Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Great White Xmas!

Flying down from ‘Singers’ (Singapore) on the Qantas flight and I was telling my fellow passenger about how much I was looking forward to getting some dives in over my holidays.
Then, almost on cue, when I started watching the Qantas Oz news and catching up on what was going on in the great south land, there was an article talking about a bloody great White Pointer cruising off the W.A. coast! Attracted no doubt by both the swarms of baitfish that had been blown onto the coast and also by the smell of a recently defunct whale that was now getting decidedly whiffy decaying in the shallows, it was in no hurry to move on... Oh great! Just my luck!!

Not to worry though – it’s at least a couple of kays (kilometres) up the coastfrom where I will be diving and I’ve always got my back-up diving knife I told various folks.

"Dive knife?" "What good d’ya think that’ll do against a couple of tonnes of hungry shark" they would ask.

"Absolutely none" I replied. Our dive teacher told us they were a lot more use putting a few holes in a dive partner you didn’t like all that much before you started to swim like buggery!
Very practical people Aussies...

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Breakfast with sister Sue and family

In my very hectic schedule I had a great Sunday morning breakfast on the South Perth foreshore with my sister Sue and her family (husband Murray, and my nephews Andrew and Simon (third nephew recently married Richard was on holiday in Queensland). I was a touch sunburnt from the prior days fishing but hopefully the pic doesn't show my red Indian face!

It was a lovely sunny morning and with a wonderful breakfast you couldn't leap over. It was so good to see them all and catch up. Thanks for taking the time out guys.

Holidays in Oz (part one)

Well I finally made it back home after a two and a half year interlude with a few setbacks on the way.

The trip from Geneva to Paris was delayed due to fog at Paris airport so we got there two to three hours later than expected (and unfortunately an hour too late to catch my Singapore connection). Myself and thirty other people heading off to destinations all around the world were not impressed – especially since there didn‘t seem to be any trace of fog when we got in… Hmm…

Air France responded with a Gallic shrug and a ‘what do you want us to do about it’ point of view. Guess the whole ‘customer service’ thing still hasn’t sunk into a state run airline. So I had a day to amuse myself in Paris before catching the same flight at 11:00 pm the following night ( they wouldn't book us on another airline).

Got into Singapore AOK and caught the Oz flight with minutes to spare – I literally walked off one plane and straight onto the next, and had a great flight down chatting to a fellow Aussie about cricket and trips and all sorts. It was so good to hear a familiar accent and rediscover that easy laid back friendliness that is most Australians.

M & D were at Perth airport was and I was pleasantly surprised to see my sister, her husband and one of their sons meeting me at 2:00am in their wedding clothes. They’d bought as they said ‘what was left of the wedding to me since I couldn’t be there’. Very nice. I was really touched.

I had a great two weeks. Apart from the business stuff like go to the Doctors and Dentists etc (and get a clean bill of health from the Dentist – much to every ones else’s chagrin!), I had a good holiday catching up with friends, fishing, having dinner(s) with various members of my family.

We all went to see the new James Bond film ‘Casino Royale’ – something of a Lowe family tradition dating back to when my twin brother and I were wee little tackers - only now we’re taking my nieces and nephews to see the films!

All too soon it was over and time to start wending my way back to the chilly north. True to form, my flight to Singapore was delayed due to late aircraft arrival from Europe, plus the need for a tyre change. Seems flights these days are so tightly scheduled for economic reasons that any setback has a huge domino effect. Anyhow, we got in to Singapore at midnight and by the time we got new tickets reprinted for connections it was between 2:00 and 3:00am. Big difference though was the service and hospitality. Air France had left us to figure everything out ourselves and WE had to constantly ask them for updates and in turn get bullshitted with various differing stories. One girl in Geneva was studiously ignoring a hundred passengers while she chatted to her boyfriend about what he had for dinner! Some of us were ready to leap the counter and strangle her! By contrast, Singapore/Qantas airlines provided us with constant updates, we were treated so well and so politely and got a four star hotel and world class breakfast instead of the two star motel and bread and water b/fast Air France reluctantly coughed up. At Changi airport, we were literally led by a staff member every step of the way from the airport almost to our rooms. It was awesome.

The Oriental hotel in Singapore treated us like Kings/Queens. It has been so long since I’ve had service like that I had almost forgotten what it was like. So ten points and more to the Singaporeans (Airline/Hotel, Taxi et al) and boos for Europe and Air France. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde ‘Considering how badly she treats her tourists, she doesn’t deserve to have any’.