit of animated nudity. If they'd seen that... I suspect I would have been imprisoned!

2/2

Leigh Garland 1d ago

@woollypigs of course, I've been telling this story for years, and it only just occurred to me to find the video... Here it is!

https://youtu.be/q7iD4s8vFCE?si=1nzOAyTWlSClz6AC

Linda McCartney - The Oriental Nightfish (1978) - UK VHS

YouTube

woollypigs 1d ago

@toychicken love that I ask about a book and I get a great story and funky music video to watch ;)

@woollypigs ooh I wonder if @rrcollier ever heard of this? He flew under airline staff care as a child.

@Ailbhe @woollypigs oh, now I want to read this book.

The most exciting thing that happened to me was the airport staff getting confused and trying to put us on the wrong airline (to the correct destination, but 3 hours early) - which was only foiled by the happy accident of me having left my tags in the bathroom on the previous plane.

As it was, our baggage (I was with my little sister) reached Stansted 3 hours ahead of us.

woollypigs 1d ago

@rrcollier @Ailbhe we managed to get our bikes on to a flight without paying, because staff were training and the flight was delayed. It was the first time the new staff had to hand out food vouchers and therefore forgot to charge us \o/

@woollypigs If you find it, i'd love to read it in English. It sounds like such fun! I remember getting to travel by plane once, and that's what happened, they got me to the gate and onto the plane and my grandmother was waiting for me on arrival. I didn't get a chance to snag tags, though LOL--I got stuck on a cart with a boy with a broken leg, what a patient kid, too. I had never seen a cast before and he let me touch it. We were trying to figure out the best way to get Braille on the cast, too since I couldn't sign my name then. Sadly, not enough time to try Braille, but he claimed he appreciated the thought. Hahaha!

woollypigs 1d ago

@jane_jordan I will for sure share on here when found

Marcus Baumgartner 22h ago

Hin und her - Chaos im doppelpack

https://share.google/fRidXhC6zQTOm22mc

Bevor Sie zur Google Suche weitergehen

woollypigs 21h ago

@Marcus_Baumgartner hmm good find, though don't think this is it as it's released in 2003-2006 and I can't remember any lookalike/twins part

Marcus Baumgartner 21h ago

@woollypigs It was a try. Good luck with your search! 😁👍

woollypigs 18h ago

@Marcus_Baumgartner many thanks