The memento

was flying non-stop on an A380 between Auckland and Dubai. The lights were dimmed, most people were asleep and I was in the bar area at the back asking for a cup of tea when the plane started shuddering violently. The crew who’d been in the rear kitchen scrambled out to the bar seats and buckled themselves in, as the plane went into a bout of sustained, wild jolting that made the fuselage shake and vibrate.

The crew told me we were flying in monsoon season and there was a massive weather system. The turbulence was going to be unusually