Oh yes, the food!! I remember having some ball tearing meals particularly on ANZ, but Ansett served up some good dishes. Up front you would even get deserts, tasty meals including meat you could identify, proper cutlery, napkins and even cups, saucers and glasses with AN emblem on them
I loved first flights of the day also, the interior of the aircraft would smell crisp and clean, it would actually look clean after a quality job from her overnight clean. Unlike today when you jump onboard and there is slop over the floor, you pull out the inflight mag and get gum and old hairs on your hands, and occasionally there will be spew or residual food embedded under your lap belt sash.
When paxing I enjoyed the cloth aircraft seats, not too worn and comfy. Cigarette ashtray ready to be filled throughout the journey and if you had to take a quick wee break rarely would you step into the toilet with a floor covered in urine!
You had time to sign on for shift, no overly rushed pre-flight walk around, you could look and admire your machine for the day. Hell, if you did have a delay you could even use some extra fuel burn to make up a few minutes for the punters, without getting a kick in the arse from management.
Thems were the days
