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Avoid the pain and take the train

19th February 2007 by Helena 2 Comments  

I'm ready for my full body search Mr Fiennes.As far as I can make out, the only upside to flying is you might bump into Ralph Fiennes in the loo (Daily Mail article). I am at Heathrow, dishevelled and grumpy, having been put through something they call a “random personal search”.

As I stood in the two-mile long queue (having already queued for 45 minutes at the “fast” bag drop) there was a flashing sign informing all us criminals (sorry, passengers) that any of us could be called in at any moment for this random search and if we refused we would be subjected to a “full hand search”.

I think that sounds rather interesting, like something Ralph might try in the aircraft loo. But being too polite to refuse the random search I was instead escorted into a small space where I had to twist myself into strange positions with my hands above my head while some machine checked I didn’t have any bombs tucked into my jeans (security guards take note, a woman wearing skinny jeans is not going to be carrying a bomb in them, she can hardly force her legs and bum in, let alone anything else).

I have no idea why they picked on me. I had a good night’s sleep so look fairly normal for once, I was not wearing a head-scarf and I smiled pleasantly at the man in charge of the queue. My only explanation is that the female in charge of spotting suspicious-looking women fell in love with my coat (it happens a lot) and just HAD to check out the label (Katherine Hooker if you’re interested).

So I am now waiting to board my flight to Geneva where I will spend three days recovering from this arduous morning at the La Prairie Clinic near Montreux. I am going there to see if they hold the secret to eternal youth and will reveal all in my next book. Thankfully when I head home on Thursday, I am going by train.

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2007


Filed Under: Britain, Style, blog --> Tagged With: avoid, train

2 thoughts on Avoid the pain and take the train

  • spymum says:
    20th February 2007 at 11:38 am

    This spa is world wide renowned! It sounds utterly divine – I am green with envy!

    I have never been ‘searched’ and always wonder why they choose the ones they do – it is best not to refuse I suppose! An I.B. search might be next – eeew!

  • janejill says:
    21st February 2007 at 12:26 am

    Its happened to me twice recently – once in India of all places; very embarassing as I went off with the men to be searched – caused some tittering..

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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