Airport carpets are so much richer to both the senses and the intellect.

Hard floorings such as marble, wood, terrazzo and linoleum, have become fashionable of late, but I believe they create a characterless international style that is as opposed to interpretation as it is repellent to the foot.

Feathers! spluttered Sargatanas. Feathers are for the birds, my boy. Flaking, peeling, scale-ridden wings, now that's what real beings wear. I'll tell you a secret. He said, and drew me closer. The eternal pain at having known Paradise and lost it is priceless. I wouldn't swap it for anything.

If the Internet can be described as a giant human consciousness, then viral marketing is the illusion of free will.

If airports can be seen as temples to travel, gateways to other worlds, then airport carpets are the vast prayer mats upon which we all genuflect.