We were just boarding the plane when it became obvious that the passenger in tears was not alone in her predicament. Two women in this queue were the victims of heartless men who thought nothing of dumping their fiancées just hours before their respective weddings.

While I was wondering what these two would do about their wedding receptions (which were presumably all booked and paid for) another woman started to wail. This one was very thin. She wore her dark hair long and lank over her heavily made-up face, a smart shirt, and a floor-length navy blue pleated skirt. Then I realised that she was not a member of the travelling public, but one of the British Airways cabin crew on our flight. She screamed that she too had been abandoned at the alter. I took the BA staff member aside to mutter words of comfort along the lines of “Well, at least a broken engagement now is less hassle than a divorce in the future”.

Then I noticed that one of the other abandoned brides had cheered up considerably. She announced to all within earshot that she would still hold her wedding reception, and the passengers were invited to join the celebration. She would host it with the abandoned groom that she had just found in the queue.

I knew that this new couple would be very happy together on the basis that they both sported tattoos of islands. Hers was an outline of Tenerife sketched across her shoulder, and his of an unidentified island (possibly Greek?) visible beneath the flip-flop strap on his right foot.