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Back to the Everyday Grey
After nearly two weeks back in Oz, guess we can safely say that the serpent is slowly returning to the old routines.
It's been a crazy state of Limbo for the last week or so. This unexpected overseas adventure has had some horrid side effects. I think I have confirmed beyond all possible doubt that every long haul flight results in a large number of grey cells being totally fried. It will be a very long time before I ever care to darken the skies of the awful Abu Dhabi airport with my presence. It was nice the first time. All I had to do was take ten minutes to find the right gate and then spend another ninety or so just pottering around, waiting and watching the battle of the burqas. Second time around the flight was delayed due to snow in Amsterdam and we arrived almost an hour late. Was not unduly worried since the gates are so nicely arranged around a central circle. But in the meantime they had moved the goal posts to include a bright shiny new Terminal 3 with my flight being at the very last gate and a ridiculous level of security even for transit passengers.
So after running around like a headless chook convinced that there was not a hope in hell of making it to the gate before closing time, finally got to Gate 61, went through yet another security check and saw that the place was packed like sardines with no sign at all of anything happening. And still no mention of any delays on the departures information.
The plane to Perth left more than one hour late but it would have been nice to know that before arriving in a state of total panic. That mad dash basically tainted the rest of the return trip.
Then arriving in Oz some eleven hours later, the place looked all grey, brown and beige and totally burnt to a crisp. There was an ominous greyness to the clouds and it was like landing in Singapore. All hot and horrid and sticky.
Got to thinking and wondering why anyone who was not going home or visiting friends or relatives, what other possible reason could justify enduring 11 plus hours in cattle class? The beaches are pretty and also mostly empty in this bit of Oz but the world is full of nice beaches. It's certainly not for a cheap getaway since during 5 weeks in Amsterdam in the middle of winter it was possible to buy fruit and veggies at half the price of what's in season here at the moment.
While it was nice to miss out on five weeks of stinking sizzling summer sauna weather, in some ways going from quite cold to sizzling stinking hot was far more of a shock than getting used to it slowly over those five missing weeks.
So the serpent has been in zombie mode for pretty much most of the time since returning. It was especially amusing and sort of disturbing going back to the Tuesday day job only to discover that the postcard sent from Amsterdam in the first week of January had only just arrived the day before. The post mark was dated 2nd February! Looks like lousy lazy owls are everywhere.
As well as good old routines there's also the annual ritual of the Fringe festival. Its kind of freaky to discover that more than half the tents and the providers of nibblies at events have come half way round the world from Holland. The poor Dutch buggers slaving over a hot stove wear nothing but shorts and aprons. They must be melting.
There are other big and interesting events afoot in the city but will save that stuff for another day.
It's been a crazy state of Limbo for the last week or so. This unexpected overseas adventure has had some horrid side effects. I think I have confirmed beyond all possible doubt that every long haul flight results in a large number of grey cells being totally fried. It will be a very long time before I ever care to darken the skies of the awful Abu Dhabi airport with my presence. It was nice the first time. All I had to do was take ten minutes to find the right gate and then spend another ninety or so just pottering around, waiting and watching the battle of the burqas. Second time around the flight was delayed due to snow in Amsterdam and we arrived almost an hour late. Was not unduly worried since the gates are so nicely arranged around a central circle. But in the meantime they had moved the goal posts to include a bright shiny new Terminal 3 with my flight being at the very last gate and a ridiculous level of security even for transit passengers.
So after running around like a headless chook convinced that there was not a hope in hell of making it to the gate before closing time, finally got to Gate 61, went through yet another security check and saw that the place was packed like sardines with no sign at all of anything happening. And still no mention of any delays on the departures information.
The plane to Perth left more than one hour late but it would have been nice to know that before arriving in a state of total panic. That mad dash basically tainted the rest of the return trip.
Then arriving in Oz some eleven hours later, the place looked all grey, brown and beige and totally burnt to a crisp. There was an ominous greyness to the clouds and it was like landing in Singapore. All hot and horrid and sticky.
Got to thinking and wondering why anyone who was not going home or visiting friends or relatives, what other possible reason could justify enduring 11 plus hours in cattle class? The beaches are pretty and also mostly empty in this bit of Oz but the world is full of nice beaches. It's certainly not for a cheap getaway since during 5 weeks in Amsterdam in the middle of winter it was possible to buy fruit and veggies at half the price of what's in season here at the moment.
While it was nice to miss out on five weeks of stinking sizzling summer sauna weather, in some ways going from quite cold to sizzling stinking hot was far more of a shock than getting used to it slowly over those five missing weeks.
So the serpent has been in zombie mode for pretty much most of the time since returning. It was especially amusing and sort of disturbing going back to the Tuesday day job only to discover that the postcard sent from Amsterdam in the first week of January had only just arrived the day before. The post mark was dated 2nd February! Looks like lousy lazy owls are everywhere.
As well as good old routines there's also the annual ritual of the Fringe festival. Its kind of freaky to discover that more than half the tents and the providers of nibblies at events have come half way round the world from Holland. The poor Dutch buggers slaving over a hot stove wear nothing but shorts and aprons. They must be melting.
There are other big and interesting events afoot in the city but will save that stuff for another day.