Easyjet employees lack the brusque ferocity of their RyanAir counterparts — which may explain why they are not quite as efficient at getting passengers on and off aircraft. But they certainly have a odd way with the English language which requires them to use the verb “do” in redundant ways. Samples from today’s flight:

We do hope you have a pleasant journey.

I do apologise: we don’t have any five-Euro notes.

We do thank you for flying with Easyjet.

We do hope to see you again soon.

It’s too systematic for it not to be company policy.

I love Holland — have done ever since I lived and worked here in the 1970s. And every time I come back I’m always taken aback by the sheer density of bicycles. The photo shows the scene that greeted me on coming out of the Centraal Station in the Hague this afternoon. Our host at dinner tonight was a very senior corporate executive: he’d come to the restaurant by bike. Can’t imagine any of his British counterparts doing that.

Here’s a really good idea — double-decker trains. I caught one from Schiphol to the Hague. Just over 25 minutes. The Swiss are not the only people who know how to run a railway.

Er, toothpaste. Going through security at Stansted today on my way to a symposium in the Hague, I was asked if I had any liquids in my hand luggage. I answered cheerfully “no” because I hadn’t. But then my carry-on bag was diverted for the full treatment and opened for examination. After a while, the nice lady doing this pounced on my tube of toothpaste and said “Ah! This is what triggered it”. “But”, I said politely, “that’s a paste, not a liquid”. “I know”, she replied, “but the rule is, if you can spread it with a knife it’s a liquid”.

Afterwards, I wondered why this hadn’t happened before — and realised that generally toothpaste goes in the checked-in luggage. You learn something new every day.

Curious, too, the symbolism in learning this on the anniversary of 9/11!