The Chris-Craft is a lovely thing, no doubt, but for real class, it has to be a Riva Aquarama.
If you want a beautiful wooden boat then you cannot get much better than Brave Challenger
http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=330958&cid=33
Agree with you that there seem to have been quite a few air crashes lately. Not, however, I think, on the sort of short-haul flights that Ryanair, Easyjet, etc do.
Also concur with your concern about Easyjet's customer service, as you report it.
Both these points may be good, but I suggest that, for the avoidance of doubt, it's worth clarifying that they are unconnected.
Damn, sorry, attached this comment to the wrong post. Moderator please remove!
To quote John Hospers,
When I see the ruined palaces and monuments of ancient emperors, and read of their profligate spending and festive balls, I cannot help thinking of the money and labor, the sweat and tears, that have been the price of these things, expropriated from the poor, with nothing given in return, taken by force from the last of what the worker could save, often resulting in starvation or death from overwork. But when I read of a lavish party given by an American industrialist - provided always that he has earned the money on a free market, from consumers who bought his product voluntarily, and not by robbery via government subsidy and the taxation of others - I think of what he has achieved to make it possible for him to possess this wealth - not by diminishing the wealth of others as taxation does, but by increasing it through increased production and employment; not by forced expropriation through taxes, but by voluntary trade of value for value. But the majority of people, even Americans, who ought to know better, do not recognize the difference. All they see is "he has more than we have," and they are envious and bitter. Yet when the industrialist takes a vacation on his yacht, the taxpayer has not paid a penny toward that yacht; and when a king or a president takes a vacation on his, the taxpayer has paid for it down to to the last bolt and screw - and is that much poorer for the king's enjoyment. Such is the difference between the economic realm, where wealth is created, and the political realm, where wealth is seized from those who created it in order to be enjoyed by those who have not.
Hear, hear for rampant capitalist symbols.
It is not just looks - wood just feels better than other materials.