(For the photohunt please scroll down to the next post)
FAULTY MEMORY
Shit. I just knew I wanted to go to Victoria this morning. Only, from the time I woke up until right now, I couldn’t put my finger on the reason. So I puzzled at my photohunt post and got a little lost in some of the other participants’ posts, before it suddenly hit me with full force: at 11 am Chasing Pandora had a gig at Arkadia, and you probably won’t believe me if I told you that I could hardly wait for today to arrive, since I received their e-mail last Thursday. I’m shattered, (a) because I missed it and (b) because my brain seems to be packing in, slowly but surely. My forgetfulness is reaching worrisome proportions; I just can’t believe it!!
I’m hopeful that my memory-trouble is only down to all the stuff my head is filled with at work. More often than not I come home in the evening and can’t for the life of me remember everything I’ve done during the day. My duties are rather wide-spread (that’s a workplace in Gozo for you!) and I’m multitasking most of the time, because everything is urgent. So yes, I’m hoping that my mind is simply filled to capacity, and that it’s perfectly normal to forget things that I’m looking forward to…
LUGGAGE RANT
This rant was a long time coming. Nearly every time I travel, one of my suitcases bites the dust. To-date I was inclined to put it “merely” down to careless luggage handlers, although I’ve heard plenty of stories where
valuable items had disappeared from locked cases. This time I had a small case - hand-luggage size - with me that was filled with ca. 15 kg of brochures and magazines. The zips were secured with one of those little locks, not so much because I feared the material would be stolen, but rather to prevent the zips from opening and the contents spilling out. Maybe the guy who forced open the zipper (because the lock was too sturdy) expected to find bars of gold, I don’t know. But I’m mightily pissed off!
And on the subject of careless handlers: one of the artists exhibiting at the opera house in Frankfurt found two of his sculptures (which had been carefully packed) damaged. Another had one of his cases missing altogether.
Which, of course, is another topic you usually hit sooner or later during a conversation revolving around flying: “lost” luggage! I put “lost” in inverted commas because of my latest experience upon my return to Malta. Moments after finally spotting the above mentioned battered piece across from me on the other side of the carousel, I was kind of dumbfounded to see a Maltese man lugging it onto his trolley. Just like that, without even the slightest hesitation and totally ignoring my shouts of protest (he was standing merely 4 or 5 metres away). After I managed to elbow my way through to him, he handed it to me without further ado but with a big grin on his face. His behaviour rendered me speechless, words just wouldn’t come to me!
I appreciate that a lot of bags and cases look alike - that’s why you’d normally do a double-take or even two before laying claim to your baggage. Or mark it with a bright green ribbon as I did. I’m still shaking my head when I think of that situation. Are there people making a living like that? And considering how easy it is to walk away with what’s not yours: how much luggage is really lost??
I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago: the 2009 calendar published by the SPCA Gozo is available for sale now! It only costs € 4, and if you buy one, you don’t only get a lot of beautiful photos of adorable pets, but also one of Simba but also give a helping hand to the volunteers that run the SPCA with funds that are always on the short side! Oh well, and of course a cute pic of yours truly’s tom cat Simba is definitely an added bonus!!
21st June - SUMMER’S HERE!
29°C (84.2°F) - nothing to write home about when you happen to write from Gozo. It just occurred to me, as I’m sitting in the sweltering heat of my home office, that after two unemployed summers I’m now back in the rat-race of the office-working population. Which is why I shall now do what office workers tend to do on weekends: get away from the desk and enjoy my out-door “living room”!
Happy summer solstice!