Linard's Travels

Deep and distinguished, yet rugged and wise, Linard Davies serves the next customer wanting their bag wrapped in cling film at the Airport Travel Agency in San Francisco. Linard deals with the packages that the airlines won't and swears by his motto, 'We don't say no'.

Perhaps it's this can-do attitude that has earned him a reputation for dealing with urns. 'We must have had over a hundred urns'. A traffic cop stored his father's ashes with Linard while putting on a function at his house. He would occasionally pop in and ask, 'How's my dad doing? Linard would reply, 'He's doing great, he ain't bothering nobody!'

A Korean girl flying to Atlanta left the ashes of her mother with Linard, never to be picked up. He now considers the deceased his business partner, talking to her on long night shifts. Yet he does feel a little responsible for 'Grandma' as he calls her, as he accidentally broke the urn and the ashes scattered onto the floor. So Grandma is now forever in San Francisco Airport.

The Airport Travel Agency deals with all kinds of artefacts, from a set of house keys to a bass violin, kayak, or extra-large dog kennel (minus the dog). The unofficial historian of the Airport Travel Agency, Carol, gives us a run down of the strangest items - clown shoes, 10-foot tall carved wooden doors from Bali and a set of fresh moose antlers, to name just a few.

Producer: Peter Shevlin
A BlokMedia production

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.

An insight into the life of Linard Davies, a baggage attendant at San Francisco airport.