Baggage handling at Heathrow

These (mostly) young men from the Hasidic Jewish community had a bit of problem when they joined our flight from Newark, New Jersey, to London Heathrow. Many of them had bought new fedora hats - they're called Borsalinos - in the US and there was too little room in the overhead lockers for both their walk-on bags and their hat boxes. So it took an age for them to get seated, tripping up and down the aisle looking for any spare locker space.

Looking at this photograph I'm reminded of a talk on networking I attended a while back. The chap giving the talk was commenting on the positions people take when they meet each other. The three men in the huddle here are in a "closed meeting". That is to say it doesn't welcome anyone joining from outside. You can see this in any gathering. Some people stand slightly sideways to each other and this is an open stance that is saying "it's OK to join us". But not here.