1982 - Home Leave to England - Munich

Friday August 6, 1982 - Munich

Up bright and early this morning after a good night’s sleep – didn’t even hear the band go home past our window. We were in the dining room by 07.00 for breakfast which was a serve yourself affair with cold  meat and cheese.

We were ready so early that we decided to walk to the station instead of catching a taxi. I need the exercise too – not being able to run in the morning and eating all day means that I am putting on weight – and how! I would love to have a shot of the “safari” when we set off in line astern with our baggage on wheels- what a sight. (Wheeled baggage was not in use at this time, so we each had a small foldable trolley to put our suitcases on. They worked well, but the trolleys were a nuisance as an additional item of hand baggage.)

We got to the station in very goodtime and changed a bit of money to get our tickets. We are about $25 over budget which is not bad considering some of the major purchases we have made. The train, which came in about 08.40, turned out to be a sleeper from Italy, so Rab was worried about finding a place. We got one without any problem which we had to share with a couple of young German lovers. Rab couldn’t keep her eyes off them, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. The scenery was less spectacular than yesterday but, for me at least, more  interesting. Matt never pays too much attention to the passing show and Rab lost interest early today.

We arrived at Munich on time at 11.16 and then the fun and games started because none of the taxi drivers had heard of the Intercontinental Garden Hotel where Munich Re (another large reinsurance company with whom we did business) had booked us in – and I didn’t have the street address. I finally had to phone Munich Re to find where the hell the place was. Even then my pronunciation fooled one of the local blokes. As luck would have it though the next cabbie was an African-American from New York who was over here trying to break into the opera and he knew exactly where the hotel was. So all was well that ended well.

It is a nice hotel – a bit more expensive than we have been paying but at DM180 for the three of us, still good value. We have a small suite with a fold down bed. This incidentally caused a minor incident this evening at bed time as both Rab and Matt wanted to sleep on it! Three guesses as to who won that contest. (At this distance in time it is impossible to guess why either would have wanted to have this bed – neither remembers.)

By the time we got here, with all the messing around it was 12.15 so I just had time to get changed into my suit and shoot off to the Munich Re offices for lunch. They are not far from here, but of course the buildings are neither signposted nor clearly numbered.(There was a corporate view around this time that identifying corporate buildings would increase the risk of terrorist attack.) They are also security proofed so I spent about ten minutes trying to get into the wrong building. I finally found the right entrance and it turned out to be just as well that I was late because quite obviously they were not expecting me at 12.30 – if they were expecting me at all!

I met Prince Burchard who is a very pleasant old cock and we had a very nice, if somewhat light, lunch. Mixed hors d’oevres followed by two very small fillets of fish and stewed pears accompanied by a small taste of dry white wine. At least I didn’t get the trots this time. It was quite obvious that although I was made very welcome, it would be even better if I moved on smartly as my host and the Prince were both going on holiday today and intended to knock off early. I was back with Rab and Matt by 14.30. Their meal was better than mine – they had a nice veal and noodle dish down the road.

The Marienplatz Clock

After unpacking all the cases – so that we could re-pack them as they were getting a bit lumpy – and Rab doing a bit of hand washing, we set off for the Marienplatz and the station to sort out our tickets for Heidelberg on Sunday or Monday. We got to Marienplatz at about 18.00 after solving the intricacies of travel by the U-bahn with the help of a passerby. It was just in time for us to see the famous clock on the cathedral when it started to chime the hour. Groups of mechanical figures dance and pirouette and the finale is a jousting competition between two knights one of whom is almost unseated.

The loving couple!

We strolled all the way down Marienstrasse, popping into shops here and there. Matt was delighted to get  Star Wars vehicle at what he considered was a good price. We got our tickets without  much ado and intend to leave for Heidelberg on Sunday at 09.00. We were a bit weary about walking back to the square, where we intended to look for the Hoffbrau Haus so we caught an S-bahn and made enquiries as to the HBH location. Setting off for it, I had second thoughts, especially as Matt is not too keen on what he perceives as ‘rough bars’. We settled in the end for the Ratkellar underneath the Rathaus and all had Rat Pie! No, only joking, Matt had Avocado Ritz, Rab had roast sucking pig and I had a Munich sausage. All washed down by a litre and a half of beer for about DM56. Good value I reckon.

 

The name of this jeweller took us aback.

Back to the U-bahn and the hotel for the argy-bargy referred to above and then peace and quiet as both fell asleep.

1982 - Home Leave to England - Innsbruck

Thursday August 5, 1982 - Innsbruck

Writing my journal is a little difficult here as we are all sharing a room and Rab and Matt are trying to sleep, so I am using my bedside light and pressing on a tin of Suchard Express – delicious aroma. Outside in the main square an Austrian band/dance group are giving it a go as they have been for the past two hours. Must be the mountain air that keeps them so lively, but thank goodness for double glazing.

We left a still raining Lucerne at 08.07 this morning without any problems and the trip back to Zurich was as interesting as that down to Lucerne. We had twenty five minutes in Zurich – just long enough to change some money and buy some tissues for Matt who has a terrible cold now and is snorting all over the place, poor little chap. It was overcast in Zurich, so we missed a grand spectacle as we travelled around the lake at the start of our journey to Innsbruck. And could only imagine what it might be like on a clear, sunny day. The weather stayed the same most of the way, so we missed seeing the glory of the Alps. It did clear a little once we got into Austria and we caught some glimpses of blue skies and mountain peaks touched with snow.

Not much snow in this pic - but I like it

Matt did not have an Austrian visa – so much for Allen, Wack and Shepherd’s expertise – so I had to leap off the train at Buchs and get one. As it turned out I had plenty of time but Rab and Matt were a little worried by thoughts of their steaming off on their own. We had a snack of sandwiches and beers on the train – darned expensive it was too. We resolved that we’ll bring our own on our next train trip.

Running up those steps!

We arrived in Innsbruck about half an hour late in gentle sunshine. The design of the platforms here is most unfortunate as one cannot get on or off without going up and down steep steps. That made the movement of three heavy cases by one person – me – a bit tedious. Roll on the next holiday when Rab swears she will be travelling with only one case between the three of us.

We got a room quite easily in the old part of the town at a lovely old inn – the Weise Kreuse – which dates back a long time. It is claimed that Mozart popped in for the night – like us – back in December 1769 with his old man. It is a quaint place, so much so that Matt almost came a cropper going  down the stairs as all the rises and treads are different depths.

Front of house

Matt and me

During the day the streets in this area are a pedestrian mall, although you would not have thought so as our old taxi driver ploughed his way through the innocent bystanders. It is a lovely town, dominated by the mountains towering over it and we would love to come back in winter. It is jam packed with tourists but has a very happy, almost carnival atmosphere. We spent the afternoon wandering around eating pommes frites with mayonnaise and spending money like drunken sailors – T-shirts, material, a walking stick etc. we even bought some of the local liqueurs which seem very nice indeed.

The tourist throng from our hotel window

Having shopped until closing time at 18.30 we set out for a meal. After a bit of toing and froing and a couple of beers we landed up at a Pizzeria. This did however also serve Austrian food and we thoroughly enjoyed what we had. I had s’Pfandt and Rab had Grillteller alt Innsbruck. Mine was medallions of pork, beef and chicken in a creamy pepper sauce with potato noodles – very tasty indeed.

1982 - Home Leave to England - Lucerne Day #2

Wednesday August 4, 1982, Lucerne

The octopus alarm on the electronic game I bought in Zurich went off at six and woke me. I saw it was still a dull day, so I went back to sleep again for an hour or so. The breakfast was not as good as the du Theatre – no croissants or rye bread, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. As we did there, we had a bit of extra cheese with the rolls – a measure of the difference in prices between Zurich and Lucerne is that the cheese cost f1.50 here and f2.60 there.

Matt and Rab at the castle

It was raining and dull so obviously excursions across the like and up the mountain were out of the question so we spent an enjoyable morning shopping – Rab and Matt – and sightseeing – me. Actually we took so long to get the latter function going that in the end I threatened to leave them to their shopping and head off on my own. Our first expedition was up the old castle walls. Very interesting and a lovely view of the city from up there. 

 

City view from the castle

We then made our way back through the town (more shopping) and then up to the Lion Monument which is a very beautiful and moving memorial and then on to the Glacier Garden. I found this fascinating, but Rab’s feet were beginning to cave in and Matt was more interested in the Mirror Labyrinth and trying to Find The Mammoth (which wasn’t there) than trying to learn anything about glaciers.

 

The Lion Monument - Matt (bottom left) provides scale

It was raining pretty steadily at this stage, so we got a taxi back to our side of the lake. A PIC taxi actually which are all painted a ghastly shade of green. We went to the Alpina Hotel and had lunch there. Matt at last moved away from schnitzel and had a William Cheese i.e. pears and cheese on toast while I tried the chopped liver and rosti while Rab stuck to veal and rosti.

Matt and I left Rab to have a kip and caught a bus out to the Transport Museum. We had about one and a half hours there which was barely enough to look at the cars and skip through the air section. I found it all very interesting especially the section on old sleighs and coaches. There was also a minute ski-equipped aircraft which was apparently used for postal duties.

The weather had cleared a bit by the time we left so we decided to return across the lake rather than by bus. We found a time table and thought we’d be able to catch a ferry if we hurried, but it  didn’t turn up. Looking at the fahrplan again I realised that the service was dependant on fair weather and it seemed that the next scheduled trip was subject to the same conditions. So Matt and I ducked off smartish leaving all the other hopeful travellers at the end of the little jetty. It seemed a little cowardly but as there were several nationalities represented in the crowd and I wasn’t absolutely sure of my translation, I didn’t want to cause a diplomatic incident.

The wooden bridge

Matt and I caught a bus, getting off on the other side of the lake and walking over the old wooden bridge. I wanted to buy a Swiss hat there, which Rab had opposed, but when Matt said I looked like a madman in it, I had second thoughts. We picked up Rab and wandered through a couple of blocks we hadn’t explored previously. I was wearing my Zimbabwe T-shirt today and this was spotted by a man in a wheelchair who had left Zimbabwe last year to settle in Johannesburg. He had been to the paraplegic games at Stoke-Mandeville. Soon after we left him we stopped at a cheese shop to get a bit of a snack (you never know  when you will get hungry) and found that they were cooking little cheese tartlets. We immediately became esurient and had one each. Delicious.

That didn’t stop us having a little snack at a Movenpick. We chose that because Matt was yearning for something non-Swiss, like a burger, which he enjoyed. Rab tried the mushroom, cheese, ham on toast which I had yesterday for lunch and I settled for a tasty shrimp cocktail on toast. We find the prices here are pretty reasonable – lunch today was about $18.00 and would have been sufficient to keep us going with just a snack this evening. The hotels are also pretty reasonable. The Alpina quoted us f120 (about Z$44) for the three of us when we were considering an extra night here.

 

Matt and Rab having buried the hatchet share the fountain

We have had a good time here in Lucerne and enjoyed our stay – it really is a beautiful place and well worth a return visit some time. We have seen some  sights that got us smiling. Up at the Lion Memorial today there was a dear old American lady in her see through raincoat and either Matt or Rab made a cryptic crack about her being gift wrapped. Matt and I also saw a 2CV Citroen this afternoon which had a window box full of geraniums on its front bumper.

1982 - Home Leave to England - Lucerne

Tuesday August 3, 1982, Lucerne

We woke up early as usual this morning and although the streets were still wet, it had stopped raining, after breakfast we set off for town again. Rab and Matt still had some shopping to do while I had agreed to go across to Swiss Re again this morning to see their training facilities. It was a very interesting visit and will be of great use to us if I can get permission for some of my young people to come over here. This time the vehicle that took me back to the hotel was a Cadillac – silver like yesterday’s Mercedes. Talk about travelling in style. I got back at about 11.30 and met up with Rab and Matt, back from their shopping.

We checked out of the hotel and got down to the railway station and bought our tickets at 11.58 just four minutes after the train for Lucerne had left. So we had an hour’s wait until the next one. Rab spent some of it chatting away to an American girl from Wisconsin – or somewhere like that. There seemed to be a lot of Americans about, but not many Poms.

Leaving Zurich

On the way to Lucerne

The train ride was comfortable and reasonably priced at f16.40 each for a return journey. There were only two stops on the way, one of which was Zug, which looks a lovely little place. The scenery on the way was magnificent – just what you’d expect from seeing pictures in books and magazines, all green and hilly.

Outside Zug

There was a bit of a circus when we arrived at Lucerne at about 14.00. according to our reservations, we were booked in the Hotel de la Paix, so off we went there in a taxi as it was across the river in the old part of town. But, Lo and Behold! – no reservations and a full hotel. No apologies either - just “Well, it is not my fault.” From the stupid receptionist behind the front desk. After much messing about it was eventually  discovered that for reasons unknown there was a reservation for us at another hotel, the Bergendorf in the new part of town back across the river and about 200 metres from the railway station.

By now it was about 15.00, as hot as hell, I am hungry and not very happy especially as the stupid taxi driver seemed to go out of their way to hit every traffic jam in Lucerne. After booking into the hotel, unpacking and mucking about with a travel agent trying to book an hotel in Innsbruck we finally got to a restaurant – the Capitol – and had a very nice meal. Rab had pork with a curry sauce; Matt had veal sausage and rosti and I had sausage and cheese and mushrooms on toast because I was so hungry. Washed down with two or three Pony beers it was good value at a total cost of $15 and it changed the whole complexion of the day.

Lucerne

It was drizzling a little after we had eaten so we walked across the old covered wooden bridge and spent a couple of hours exploring the old part of the city (and the shops) before catching a cab back to the hotel. It certainly is a beautiful city and we were very tempted to spend an extra night here but to get to Munich by 12.30 on Friday we would have to catch the 06.07 train. Not worth it, so we’re sticking with the plan to go through to Innsbruck.

We had a snack of yoghurt before I left Matt and Rab in their room. The weather forecast is for a clear day tomorrow so we are hoping to go up Pilatus. If not the old town is worth seeing – such lovely old buildings, many of which are painted with external murals. So far it has been splendid.

1982 - Home Leave to England - Zurich Day#2

Monday August 2, 1982, Zurich - Day #2

Today was overcast but still very warm and looking out of the windows now at 21.15 as the last of the light goes, I see it is raining gently. It was warm all day though and we were in T-shirts and shorts. We woke up fairly late – about 07.00 - and after lying around chatting we went down for breakfast. Matt has what he calls a “frothy’ throat – hope it is not a precursor of a heavy cold from the flight. Breakfast was a very nice continental meal consisting of croissants, rolls etc and jam. We ordered cheese as an extra because genuine Swiss cheese is really very tasty.   

Rab's new watch and strap

We went downtown after we had eaten to the arcade under the railway station where Matt found his watch and where Rab got a strap for hers. I picked up a very nice camera bag and some film but the lenses are not as cheap as I had hoped they would be so I shan’t be getting any. I did get an electronic game which is most amusing. (From memory an early Mario Brothers hand held one about the size of an iPhone.) We were a bit  worried about the prospect of flying out of Heathrow on British Airways when we leave England next month over a Bank Holiday weekend (ground staff in Britain were notorious for undertaking industrial action over long weekends) and it suddenly struck me this morning that Swissair are flying into Harare now. So away to their offices to change our bookings. We lose half a day in London and spend a little longer in transit but I reckon we’ll be a lot more comfortable.

The rest of the morning was just spent wandering around the department stores mostly just looking at what was on offer and buying a couple of bits and pieces – Rab got a couple of yards of material; Matt got a Matchbox motor bike and a couple of small cars. He is quite good with his money being very tempted to blow the lot on a radio controlled car, but fighting it off so far. I also bought him a Swiss Army knife, engraved with his name and had no sooner done so than I was given one at my business lunch with the Swiss Reinsurance Company. More about that anon.

Matt and me in downtown Zurich

We had a nice coffee break at one of the shops - St. Annahof Coop City – with Rab and I diving into some excellent gateaux and Matt holding back before I went off to keep my lunch date with the Insurance Gnomes of Zurich. (We did a deal of business with Swiss Re throughout the world and they were always good about entertaining us on visits and indeed in providing training for my staff.) I suspect that Gareth cocked up the arrangements somewhat as Ed called me at the hotel at 12.20 and asked if I was coming to the lunch. I was on the point of leaving having been told by Gareth to present myself at 12.30. so in the event I was late. My hosts were gracious enough not to comment on that and we had a most pleasant meal – complete with a Zimbabwe flag on the table. Tomato soup was followed by a pot roast joint of pork, good cheese and then Johannesberen in yoghurt. Accompanied by good red wine and a glass of Pere William.

They gave me a lift back in one of the company cars – a Mercedes 280 SEL, which made Matt green with envy when he heard about it. I got out of my suit and dashed back to meet the family who had apparently behaved well in my absence. No sooner had I sat down than I got a bad case of the gripes, which are still with me, though somewhat abated. It must have been something I had for lunch – it will be interesting to see if anyone else was affected. (I am not sure how I was going to establish this. It is not a standard conversation opener to ask if the bowels are in good working order!) anyway I managed to make it through the rest of the afternoon with just one more emergency stop and drop. We just drifted up the Bahnhofstrasse and collected Rab’s new strap and the reissued air tickets. On the way we picked up some provisions for a snack supper tonight since we had all had a good meal at lunchtime.  Rab had pork fillet in a rich sauce with noodles and Matt had – surprise, surprise – schnitzel again. Not the most adventurous of eaters, our lad! (We had been given the tip to maximise our food enjoyment and budget: Eat as much as you can at breakfast; have a late lunch – lunch is cheaper than an evening meal and if you eat late they sometimes discount  food prices; have a snack supper. It worked well for us.)

Matt and Rab heading back to the hotel

On the way up to the hotel we saw an interesting pair of street musicians playing on their clarinets. What seemed to be a husband and wife team with their baby in a pushchair in between them. The women’s fashions here are fascinating too. What a mixed bunch. Rab need never worry about going braless after some of the sights we have seen here. How they manage to avoid tripping I simply do not know. Many of the men are in strange get-ups too. One who made us laugh this afternoon was leaning against a tram stop in an embroidered satin smoking jacket (filthy) with a pair of mid-calf striped trousers shot with gold thread. It was only when we got closer to him that we realised that the seam on one trouser leg had  given way, exposing his leg to all and sundry.

We got back to the hotel about 18.00 and loafed around chatting and watching an appalling  “Hit Parade”  show on German TV. Reminded us of Mvengemvenge in many ways. (This was the Zimbabwe Pop show on TV – pretty dire.) supper was smoked salmon on croissants followed by a lovely fresh peach. Just what we needed.

1982 - Home Leave to England - Zurich

Sunday August 1, 1982, Zurich

What a lovely day we have had. Perfect weather – almost too hot and as it is Switzerland’s National Day today we had a free fireworks display.

What a great flight we had – and what an airline!! Free newspapers, free drinks, nice cutlery and crockery – and glass glasses – not a sign of plastic anywhere.

There was a cold collation shortly after takeoff which was tasty and washed down by a very palatable Swiss red wine, topped off by an excellent coffee and a couple of Pere William liqueurs. Matt dropped off to sleep pretty promptly but Rab and I watched the film – one of Neil Simon’s titled “Only When I Laugh” which we enjoyed. I managed to doze on and off for about one and a half hours, so am feeling a bit groggy now.

Breakfast on the plane was not so hot – the croissants were good but not even SwisAir can keep eggs, cooked twelve hours earlier, in a reasonable condition. By the time we were up and about we were over Yugoslavia and the sun was up. Unfortunately there was a thick cloud layer  so there was nothing to see. It was the same coming in to Zurich – thick fog/mist which reduced visibility to about twenty five metres.

We were through Immigration before you could say knife and by the time we got to the baggage collection our suitcases were there. Don’t know how the Swiss do that! After changing some money, we caught the train into town – f3.60 each for the nine minute ride. The fog had burned off at this stage so we had a good view of the town as we trudged up to the Hotel du Theatre where we were staying.

 

First sight of Zurich

Very nice hotel with a pleasant manager who found two rooms for us so we could check in right away – it was about 08.00 by this time. (The manager was a very nice man, but although we stayed in his hotel a number of times over the years, he never gave any sign of recognising us. We used to wonder how many Zimbabwean guests he had?) We all showered, which was very refreshing and then went down to the Tourist Office where we caught a bus for a most interesting tour of the city and environs.

Very different from an African landscape

It is a really beautiful place with lovely woods alternating with green fields and fat Swiss cows dotting the landscape with the occasional bell ringing out. I was surprised to see a good deal of maize growing – had always thought of that as an African crop since it is an essential part of the diet in Africa. I thought of wheat as being the European equivalent.

One of the stops was the zoo, where we saw interesting European animals including roebuck, ibex, bears. While we were looking around, the back window of the bus imploded. We were not on the bus when it happened and although we were seated at the back, we said we didn’t mind as we would get some fresh air that way. We weren’t that lucky of course because all the exhaust fumes blew back through the broken  window and made the rest of the trip rather unpleasant. We also went up a cableway which gave us a beautiful view of the lake although as it was so hot, there was a bit of a haze so we couldn’t see all the details.

Me and Matt by the lake waiting for a fahrt

After we got back to the city from our tour we slowly made our way down the main shopping street – Hauptbahnstrasse – to the quay at the foot of the street where we aimed to catch a ferry for a “Kleiner Fahrt” around the lake. We just missed one, so while we waited for the half hour until the next one, we had a light lunch of grilled sausage and rye bread – zehr goed. I loved the trip around the lake which took about one and a half hours although Rab and Matt were a bit sleepy because it was zehr heiss. There are so many beautiful houses all along the shore – they must be worth a fortune – and so many pleasure craft too.

 

Some of the lakeside properties

We walked back to our hotel after getting an ice cream each and stumbled on a hippy colony with some really weird kids in it camped on the river bank. We all crashed for a couple of hours and woke up feeling much better after about 18.30 after three hours of very welcome sleep. We walked down to  local restaurant which had been recommended by the hotel staff – the Urania. (We always used this ploy when we travelled. Asking hotel staff where they would eat, rather than where tourists would eat led us to some excellent – and cheap – meals.) Actually we nearly missed the restaurant because although we had the name we were looking for a place called Oranje – an Afrikaans word pronounced in the same way phonetically – Ooranya - as the Swiss-German Urania.

We had a most pleasant meal of Veal and Rosti for Rab, Goulash for me and Schintzel for Matt. A couple of beers were included for f42.50 (about US$20). Not bad at all. We caught a train down to the quay and watched the fireworks for a while before catching another train back to the hotel.

And so to bed after a long but excellent day – we couldn’t get over the fact that sunset was only about 21.00. The only little cloud on the horizon is that Rab and Matt were at loggerheads. He is very annoying sometimes and seems to take an almost perverse pleasure in riling Rab, but she is very short with him at times. I hope that a good night’s sleep will help.

1982 - Home Leave to England

We had been in Zimbabwe for a little over a year and were now entitled to my “Annual Home Leave”. This term always caused me some amusement because my ‘Home’ was South Africa. But because I was working in the “Overseas Countries” side of the Company I was treated as an expatriate, all but two of whom (including me) were British with a ‘home’ in Britain. So we got an annual trip to Britain as part of my contract - and naturally, we took in a bit of Continental Europe too.

Thursday July 29, 1982, Harare

We nearly didn’t make it. Barclays Bank phoned me this afternoon to say my application for a foreign currency allowance had been turned down by Reserve Bank. (At this time in Zimbabwe it was not possible to obtain any foreign currency without government approval. The normal limit that would be allowed on application was $360 per person per year. It was possible to obtain further funds if travel was for  business purposes.) I immediately phoned Reserve Bank and pointed out the error of their ways. Within an hour they agreed reluctantly to give consent for 80% of the amount applied for - $2,000 in all so at least we can leave on Saturday. (This was for a month of travel in Europe so we would have to budget carefully) Rab has done most of the packing, so there should be a minimum of flap.

Saturday July 31, 1982, Harare

After Thursday’s fright we all relaxed – at least until 03.30 yesterday morning when Matt woke up puking. We thought it might be nerves because for some reason he has been very worried about  this trip. When he showed no sign of improvement by 08.30 Rab took him along to Doctor Davies who measured him and weighed him etc and then said he didn’t know what the problem was – possibly a virus, maybe appendix? Rab however diagnosed nerves, took him along to the chemist, got a mild tranquilliser and Hey Presto! He was better.

I was all up to date with my office work, so all I had to do was to collect our travellers cheques from the bank – what a relief – and get a few last minute things done.

We got moving nice and early this morning after a good night’s sleep and Matt and I took the cats out to the kennels early on. They didn’t really want to go – Pedro especially having been very loving all week after he had seen the suitcases coming out. (We had two Siamese cats – Pedro and Pepita and two spaniels – Guinnie and Penny – at this time. There is no mention of the dogs, which is odd, as we usually left them in kennels too – maybe we left them in the care of our house servant, Willard.)

Team Herbert - ready to go!

We were packed and ready by 11.30 and Duncs was spot on time to pick us up at noon. We  got good seats on the aircraft because we were early. (We generally get to airports very early. I missed an aircraft once by five minutes and ever since then have said I’d rather wait an hour than do that again.) Dad and Lucy turned up to see us off – Duncs having gone home. We didn’t really feel like a big meal so just had a beer and a toasted sandwich with them while we waited to board…….and waited and waited. We were flying Kenya Air via Nairobi and the aircraft had been delayed in Nairobi. We had a couple more drinks and then finally suggested to the old folks at about 15.30 that there was no point in their hanging about so they went home and we went through to the departure lounge.

Rab picked up some perfume at the duty free but they didn’t have the watch Matt wanted. The aircraft finally arrived about three and a half hours late  at 16.10 and we finally took off at 16.45. There was a bit of a shambles boarding the aircraft because although the seats we had been allocated were towards the front of the aircraft, the Kenya Air ground hostess insisted that we should board through the rear door, saying that there was “free seating”. We thought we should try to claim our allocated seats and battled our way up the aisle only to find that another family had our seats and we had theirs. It soon became obvious why this trade had been made. The new seats were on the hot side of the aircraft and the seats had been badly fitted and jammed into place, so much so that my knees were touching the seat in front.

Soon after take off we spotted some vacant seats towards the rear of the plane where there was more room. After that the flight was not too bad. The snacks served were awful – dried up quarter sandwiches, curling at the edges but the Tusker beer was very good and I shared a bottle of wine with the neighbouring passengers – Swiss folk living in Zimbabwe.

Nairobi airport was a revelation – very modern, clean and large, having been built ahead of the OAU meeting the previous June. Our arrival was very smoothly handled and we had time for a very pleasant meal – soup, steak and fruit salad, with the compliments of SwissAir, washed down with another Tusker – before wandering around the duty free shops. Rab saw a lot of watches she liked before settling for a Nirvada for £31. It looks very nice but she is worried about how well it will run; Matt had no luck again. He found the model he wanted, but it was the last one in the shop and the battery was flat. (We still tease Rab about her concerns regarding the watch which were initially based on the fact that she couldn’t hear it tick. Digital functioned watches were still something of a novelty!!)

We boarded the SwissAir flight at about 23.40 local time and were on our way shortly.