Friends kindly drove me to Chepstow to get the bus to London yesterday, which was fine .... until it broke down just short of Heathrow ! Fortunately, the driver was able to contact another bus and they rescued us, so only about 15 minutes delay.
Once into the airport, I checked in my two suitcases as soon as possible, and then went to security .... everything out of my rucksack and pockets and purse. That lot passed muster, and I walked through the body checker, where my watch made it bleep .... at that point, all hell broke out; I was given a full body pat down, including parts of me I prefer not to mention. (When I went to Jordan this was done in a private cubicle, by a ??woman in a full burqa, watched by another woman with a kalashnikov).
The lady 'patter-downer' discovered my body belt purse where I keep my dollars and Kenya shillings, with the belt tucked inside my knicks ... I had to stand there and take it off so the security lady could check it was what I said. She did offer to take me to a private room ... but I had nothing to hide; besides, all my other possessions were still in trays after being x-rayed. Then in a state of semi-undress, I had a full body scan inside a machine rather like a sort of reverse revolving door; I stood still, it whizzed around me. Enough ? Oh no, I then had to put one foot (in my best Safari boots !) at a time on a box and they were rubbed over with a cloth which the lady put into a machine - presumably to test for noxious chemicals in my boots ? And finally, me and my possessions (now in the trays on the floor) were sniffed over by a beautiful spaniel ... the dog was the nicest bit of the whole procedure.
I ask myself, do wrinkley old dears like me, wearing a Ty Mawr cross, (which patter-downer had discovered hanging inside my jumper, and she made me take it off) really pose a threat to planes ? Maybe they have new rules now, that every 25th person has to get the full works.
The flight to Nairobi was as hot and uncomfortable as always; the selection of films was ancient ... but I managed to find a delightful, extremely well made film about elephants, which I watched with the sound off, just to enjoy the elephants with no silly comments or music sound-track.
We arrived in Nairobi at 04.15 local time ....well before the dawn. Immigration was fine ... most passengers who needed a visa (like me) had eye scanner and finger prints done, but not me --- the immigration officer said I was 'on their files' (bit worrying !) I needed to get a new SIM card for my phone, and put 'pay-as-I-go' money on it, but the Safaricom shop was closed, so I parked myself in an open cafe at the airport, and watched the bats flying around the airport lights, while I drank tea.
Come 06.30, with the dawn, Safaricom opened, I got my SIM card and 300/- put on the phone, and pushed my trolley over to the other terminus for the Kisumu flight (baggage has to be collected at the main terminus, and re-deposited .... but only on the way OUT of Nairobi; on the incoming flights from Kisumu, luggage is automatically transferred).
The area around Nairobi and down into the Rift Valley is dry, dry, dry .... no rain for 12 months.
This is the extinct volcano Longonot; I don't remember it being so visible from the plane before. We had flown between Mt. Kenya and Mt. Kilimanjaro, but at such a distance that I couldn't get decent photos .... and the plane windows were pretty filthy on the outside.
Coming into land, the pilot informed people that the runway at Kisumu had recently been dug up for repairs, and was now a bit short for landings, so we must be prepared for the brakes to screech a bit and for the landing to be rather fiercer than he would like ! All the passengers I could see slammed their foots onto the floor as we touched down, car driving emergency stop style !
But we arrived ....
Father Alois met me, and I was greeted with massive smiles and bone crushing hugs by all the African staff. Its a real home-coming'. I'll write more about Father Hans later.
After shower, unpacking and lunch I had a sleep in the afternoon, and then spent time trying to get the laptop/Skype/internet/this blog, to work, but it all seems OK now.
Finally, I've got to add a Lake Victoria sunset !
No comments:
Post a Comment