Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Is plane-spotting linked to fear of stripy things?



I moved to London a year ago and so far my brother Andy has not shown any interest in coming to visit. That was until he found out that I can lie on my sofa and watch planes....... Now this brings up a very interesting question. Is plane-spotting genetic?

Maybe the answer lies in Alasdair. Alasdair is my eldest brother and he has no interest in planes whatsoever (unless it is taking him somewhere warm). He is the kind of guy who doesn't look up when there is a plane flying over. Can you imagine? On top of that, he is not in the least scared of stripy things. Sometimes I wonder if we're related at all.

Andy and I very scared of stripy things. You know those things that come out in Summer with the sole intention of stinging you (some people call them wasps but that's a scary word). If we see one in the same room as us, we leave. No negotiation, we both refuse to share airspace with a stripy thing. So finally I think it's clear. The plane-spotting gene is very closely linked to the fear-of-stripy-things-gene. Will that get me a paper in Nature?