It's that Irish heritage. And the delay was only 30 minutes.

I can remember maybe 20 years ago at East Midlands airport UK there was a delay of some considerable hours and in that time they had managed to commission Bill Tidy to entertain, talking to people and drawing. He had a delivery verbally that just oozed friendliness. AFAIK he lived in Blackpool, at least 2 hours away.

Those who don't know, Bill Tidy was a cartoonist extraordinaire. He did jokes and had a series in the New Scientist. Apart from being exquisitely funny without a hint of malice, he had a way of depicting Morris dancers that could only come from affection and probably a lot of time spent with a side or two.

One of his notable cartoons in Punch was a polar bear at the shipping office saying "have you got any news of the iceberg" - the inspiration for Les Barker's poem/song of that name.