South African Airways is losing it

http://iagblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html Picture Credit

Time was I would travel SAA by choice, but my trip last night has made me wonder. The Airbus A340 is old (not like the new A340-600 in the picture above) and tired, no in-seat entertainment - just ropey old TVs that fold down from above, with several of them making the picture from Zimbabwe Television look good.

And their cabin crew are simply noisy. They can't do anything quietly!

The icing on the cake for me though, was the real madam we had in our section. I am not kidding you, her rear fusilage was wider than the trolley she kept pushing into people and seats. She was an accident waiting happen, and I helped her several times by passing her things that had fdallen off her trolley as she bulldozed the aisles.

I wanted to take a picture, but one stern look from this mama was enough to scare me off. In the middle of the night I went back for some water, and there she was, on the floor of the galley, wrapped in passanger blankets. Almost awake. Personally I doubt she would have squeezed into the cramped sleeping stations where crew usually take there rest breaks.

At breakfast today, she came bruising down the aisle, shouting, yes shouting, 'coldy met or hotti omrette' which loosley translated means 'would you like cold meats or hot omlette for breakfast?'

You might imagine that several tourists could not understand -  and asked her to repeat the options. Louder still: 'coldy met or hotti om-rette', and finally a thundering, slower, more deliberate: 'I said col-de meat-i or hottt OMrette' before most people just said 'OK' and accepted whatever came. Fortunately I had ordered fruit platters for my meals, so I had eaten a good 15 minutes before others got to choose between the col met or the omrette.

The final laugh was watching my fine stewardess race through collecting the headsets just before we landed - and tripping up over them every three or fours steps. No wonder most of them don't work that well.

South African Scareways - the live entertainment is free! The Captain taxied up to the gate and suddenly breaked with a shudder. He apologised: 'So sorry about that ladies and gentlemen, but the little man waving the pingpong bats kept signalling for me to come forward, and then gave the stop sign without remembering to first give me the slow-down signal'. Great way to end the flight. World Cup Soccer 2010 is sure going to be eventful for loads of folks.

Africa Got Soul!

Great idea and great sounding music, as Motown sounds are recorded with a South African, and particularly Cape Town style. I think I will look for this CD when I am there next week. I heard an interview about the group called ABAVUKI and their CD titled AFRICA GOT SOUL, as we were having a lovely long sleep in this morning.

The Oxford Times have done a review as have The Times. I see the album is widely available for online purchase, so I will probably head over to iTunes later and look for it.

River Cafe in Constantia, Cape Town

Picture Credit: http://www.dining-out.co.za/member_details-MemberID-1972.html

We spent a terrific few hours with Mike and Nicky McNaught today, being treated to lunch at the River Cafe in Constantia. Set in a vineyard, the light food we had was delicious, but paled into the unexpected pleasure at meeting up with Mike and Nicky. Mike was Mark's best man at our wedding almost 30 years ago. Old friends, evene when years pass between contacts, are very special, and for us it was a special treat and special day.

(Editing Blogger via cellphone does not make uploading pictures easy so I will add something later) - updated: now added

Pat & Michelle Luffman

Pat & Michelle Luffman, yesterday, after supper with me, at the Ocean Basket in Gordon's Bay

Pat and I go way back to the early 70's, and living in Strand, which is just a few kilometers from where I am staying in Gordon's Bay this week. Pat is in the middle of a further round of chemo for a blood cancer that has badly affected his kidneys. He also currently has some stents in his kidneys, and is not too well. We had a wonderful time or catching up with our lives and families. It was a very special time for me, because Pat was influential in my life as a young Christian, and a great encouragement to me as a new pastor.

Sometimes you just get lucky

My room here is on the far side, looking towards the beach and Hottentots Holland mountains

Oh I could get all painful and write about times on trips spent in uncomfortable or in less than salubrious accomodations - after all they are missionary trips for the most part ... but I will resist the temptation and just say how blessed I feel this week to be in a place like I am actually in. It is a really nice place to be, and certainly has a much better view than my usual office window that looks out onto the grey wall of the next-door BT workshops buildings. Next week we will be meeting up with Michelle, Jason, and their boys, in a much more modest holiday flat, but who cares as long as we can be with family.

Wrecked in Hout Bay

Stopped briefly in Hout Bay, at the famous Mariner's Wharf restaurant, to get a quick walk on the white sands of Hout Bay's beaches, and look at some of the character of the boats in the old harbour. This wrecked fishing vessel is indignantly beached there, slowly rotting away, and a favourite resting spot for hundreds of seagulls who have learned to steal right out of the hands of tourists. Ah, the New South Africa, where stealing is part of the tourism industry.

On top of the world

You can see Lion's Head to the left, and Signal Hill to the right, behind me in the photo. On top of Table Mountain on a glorious Friday afternoon. Robben Island is out there in the sea, but was covered by low clouds.

Up the mountain

This is one sight that greeted me at the top of a short ride on the cable car up Table Mountain. The weather and views were just perfect yesterday, and a group of us had a wonderful couple of hours walking around on the top of Taffelburg. The view here looks at the range called The 12 Apostles, looking down towards just beyond Camps Bay.

Cape Town is lekker!

I am in glorious weather in Cape Town this week, attending an excellent Association of Christian Broadcasters conference in Gordon's Bay. The pictures above are the immediate surrounds of the Villa Via Hotel, and it really is a very pretty setting. Today we heard talks by Bishop Frank Retief, and Erin Georgiou, editor of Joy magazine. Bumped into Libby Norton, Harare old-timer, now living in Cape Town, and here at the conference as an aide for Africa Christian Democartic Party MP Cherllyn Dudley, who also spoke today.

Whale of a time!

Blessed with a gift of two air tickets, Joburg-Cape Town return, I spent a a few weeks plotting and scheming a surprise break for Rose and me this past week. Helped by Rose's best friend Kath, who lied through her teeth for me (thanks Kath!) and a family who can keep lips sealed, we managed to keep it a complete suprise until an hour or so before leaving for the airport. We had a fantastic couple of days, based in Fishoek (or Fish Hoek) on the Cape's southern peninsular, we got all over the place. The photo was taken in Hermanus, where we saw a number of Southern Right Whales breaching and blowing their spouts. Also very present were dolphins and seals, and a marine biologist we met told us that whales, dolphins and seals in proximity to each other usually means LOTS of fish in the bay ... so it was an eat all you can eat day for them all.

We too enjoyed some great seafood (can highly recommend Harbour House in Kalk Bay, and Francoise's in Fishhoek), saw old friends in Hout Bay and family in Table View, and spent lots of time just catching up with life and each other! The weather was sunny the whole time, with brief morning showers, and the only 'disappointment' was the long queues for the cable car to get up Table Mountain, so we passed on that one. The cherry on top was the trip home when we were surprised with an upgrade to business class!

My grateful thanks to the folks at Turn the Tide, for their very kind gesture.