For some reason, I was tonight thinking about my experiences of flying: of which I have done some (60 years or more) in my long and privileged life. Including flying with PIA (Pakistan International Airlines): whose sandwiches are atrocious - but whose Airbuses tend to be moderately OK, and certainly more passenger-friendly than the DC3s in which I flew in the 1950s.

A few wee bumps do not deter me from flying.

One day, about three/four years ago, the PIA captain made an announcement (halfway between Karachi and Lahore) : "Good evening. We are at an altitude of about 10,000 metres above the Sindh desert. So the outside temperature is -37 degrees Celsius. But we have made a decision here on the flight deck, for the comfort of passengers, to maintain a cabin temperature a little higher than that i.e. at +22 degrees Celsius . Enjoy your flight."  Dead pan, immaculate English and delightful.

I loved that.