well, i am a touch tired out and somewhat disorientated, but let me have a go at one of those "proper", presumably longer posts that i apparently once did and attracted all you kind people to come along and read my musings. as i am writing this one of them netbook thingies, that which features a keyboard just about as substantial and practical as a child's toy, please do bear with me!
i really rather like being punctual, even if it means arriving way early for things. my (considerably) better half goes punctual for professional, "as and when" for social things and uber-punctual on those rare instances paranoia creeps into her world, or when she has done things like given all our furniture away so we might as well get somewhere waaay early so we can at the least sit down.
such instances lead to one arriving with their family at premises before the staff of such premises are ready to entertain your business, which in itself leads to you hanging about in corridors, sitting on conventional cases.
when the staff arrived and assisted us, well after some scrawny gent of Indian origin apparently in a rush decided to ignore that we had formed the very queue he presumed to create, we were then on our way. that is, on our way to waiting for a few hours.
and what better way to spend some of those hours than by eating brie cheese loving melted over some bacon and a rather fine chicken fillet. this is what myself and my (considerably) better half most certainly did whilst the boys watched some planes do their thing.
well, their take off and land thing, at the least. and watched them fly a bit too, but they are rather quick so you can only watch them do that for a few moments. unless you ran really fast and tried to keep them in view i suppose, but for some reason airports are constructed in such a way that you can't go wandering outside for a jog and a gander at the skies.
with airport companies being so unnecessarily restrictive, for the petrol that goes in planes comes off of the same dinosaurs as that what goes in cars and you can walk around petrol stations, we then had to stroll around inside the airport after the class brie thing was done and, indeed, paid for.
other than purchasing a magazine for my Dad that i have absolutely no idea how i am going to get to him, we saw this rather fine statue on display in front of one store.
an absolutely magnificent likeness of the magnificent man they call Madiba. way better than the very bad statue at that Nelson Mandela Square place (see previous posts). our congratulations and admiration to the artist who created this; a fantastic work.
as conventional biology, if you accept its rule, dictates, the consumption of fine foods with brie cheese melted all over it, accompanied by a not unreasonable beverage in the form of a mild (in every sense) coffee, requires one to expel the waste excesses from their person.
whereas normally i am unaccustomed to discussing such things, and certainly never has anyone ever proved that i unleash attacks in such facilities (in particular at verk), the poster i saw in it necessitates me discussing the public restroom on offer.
here, then, is the poster, roughly in size that which one would normally see outside a cinema, advertising the latest motion picture to feature George Clooney or some other such rubbish.
i have been asked to review several products and services in the past, but not once that i can recall has anyone ever gone to so much effort to solicit from me what exactly i thought of a urinal that i had just used.
i forgot to send the review in, but if they are reading - the urinal was in the top ten of ones that i can remember using around the world, the taps on the wash basin were adequate to satisfactory, the hand dryer thingie was of a reasonable height and produced sufficient heat and the chap with a mop expecting coins from the gentry using the facility very nearly created the sense that one was in the Savoy or the Ritz, except it didn't.
of the restroom i would say it is tragic that one has to be cleared by customs and be in transit for a place beyond the borders of South Africa to experience the sheer magnificence of it. i am, however, unsure that this is the case, and i would wager any chap that wanted to go wee-wees there and have the pleasure of a gent with a mop ask you for money could go with little fuss.
why? because my experiences at security getting in were of the "classic" variety. as in, as usual i set off the metal detector, despite stripping my person of all known metal. i thus duly presented myself to the (theoretical) security officers, expecting a full pat-down and one of them handheld metal detectors to be passed over my person.
the security staff, alas, were too busy chatting and socializing with each other. they had not even noticed i had set the alarm off, and did not acknowledge me when i stood in front of them. so i just walked off and through.
although one is apparently now welcome to use electronic devices inflight and on a plane i refrained from doing so. it just strikes me as being an incredibly twat thing to do, and i would like to think i am not one of them obtrusive types of twat. other than being rude and inconsiderate to other passengers, why is it i would want to speak to or message anyone? to say what? "i am on a plane"? i would like to think anyone that needs or wishes to know that would be aware, thanks.
still, a brief stop in Dubai, brief as in a duration which allowed a couple of cigarettes, some ice cream and a can of Coke, did allow for one or two pictures. here is one of them, in which for some reason James thought that a water feature in Dubai would be the ideal place to perfect his Statue Of Liberty impression.
i did not take any further images of our travels, or for that matter of many of our adventures in our new, old locale thus far. it is a time to settle and adjust, as it were, and indeed a time to spend with our family. and so far our relatives have been astonishing, amazing, supportive and kind. we are very thankful to all who have helped us in tremendous ways thus far.
no doubt over the next days, weeks and years the usual kinds of pictures and stories will flash up here. for now, though, just another two for you. both are from this morning. here's one from about 7:30am, which features the moon in the sky and is a lot brighter than it actually was as i left the flash on the blueberry thing.
and yes, of course, there is a selfie for you to finish. this one was taken just after 8:30am, a time when i thought the sun might have made itself visible. it had, alas, not.
when the sun did appear, somewhere after 9:30am or so, it sparked off a most lovely day that was not as freezing as we expected it to be, but was quite nippy all the same. i am led to believe that tomorrow shall see the cold and the rain enter our lives, with snow likely in the next few weeks.
and with that weather forecast i feel myself wishing to climb in to bed, for i have heavy eyes, some sort of ear infection that has left me for the most part deaf in one ear and indeed i can win the battle against this keyboard no more tonight.
more tales, pictures and selfies in the not too distant future.
thanks, as ever, for reading.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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