....and off again.

Looks like Cairo is off. Project management problems mean that I'm not flying on Monday like I thought I was. The whole trip is apparently off but I'll have my gear ready to pack anyway, these things have a habit of changing at the last minute, I'm not safe til I leave here fri evening.

Well, if they want to delay things by a week and then get me over there, they get me for 2 weeks not 3 - I don't care, I'm going skiing the end of next month regardless!

Off again......

Well, never mind what I said the other day about Ecuador, it looks like my next destination is Cairo. At least I got about 2 weeks warning on this one - plenty of time to put the light clothes in the wash & get them ready! Looks like it's going to be about 20-25 degrees over there. Nice. Thing is, I'll be back on a sunday and the sat after I'm flying out to Austria to go skiing. More temperature shock!

No dogs, no irish......

You know, every time you go though Heathrow airport, it's very easy to get the feeling that as an Irish person, you're still treated as a second-class citizen. After you check in and go though security, you look up at the board and see:
* Edinburgh: Gate 62
* Newcastle: Gate 79
* Dublin: Gates 80-90
* Shannon: Gates 80-90

In other words, "No! You irish scum don't need to know where you're going. We'll tell you when we bloody well feel like it!".

Then, when you finally get to the gate, it looks awful. You have to go out a long passageway to get to it, and then when you get there it looks like a prefab, a big long tube made from what looks like corrugated iron, tacked onto the side of the main terminal building. Apparently it was put up back during the Troubles to sort of quarantine would-be terrorists coming over from Ireland - so if they blew up the gate it wouldn't cause much damage to the main building. And we're still coming in though there. Yup, thanks guys.

Then, when you are flying into Heathrow from Ireland, or taking a connecting flight through Heathrow going back to Ireland, you have to go though another set of metal detectors, just like the ones you went through getting on the plane in the first place. So, after going through the previous set of security, we're somehow after picking up guns or bombs in the departure area. Very trustful of the UK authorities eh?

Lads, the IRA declared a ceasefire over 10 years ago. We're not the ones trying to blow you up any more. If you're worried about terrorism then maybe put the flights to/from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan through Terminal 1.

Oops, I can't say that, can I? That would be racial profiling based on the country you're coming from.....

Says it all really......

Saw this on my way back though Heathrow Airport last night, on an ad for Aer Lingus. At least they're admitting it now!



I suppose the main diff these days between taking an Aer Lingus flight (or any "low-cost" short-haul airline) and getting a taxi or a bus is you don't have to get to the taxi rank 2hrs in advance and take your shoes off going though a metal detector before you get in your taxi/bus. You get the same quality of service, and just like a taxi, these days if you have any more than one bag with you on the plane, you get charged for it.

Heathrow airport is great though, it really is. I love the way security at airports is so consistent these days - going out through Dublin, you have to take your laptop out of its case and put it though separately, but you can keep your shoes on. Now in Heathrow, you have to keep your laptop in its case but you have to take your shoes off. Also, now in some airports in the UK you're allowed take on 2 pieces of hand luggage but in others you're not. Keeps the terrorists on their toes I guess......

Be careful what you wish for.....

Remember how a few months ago here on this blog I was complaining that the company weren't sending me anywhere? Well, you know the old saying, "Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it!". I'm currently typing this sitting in a hotel room in a place called Newbury, about 10 miles from Reading in the UK.

Like the last trip I was on, I got about 3 days notice on this one. I was sitting at my desk on thurs evening, minding my own business when the boss comes over and says "Can I have a word with you out in the hall for a sec?". Now when this happens it normally only means one thing, and sure enough, someone has to go and firefight somewhere. So, fri morning I got my flights and accommodation booked and here I am!

I got in about an hour ago here, and about the only thing I can say about Newbury is "quiet". I took a bit of a wander around the town after I got checked in and there's nothing open but a Dominos pizza and 2 pubs - and the pubs look like they're shutting up for the night. It sort of reminded me of the night I flew into Shanghai, where I was wandering around with the streets pretty much all to myself (and I'm sure that this is the first and last time in its history that Newbury will be compared to Shanghai)!

So, at this stage there's pretty much nothing to do here bar head to bed! Maybe tomorrow the place will be a bustling hive of activity!

Oh, and while on the subject of "be careful what you wish for", I was talking to one of the project leads before I left, and apparently there will be someone needed on-site in Ecuador for a week some time near the end of January, with a choice of 3 ppl to go. So, my ideas of hitting all 6 continents before my 30th birthday may be one step closer! :-)

New Years

Well, so this is 2008. Doesn't look, smell sound or feel any different to 2007 so far anyway. I guess tho that it's New Years resolution time. Ok, here goes so:

• Number 1 is the resolution I've made every year and have manged to keep it every time so far: I resolve not to die during the coming year :-)


• I'm defintely now more unfit than I've ever been, so have to do something about that. I'm not going to set a target like "lose 5 kilos that I know I'm not going to keep, so an going to make incremental targets: eat out less, walk to/from work more, get back into playing soccer more.


• It's a few years since I did my "no alcohol for X months" thing, but seeing as I have a ski trip in feb and a friend's wedding in 2 weeks time that wud be a bit too hard to follow. I'll modify it to "drink less" so.


• Properly learn a language, or at least start it. I sort of half know french and have a smattering of italian and spanish and was doing chinese before I headed for Cape Town, but I want to get good at one of them before getting to half-know some other language.
  

At least this year though I don't have to make the old "get a girlfriend" resolution for once! ;-)