Yorkshire Fund Managers is keeping its British Smaller Companies VCT until 30 May in the hope of a last-minute rush of

Yorkshire Fund Managers is keeping its British Smaller Companies VCT until 30 May in the hope of a last-minute rush of investors worried that on 10 June the tax advantages will be reduced or ended for new investors

This may or may not be good advice. With a Budget looming next month, investors with capital gains they want to shelter are being urged to invest in venture capital trusts (VCTs). The plane eventually landed at Gatwick (not Heathrow as promised) 28 hours after taking off from Nairobi.I did phone the manager of Trailfinders on my return. “Look,” he snorted, “the plane was full wasn’t it? The tickets were cheap weren’t they?”And the moral of this story? Save up and go on one of those luxury flights they advertise on the telly.. All the same things happened, unexplained delays, hours spent in the shed at Aden, dirty toilets, and farting male passengers – but this time the journey took even longer! There was also the seemingly endless flight over and around the Greek islands, and the unexplained stopover in Cyprus for two hours. The holiday itself was wonderful – all made even better by the certain knowledge that the outward flight must have been some kind of one-off mistake and that surely, the return flight would be OK.Not a bit of it. Eventually at 4 o’clock the following afternoon, 27 hours after leaving London we arrived at our destination.

As my daughter had bagged the window seat I was squashed into the middle seat next to a man who, snuggled up against my left shoulder, belched, snored, farted, and slept like a baby all the way to Aden. We queued for a bus to take us the 50 yards to the departure lounge – a kind of shed full of plastic chairs, one sickly ceiling fan, one broken, blocked bog, and several hundred trapped passengers trying to get their connecting flights.We stayed in the airless shed, dozing, reading, staring at our fellow passengers, eating sweets, and trying not to think about going to the toilet for six hours, until without warning there was a sudden surge to the doors and we were bundled on to a replica of our original plane and took off for Nairobi (actually they had fixed the toilet). By this time there was only one toilet working – the queue was long and the stench overpowering.After an hour on the runway we flew on and landed in Cairo where we sat on the runway for an hour-and-a-half in the stuffy heat of the night. Our Yemen Air tickets promised London to Nairobi via Aden in 10 hours.
All went well at check-in at Heathrow.

Travel pillow at the ready, a spot of shopping in the duty free, and we were ready to board However the flight was delayed for four hours. With excitement undimmed we eventually boarded the plane and, after a brief undignified skirmish with a father and son who were sitting in our seats, settled down for the flight.Ninety minutes later we landed in Paris – no explanation was given, except that we were not allowed to leave the plane. Rumour had it that the flight crew had worked an overlong shift and had to be replaced – more rumours that there was too much luggage on board. I turned down the British Airways direct flights to Nairobi and phoned up Trailfinders in Kensington for a flight bargain for a few quid short of pounds 400 each. LEGAL NOTE: Company in question wrongly identified as Trailfinfers. See apology page10, Travel Section, IOS, 25 May 1997.ZZ Sara Grove

Last August, a last minute decision to fly out to Kenya with my 13-year-old daughter to visit my friend Val, meant a quick ring around various bucket shops for a flight deal. Tent burglary is rife.Take toilet roll (and, ideally, your own toilet.).Babywipes, paracetamol, sunblock are essential.Don’t bring a white flag to identify your tent because everybody else does that too.Beware of people flogging tranquilisers, dishwasher powder and oxo cubes (and being at a festival doesn’t mean you can offer a policeman one of your herbal cigarettes).Bring a torch if you don’t want to be garroted by guy ropes or impaled on tent pegs..

The children’s carnival on the Sunday is followed by the adult’s party on the Monday. Feast your senses on elaborate costumes, flamboyant floats, steel bands and rumbling sound systems emanating reggae, jazz, soul, hip-hop and jungle, all mixed together with the pervasive presence of noxious herbal fumes.Info – 0181-964 0544.Additional research by Christian BroughtonMain picture: Stiltwalkers from Kinkny Visual Performance appearing at this year’s Phoenix Festival; left Gay Pride at Clapham Common; right a young festival-goer at WomadTHE ESSENTIAL SURVIVAL GUIDEDon’t take anything that you value unless you are prepared to keep it with you. Since the Donington “Monsters of Rock” has been cancelled, it has unequivocally stolen this year’s rock limelight. Headlining bands include Suede, Manic Street Preachers, Metallica, Cast, Space, Terrorvision and Bush. With five stages, a crowd of 45,000 and enough beer and noodle stalls to feed and intoxicate considerably more than the five thousand, it is for the inexhaustible and totally dedicated music lover.Nr Rivermead Leisure Centre, Reading Three- day tickets pounds 70.00 with pounds 5.50 fee. Credit-card bookings 0171-734 8932 or 0541 500044.The Village Charity Mardi GrasFri 22-Mon 25 Aug.Primarily focusing on the Gay Village of Manchester, the four-day-long event starts with DJs, cabaret and fireworks on Friday and ends in much the same vein on Tuesday morning.

In between there is the Mardi Gras Carnival Queen/King competition, a City Carnival Parade, a Coronation Street Party with Dance Nights at the Granada Studios Tour and a Mardi Gras Party Night at the GMEX.Info – 0161-237 3131.Notting Hill CarnivalSun 23-Mon 24 Aug (August Bank Holiday).This festival of Caribbean arts and culture is one of the most colourful spectacles of the season and is attended by up to two million people, making it the biggest street celebration in Europe. Situated in Essex, a chart-tastic line- up of bands like Kula Shaker, Dodgy, Reef, Pavement, Teenage Fanclub, Mansun, Ash, Placebo, the Prodigy, Beck and Gene flit between the stages of Leeds and Chelmsford and are heartily washed down with a vat of Virgin cola.Hylands park, Chelmsford. Tickets cost pounds 50 with pounds 4 fee for the weekend, pounds 28.50 with pounds 2.50 fee for the day, and are available from HMV and Tower branches through London and the South East, from Chelsmford Civic Theatre or on 0171-287 0932/0171-344 4444.Reading ‘97Fri 22-Sun 24 Aug.Having started out as a jazz and blues festival in the early Sixties, the Reading Festival has evolved into an all-out stage-diving, beer-swilling rock fest. For the preceding two months, Croydon hosts a series of music gigs at Fairfield’s Arnhem Gallery.Beddington Park, Sutton, Surrey. Info line – 0181-660 8547.V97Sat 16-Sun 17 Aug.The V event started last year, and owes its existence to the benevolent sponsorship of Richard Branson. Info line – 01626 62883.AugustEarth Energy Music FestivalFri 1-Sun 3 Aug.In addition to the outdoor music stage, Earth Energy brings you arts and crafts stalls, street theatre, major themed club tents, a 100ft-long bar and a kids area. Info – 01225 744494 or http://realworld.on .HeadworxThurs 24 July-Mon 4 Aug.The UK’s biggest surfing tournament and free beach festival returns with such attractions as the Headworx Pro Surf, the Voodoo Dolls Ladies Pro Surf and the Pure Juice UK Surf Open, the usual malarkey of half-pipe skate ramps, and music from Root Joose, Feeder, Killa Instinct and King Prawn.Fistral Beach, Newquay, Cornwall.