title: python: flat zip
body: <p>I have</p>
  
  <pre><code>a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
  b = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>where <code>a</code> has one more element.
  <code>zip(a,b)</code> returns <code>[(1, 'a'), (2, 'b'), (3, 'c'), (4, 'd')]</code>. However, I want </p>
  
  <pre><code>[1, 'a', 2, 'b', 3, 'c', 4, 'd']
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What is the most elegant way?</p>