Two weeks it was......

Another day, another airport.

After 16 days away from SA, I am heading back. Three Country’s – two of them for the first time – and countless security checks and packing and unpacking laptops etc etc.

The fact that all three countries are primarily French should be telling me something. The French are anal. There is no other word for it.

Burkina Faso airport took the cake as far as anal (and rude) is concerned. Oh yes – did I mention that the French are bloody impolite as well?

We decided at Burkina to check in the luggage early and then go for dinner. In Ghana they open check in at 7 for an 11 flight so this can be done. Burkina? Well you get greeted by the “Give me a Uniform and I will make your life difficult” person at the door. He checks your ticket and your passport (check 1). He looks at my ticket and directs me to stand outside.

“I want to check in for Air France” I mention.

“Stand there (French accent)”

“Can I check in please”

“No”

“Why not”

“check in is not open”

“What time does it open?”

-silence-

“what time does check in for Air France Open?”

- more silence –

“Listen Charlie, are you going to tell me what time the check in opens or do I get unhappy?” (agitated voice)

- Even more silence _

Lucky Celia had actually got inside the door (French men and woman?) and she toddled off to find out check in opens at 8:15.

We had dinner at a stunning little Indian Resturant and the Rogan Gosh was as tasty as it should be.

9pm back to airport. Through Check 1 with not much of an issue except by checking each passport and ticket, check 1 causes an almighty backup outside the door. He however is not at all concerned.

Luggage in – boarding pass problem!

“You cannot sit together”

“why?”

“There is no seat”

“say what – the seats were pre booked – best you check again”

“oh – no Problem”

Check 2 is just before customs. Man again stands at door, hands out departure forms and checks your boarding pass and passport. The only issue here is the Q is long and in order to get a form, you need to squeeze past humanity, get the form and squeeze back.

That is of course unless you are well connected and can just stroll through without worrying about the Q.

Check 3 is immigration. My lad was counting forms and pointedly ignore me while he tried to remember how to count.

Check 4 is a large lass who checks the passport and ticks a number in a book. The relevance of this escaped me.

Check 5 is a lad next to the large lady who once again checks your boarding pass and ticket.

Check 6 is scanning of hand luggage and a brief look at your boarding pass and passport.

Check 7 is when you start boarding and a man checks – yup you guessed it – your boarding pass and passport.

Check 8 is a physical search of handluggage and hand scan of your body.

Check 9 is – I kid you not – just before you board the bus and once again the man checks if you have a valid visa. (Fark me – if you did not have a valid visa, the lad at check 1 would not have even let you in the airport)

It was raining – we got wet getting on the plane.

6 hours to Paris. Foul seats – in the middle of the plane . I managed to Nap.

Paris was once again Japanese Tourist 101. This time however we knew the drill and knew which shuttle to look out for.

Once again – expensive shower and computer bags in storage as we caught another shuttle to the Metro.

The lourve. Celia wished to see pre 17th Century Dutch Masters, which were quite cool. She knows a tad more about art than I do, so she was disappointed and I was walking around like an Amish arriving in the big City. You can spend a month in the Louve and not see everything.

Eiffel tower – made easy by a Metro Day Pass – and photo opportunity closer than we got last time.

Arch de Triomph – (once again thanks to the Metro) and while I am wondering how the hell you cross the bloody great big traffic circle without been killed, Celia finds the underground access and shakes her head in exasperation at the newby.

We ate a quick lunch on the Champs. Salad was fantastic and the beer was very nice. Service was in a flash. Cost was EU50. France is not for poor people. *chuckle*

Finally – back on the Metro to retrieve our computer bags and check in for the 11 hour trip to Mauritius.

I again managed naps and small walk arounds to allow blood flow to my arse. Cattle class seats are not soft at all. Celia on the other hand has a bladder of steel and sat once again for the entire 11 hours with nary a pee(p).

Chilled day in Mau and a great meal at the Happy Raja, followed by a belated celebration of Romay’s Birthday at Banana Club with Celia and two of her mates who are spending a holiday with her.

Lucky Wench gets to spend the next three days in Reunion. Life of the rich and infamous I think.

Flight back to SA was uneventful and I welcomed my own bed, after tossing all my washing out of my bag. Nary a clean item of clothing left.

I had fun!


Now back to work it seems.

I only left the office at 6.30 tonight, still with some stuff to do. As I was the only bugger there, it seemed like a good time to leave and try and make sure I am all caught up by Friday.

Hope you are smiling

Burkina Faso (Via Paris)

What a week (and a bit).

Let’s see what I can update you with!

Spend a very chilled Sunday in Mauritius preparing for the 12 hour flight to Paris and onwards to Burkina Faso. Celia is a clever, fun lass with a different outlook on life. There was some wine drunk, some cheese shared and a fair bit of laughter.

Gawie and his missus invited us for a quick dinner that eve before hopping in the taxi to the airport to catch the flight. The dinner was quick (and nice) and the taxi ride lasted some 20 minutes before I realized that I had left my air tickets and passport in Celia’s car.

*BIG BLUSH*

Gawie met us on the way, once we had turned around, and the journey continued with my passport and air ticket safely in my paws. I can blame Celia for this mishap as she convinced me that my overnight bag was not needed and of course this is where my travel goodies reside. This was also where my book resided and it has spent the last week unread in Mauritius.

12 hours to Paris. I did manage to sleep some on the flight and was a rather tense lad when we landed as my nicotine levels had dropped below the dangerous level.

Quick luggage pick up in a crowded and small luggage area and outside for two quick ciggies while we looked for the transfer bus to the hotel.

Three ciggies later, we had still not see a bus, had phoned the hotel who assured us that a bus make the cycle every 20 minutes and lots of asking unhelpful French lads which bus was ours. Eventually we decided to take a taxi. The taxi driver too was grumpy as he had waited two hours for a fare that would only equate to E20, which included a Tip and charge for 2 pieces of luggage.

The hotel consisted of a quick shower. (Celia “you shower first” Tony “No you can shower first” etc etc) I showered first.

Once downstairs we realized that we are nowhere near the Metro and took a taxi to town.

Stunning! One word for it. Absolutely can be added as it is appropriate.

Pictures of the Lourve, Eiffel Tower, Napoleons grave, old architecture and all sorts of stuff. This done in less than two hours as that was pretty much the amount of time we had available.

I will post some when I am back down South.

Back to the hotel, and we decided to save a bit of money and take a metro to the airport and transfer to the hotel. Yeah Right! It worked out (after we purchased the ticket) that we needed 3 transfers to get to the airport and were effectively at the bottom end of the Metro, needing to get to the top end.

We rushed around for another 20 minutes trying to find a taxi.

We eventually made the airport, an hour long Q for the check in and another long Q to go through immigration (manned by 1 person). Maybe OT Airport is not that bad!!


Burkina Faso!!

Another African Country.

Ouagadougou

Another African city.

With the single exception of God This Place is HOT!!

The temp in the day hovers around the 40 degree mark and at night is not much lower.

The food however is good

The roads are good

And the hawkers and beggars are very persistent.

The hotel is basic. A nice bed, awful shower and wonderful swimming pool. All this for $120 a night.

We ate at some interesting places, courtesy of “The Lonely Planet” which once again Celia with her advanced planning had bought along.

We ate at the Akwaaba on Tuesday night. I had a great pork chop and Celia was introduced to Africa Road Runner Chicken. Her chicken had both of us laughing as she picked the sparse meat of the small bones.

Wednesday we hit gold and dined at Le Coq Blu which was a great place. I had a good steak and we finally found a French Wine that did not taste like vinegar.

Thursday, Zack had finally arrived after an 18 hour delay at Accra Airport, and we dined at a nice open air restaurant at the bottom of town. Open air is generally nice, unless the temperature is in the high 30’s and you sweat the way I do. Food was nice tho. I had a nice rare T bone. Celia had finally learnt not to order chicken.

Friday was at a nice wine bar, where we ate tender lamb and supped ANOTHER decent red wine from France. Two decent wines in two days. I am impressed!!

Saturday saw us consult Lonely Planet once again and toddle 32 km east of Ouga to the “Granite Rocks”, which were described as Granite Rocks where artists had carved out their art. We expected rocks with carvings on them. We got granite carvings that would not be out of place in any art gallery in the world. Apparently every two years, artists from all over the world come in for a month, smoke good shit and carve the granite found lying around. Again I will post pictures when I am back down south.

Once again the temperature was in the 40’s and I sweated buckets!

The afternoon was chilled as we await our flight tonight.

All our lunches were taken at the little Bistro close to the hotel called “Ches Simon”. Good clean food, good price and AIRCONDITIONING. We were quite the regulars there.

Oh yes! We did do some work. *chuckle*

Met with facilitator, attorney, three client visits, one site visit and made a decision on a house and plot of land for our operation here. But this was boring stuff and only warrants this one small paragraph.

We also battled on slow internet to download mails and respond when we could. Africa! My Africa!

Everyone is napping this afternoon ( I will nap on the plane) and I am in the hotel lobby about to post this.

Hope you all having fun!!

I did!!

Island Update

I worked the whole day yesterday. Tut Tut.

However we did get out to a wonderful Thai restaurant last night where some Satay Lamb and Angry Duck went down a treat. Some great Red wine, good company... what more can I want.

I would be embarrassed to say that I woke up just before 10am today. But I did forget to set my alarm clock and this kind of thing happens when I do not have anything to do today.

Golf is out of the window thanks for the Rain on the islands. However, I did manage to get my hair cut, read some of my book, chat to a honeymoon couple from the UK (who were a tad peeved that the rain was infringing on their beach time) (erm... you on honeymoon - shag demmet!!) and post this blog.

Tonight we off to a fish restaurant.

*pat of tummy*

Ahh well - maybe I will get a lurgy in Burkina next week to lose some weight.

I am having fun

and I am chilling!

(which is good)

Have a happy day people. Photos will follow when I get around to downloading them on the PC :)

Ahhh - The islands call and So does JHB City Council

The start of another week finds me at an airport at the ungodly hour of 6am. However, given the fact that this is the start of a week in Mauritius, the hour can be forgiven. I do not believe for a second I would feel so comfortable if I was – as some of my fellow travelers in the lounge are – traveling to Lumumbashi. They also leave at an ungodly hour.

Check in at this time is simple. However the fact that my bag weighed 23kg seemed to be an issued for the lad at check in. This was resolved by placing 1kg into my hand luggage. Then he was happy.

Now for some reason, this process never ceases to amaze me. How by taking 1kg out of my checked in luggage and placing it in my hand luggage resolves the weight issue is something that escapes me. Another method that people use to keep me wondering as to who thinks up these solutions.

That said, Exclusive Books at the airport – no duty and no VAT – use the allowances granted to travelers to increase their profit. A book for sale at Cresta is cheaper than the same book at the airport. From what I understand rental at the airport is a lot higher than at a shopping centre, so is it just ACSA taking advantage? I think so.

The public servants strike did not appear to have impacted Customs at the airport. There were 5 people at 6am, which if I recall correctly when I used to travel on the crack of dawn flight to Swaziland was more than what was there at that time.

On the strike and increase scenario, once again the Government shoots themselves in the foot by announcing massive increases for the president and his MP’s. I could imagine the Government negotiator holding his head in his hands when this was announced in the middle of negotiations. I could also imagine a few swear words emanating from his mouth.

On a lighter note, I received a letter from the City of Joburg over the weekend, glibly stating that “it has come to their notice that my water and lights account does not have a deposit paid, which is in contravention of some by law” I responded with the following (in Part)

I refer to your letter dated 15th May 2007, received by me on June 1st 2007, stating that the above account has no record of having a deposit paid.

The reason for the account not having record of a deposit paid is that indeed no deposit has been paid on this account. HOWEVER, there has been a deposit paid on Account Number *******, in the name of Lenferna de la Motte, Serge Robert.

In 2001, I had queried why there were two accounts on the same property, one in my name and one in a bastardization of my name. Your wonderful people at Braamfontein accounts were unable to assist me, despite visiting and waiting ages to be served on three separate occasions. This was obviously also occasioned by the fact whoever processed my deposit did not know their debits from their credits and processed my deposit as a charge as opposed to a payment. If this has been sorted out, I have no idea as I ceased receiving statements a few years ago on this account.

So! Now that your Customer Relations Management Department has looked into my account and realized that something is amiss, MAYBE, just maybe the same Customer Relations Management Department can cast their beady eyes over account *******, realize that there has been a major bugger up and finally – almost seven years after the issue arose – correct the problem by placing the deposit against the correct account.

I assume this realization came about after visiting your stand at the Home Makers Fair, where a very nice man gave me a mug for changing my postal address. This of course three years after I had sent letters three months in a row changing said postal address. However the man could not get my name changed as he did not have the access to change names on the system. (May I suggest getting the same developers as Enatis to write your system so they could have access to the alleged “super application”).

Your requirement in terms of the provisions of the Credit Control and Debt Collection By-Laws of the City of Johannesburg No. 213 of 2005 have been satisfied. Is there any way that my requirements in terms of the Antoine de la Motte sanity rules could be satisfied as well?

I trust this letter bought a smile to your face, the same way it bought a smile to my face typing it.

Have a stunning day.

A de la Motte


PS. If you do manage to correct this mess, you will be the first person in 7 years to actually take the time and effort to correct what should have been a simple thing. Should you accept this mission, the force of Yoda and his three cute sisters will be with you. Should you not accept this mission, Yoda will just be shaking his head muttering “I told you so”

I do so love dealing with Government.

Am I having fun?

I think so!!!

Hop(e) you are too!!

Ahhh. Where to next

Well let's see

I can go to Mauritius for a week and have meetings. Apparently we are staying at Le Canonnier which can be seen here. (LINK).

I do believe I can have some fun there.

I get picked up at 8:30 from the hotel to the office on Tuesday. I have a meeting

(Difficult work day)

Wednesday.... I do not get picked up from the hotel at all.... enuff said.

(They have a Golf course)

Thursday I get picked up at 10:45. I do late mornings... I have a meeting and a cocktail function.

(They have a Spa)

Friday I get picked up at 10:15. I do late nights as well. I have a site visit.

(They have water sports)

I also have Saturday Free - apparently a Catamaran trip to a beach for lunch and Sunday at leisure before departing for Paris and 22:35.

(They have watersports)

I cannot with all honesty say I will be working hard.

But,,, I can lie and say "It is going to be hell"

Hope you are having fun as well....

I know I am about to

(assuming I get to leave SA given the fact that the Immigration people are on strike on Monday)