Mali Day 5

My ass is numb. No let me state that a bit better. My body is numb from the waist down.

We were unable to get a flight to site. That meant we had to face a 7 hour road trip to site. Dada (our local contact) had arranged a Land Cruiser for the trip. We were to start the trip at 6am and hopefully get there in time for lunch. What did not bode well was Dada arriving at 5:45 and mentioning that he needed to sort out the spare tyres as both of them were flat. We had breakfast while we waited for the process to take place.

Starting the trip, we were advised that the owner of the vehicle had come up with 4 new tyres and did we want to go over and change them out. Already running late, I tossed my hat in with lady luck and said “no worries, we use what we have”. Fortunately we did not have any issues with the tyres.

The road from Bamako to Sikaso starts off really well. Our driver had – like all drivers we use – done courses on “press accelerator flat and hold tight” The road was newly tarred and we averaged 140kmph. I was starting to wonder why the trip takes 7 hours. (refer one of my previous posts where I made the same error). Around 100km out of town the reason why the tar was good became apparent. They were refurbishing the road. The road gradually got worse until we went through Sikaso and turned off on a dirt road. Pear shaped!

The road was ack!

Driver was doing 100kmph on a dirt road and we realized he had attended the rally course as well. I was like James Bond. Shaken, not stirred.

The mine is in the middle of no where. I mean it! There is absolutely nothing around it. Nearest bank is 2 hours away. Poor site lads.

Good meetings. Gained a good idea of the job. The pub had no Captain Morgan, so I drank beer and we were asleep by 10. The accommodation is good if basic.

We left site at 12 and a further ass numbing trip back to Bamako.

Arrived at the hotel, had a stiff drink, had a meeting with the clients’ rep, had another stiff drink and hopped into a taxi to find the Indian restaurant that Celia had marked on her tourist 101 list.

French country, English people. You know the story. This poor taxi driver had no clue where we wanted to go and asked for directions from the locals while referring to the piece of paper we had. We never did find the Indian Restaurant, but did end up at a Lebanese Deli. We all had Falafal and I had a nice steak. Jeri had Pizza and Celia a Hamburger.

Good Bamako Food. *chuckle*

We made it back to the hotel for coffee and sleep.

Today I had a quick meeting with “I have a brother”, had brekkie and we are looking to see if we can do anything touristy. Our driver is late (again) and the lasses have gone to see if they can buy Jeri something else to wear rather than her 2 items of clothing that she has. The poor lass has spent the last week with one pair of Knickers. Apparently she washes them at night and dries them with the hair drier. To say she is somewhat miffed is an understatement.

Celia on the other hand has found out that she packed enough tops to allow two people to be clothed for a week. Subject of much ribbing.

We have made good contacts, achieved almost all we set out to achieve and I am looking forward to the flight back.

The one issue is once again, I have a 2 hour layover before my connecting flight from Nairobi to Joburg. What do you think the chances are of me missing the flight due to a delay from Bamako? The bookies will not take that bet methinks.

Mali - Day 3

Well I finally managed to get to Mali, some 26 hours after the trip started. Air Kenya did manage to pull out the stops to get flights confirmed via strange places and we friendly all the way.

That said, they did not feed us very well at all and all I had to eat on Tuesday was a really scary chilli dog, where the refried beans had been refried maybe once to often.

That said - I can also see how people can exit at the incorrect airport. We flew Air Maurutania for the last leg from Benin to Mali and the languages of choice were Arabic and French. I can assume that this is the reason why they put the name of the airport you are at in Large Letters. *chuckle*

Bamako?

Another African City.

Roads are somewhat decent where they have managed to put tar down. The buildings are in reasonable nick and the Sofitel where we are staying is a decent - if expensive - hotel.

The streets are dirty and the west african open drains abound. People speak french and I speak english with grade 1 French. It makes for interesting communication.

We had a meeting with tax accountants and lawyers which entailed us asking a question in English, really long and animated discussions in French and the answer in english which usually consisted of "yes"

I am sure they were discussing the latest soccor results to make it look as if the question was a difficult one.

Jeri lost her luggage - and she had the shortest trip - so she is not a happy camper. We did toddle off to the local pharmacy to purchase her toothpaste and a toothbrush as she was looking rather ragged. Her essential purchase also included skin cream. Tis a woman thing :)

The fact that her luggage was lost in Dakar and she is not returning via that route does not bode well. We all assume her clothes are on sale in the market in Dakar - Home used.

I am off to site today - 7 hour drive - as we were unable to get a plane to take us in due to the presedential elections on Sunday. The alarm went off at 5am. Not good.

We had road runner chicken as our first meal - tough chicken with skinny legs is a west african constant.

We did however have a good meal at the hotel last night even though the cost was $280.00 for 6 people.

Lemme at em.

Have a great one people - will update soon.

Oh yes - as an aside, Blogger seems to pick up that I am in a French Speaking country and has unilaterally decided that all the buttons and writing shall be in French.

I will now press the "Publier" button and see what happens.

*press*

Mali - Day 0.5

Well the flight was further delayed for "technical reasons" (read a red light on the dash that caused the pilot to shit himself).

New departure time 04h30.

This of course means our connecting flight is well and truly in it's moer.

So. In true Air Kenya Fashion we are now booked on a flight to Benin departing 14h30 and finally will arrive in Bamako at 19:50 tonight.

The positive aspect is I can tick Benin Airport off my Africa Airports list.

At R15,00 for a coffee the pub here is making a fortune.

Oh yes. There are around 40 guys who are demining in Sudan. Respect.

I am still having fun?

Mali - Day 0

A journey, they say, starts with a single step. In this case however, my journey starts with a delayed flight.

O R Tambo airport is pretty dead at 11pm at night. I must admit in all my years of travel, I can honestly say this is the latest I have ever taken a flight at the airport.

Did you know that all the duty free shops close at 10:30 pm? I did not know that.

Did you know that there is only one flight out of JHB after 11:30pm? I did not know that. When you think of Accra airport with many flights leaving after midnight, JHB is not quite the hub I thought.

That said, Kenya Airlines is living up to the reputation of a poor airline with their flight to Nairobi delayed until 02h25. That from an original departure of 00h40. Now we have issues. I have a connecting flight from Nairobi to Bamako. That flight is schedule to depart of 06h00. With the new departure time, we will land at 06h30.

In a normal world, that would fark up the connection totally and effectively I would be looking at spending 24 hours at the airport in Kenya. However it does appear Kenya Airways is an equal opportunity airline and the connecting flight to Bamako is also delayed. It now departs at 08h55. So? I score. I still make my connecting flight and the only thing that is lost is 3 hours overall. That of course assumes that 08h55 does not become 11h45 or something of that ilk.

The journey to Timbuktu has begun!

Mali here I come

Tonight I head for the sprawling metropolis of Bamako in Mali.

We have a job there and it is a working visit to go see what is happening there, set up the legal vehicles and work like a dog.

My to do list is a long one! One of the items is the site visit. 300kms from Bamako - 7!! hours by road. I am trying to get a charter flight to make the time spent a bit more productive.

HOWEVER:

We have planned to see Timbuktu

Why?

Just to say “I have been to Timbuktu” of course.

Have charged the battery on the camera

Have got comfortable shoes

Hopefully will come back with some fine pics of yet another African Country.

Wish me luck!!

Oh the Pain of it all!

Our company decided to arrange a sports day as a team building exercise.

We all joined in. The venue was the seedier side of Benoni (oh wait – Benoni is a pretty seedy place with one way streets), at an action cricket, soccer , netball type venue.

We played

2 games Action Netball
2 Games Action Footy
1 Game Action Cricket.

Now forgive me if I believed action netball was a chilled relaxed lasses sport.

One of my opponents ended the day sporting a graunch of note down his cheek as his face came between my bulk and the net. I did thank him for using his face to prevent my shirt from making contact with the netting as we slid down together. His groan did not escape me.

I sat on a poor lass who was given the job of shooting goals. I did apologise but I do think she is traumatized and will never come near an action netball field or me again.

Willie’s legs were removed from contact with the floor at Footy, and I did spend the rest of the afternoon apologizing (after the game you understand).

I was sore as I supped the first Captains of the evening. I went home early as I honestly could not find a position I could sit that did not make some aching muscle or tendon as indignantly “what the fuck did you think you were doing”

No nookie. I was too buggered and sore. Nessers did assist my giving me a massage, which to all intents only gave me smooth skin. I woke up this morning and groaned as I tried to move my left pinky. The rest of the body was worse.

I am now walking around like I have a very large carrot inserted in my anal cavity. (refer previous post to see that, that cavity was invaded already this week).

I am sore.

I am foolish.

It was a whole load of fun!!!

Our team was called the shooters – we used bugs as our “energy drink” – we shared the prize of the day for the team with the most “spirit”. For that I was not sure if it was team spirit or the fact that we were the only people having a shooter before each game.

I am also somewhat comforted by a copy of an email I received today in my email box, where one of the players who had applied for annual leave next week was requesting for the leave to be changed to sick leave due to the pain and myriad of injuries he suffered.

Yup

It definitely was a load of fun for all!!


Keep on smiling people – I know I am (through my grimace as I try to stand up)

Healthy, Wealthy and Wise

I am big on annual checkups

Now that I am a big peanut, the company insists that all big peanuts go on a company sponsored medical.

The benefit to them I spose is they get to see how (un)healthy their peanuts are and who is taking “recreational drugs” (That was one of the questions).

Now I go for a medical every year.

My big thing in life is

- Too see how my smoking affects my lungs
- To ensure that my prostate is on good nick so I can have maximum shag time
- To ensure my liver weathers the storm that it is periodically subject to


Therefore it was no surprise that the following information was given to me.

- You smoke too much. But your lungs are in good nick so if you stop smoking today all the damage will be repaired over the next 30 years.
- You are unfit, but for your age you are above the 80% fitness range. My suggestion to them is their range needs looking into. I managed 9 minutes on the treadmill before my heart rate hit 158bpm
- You are overweight. The term they used was “clinically obese” My ideal weight: <84kg. Well fark me with a rotten cucumber. The last time I saw that weight was 10 years ago. We agreed that I should be below 94kg to only be overweight. Ergo I need to lose 6kg to only be considered overweight.
- Your prostate is fine. Happy hooray. The check was done by a woman doctor with thinner fingers than my GP. When someone is digging around your ring, thinner fingers are a definite positive. I must admit if she had dug around any longer, I would have had to ask her out on a date.
- My bet with the insurance company that I will die before they say I will die is not working well. I am generally a healthy bugger for my age and the abuse I put my poor little body through.

So I start another medical year, happy and well.

Oh yes and my Cholesterol is marginal. Which is fine given my eating habits.

Hehe

Of mice, men and bloody liars

Going through the Sunday Times today, there was a great hullabaloo about the increased price of food and how this will effect inflation etc etc.

It then goes on to say how food has increased 70% over the last 7 years and how wage increases have not kept up. In the same paragraph it states glibly that Unionised workers pay increases have exceeded inflation over the past 7 years.

There are lies and then there are statistics and both are the same.

They bemoan the increase in maize from R800 a ton to R2000 a ton. They forget that in 2001/2002 maize increased from R800 a ton to R2000 a ton and happily came down the next season. Yes there will be a blip, and yes it will impact food prices, but go back to history and see the effect.

At R2000 a ton, farmers will plant maize and hope to take advantage of the increased price. Good old supply and demand.

(This post will be here next year and we can see how good I am).

This brings me to my point.

If the press writes about something long and hard enough, it will become a self fulfilling prophecy. But for a short time.

Remember when the all share index took a dip towards the 20,000 range. Goodness that was less than 8 weeks ago. Dire warnings about how the market was over cooked and correcting itself and how people were going to lose money and inflation/interest rates were going to increase.

The all share index is topping 27,000 now. The soothsayers are silent. (some are still calling for a correction).

You have foolish people and then you have reporters. Oh wait – I repeat myself.

I have yet to see a well researched story on the financial market!!

And I have been looking.


The fact that I can write about stuff like this means I am still able to read a grown up newspaper and comment on mundane stuff like this. As well as been able to discuss this with my daughter who throws some good arguments around for a 22 year old. (Oh yes – it is her birthday tomorrow – HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOUSE!)

I have a medical next week for which I am studying furiously – ie: no copious amounts of captains. Hopefully I will pass and they can say “wow for an old guy who abuses your body the way you do, you will live for the next 12 months (Buses excluded).

Hope you had a fun week and have an even better one this week.

Wow! I get a Public Holiday

For the first time in ages, I have actually been able to take advantage of public holidays. I will take a moment of silence for my teams working this long weekend.

*moment*

What does one do over a long weekend?

veg was the Friday.

Shopped on Saturday - normal that and toodled off to the Rand Show in the afternoon.

The Rand Show has turned into a big flea market!

That's all.... nothing really nice to see (considering I was looking for ideas for the house), but we did have a really nice Kebab and Nan from the Paki Fast food place in the square.

Today is Easter Bunny day and I have already received a nice quantity of choccy to last for a week or so.

That said. I also finally got around to cleaning my cupboard out. 5 (count em 5) large rubbish bags of old clothes and clothes that will never fit me as long as I live again.

Some fun memories however:

- I finally tossed my matric shirt. 27 years is a long time to keep a shirt

- In one suit I found business cards from a job I had in 1992. Evidently that suit had not been worn since then.

- I found matches from a trip to India I took 5 years ago in another suit.

- My Tux officially does not fit me any more and that was tossed. That tux was purchased in the 1980's which really meant I cannot with good conscience wear it.

- Got rid of over 100 golf shirts. Some dating back to 1997.

- I did keep all my caps. I estimate I have 400 of them

- I tossed my running spikes that were last used in1980

Scary stuff - I will now go shopping for new clothes tomorrow
hehehe


Oh yes!!!

I finally purchased a real bed.

I have spent the last ten years sleeping on my old futon mattress, which given the fact the bed could not fit down the passage of my house, meant I have spent the last six years sleeping on the floor.

It was decided it is time to grow up and sleep on a real bed.

I must admit my futon has seen some interesting things. Respect!

That said - back to work on Tuesday to a full day of meetings...

I will not think about it until then!

Hope your bunny day also bought lots of nice choccie and you are smiling.