Need to sleep but can't sleep

Events and items of note these last few days,


Tiger Tiger Burning Bright


It's thirsty work sitting in row 24 of a 30 row plane when the drinks start at row 1 and are perched on top of a giant snail.

When the red finally came out was cold. 250ml of Australias finest cab merlot in a tall ali can.

I made sure it wasnt lonely and ordered two more of its mates to form a mini parade on the tray top.

Low oxygen, low air pressure and and the 12% sneek up on you over the next hour until you are calm and drowsy and the girl over the corridor making a nest out of three seats looks like she has a nightee on.

Budget air doesn't mean low on talent.

Stretching in the corridor is an art not unlike origami a gentle fold here, then crease --- ouch!

Boredom needs to be fought, but there's only so many times you can fart into the foam chair and smile about it, these things should be shared. Alas, the air changes too quickly and the engines' drone in the cab is at 60dbA, Farts are Silent but Unnoticed

Sheryl tries to sleep on the tray top but it's futile. Like so many others she resorts to having her chin on her chest, no wonder you feel like Maximus after he fought that brute and those tigers in the Colloseum, when you do finallly arrive.

Could it be so difficult to allow the seats to recline just 1 cm further back so your skull could fall back past the centre of gravity over the top of your spine, and settle in a relaxed position? Would our safety be so compromised?

We are faced with a lot of transit now. Readers will be uninterested about the airport traversal parts of our18 hours in Singapore, so Ill omit them.

Singapore is the most remarkable of cities, it is the cleanest space I have ever seen, the only litter is the jacarranda leaves stuck on the wet paving. Not one butt, ticket stub or macca wrapper did I see, and no, I mean no, graffiti, period.

The Jacarrandas are in themselves remarkable. There must be hundreds or thousands lining the roads and in the medians, each one is carefully sculpted by an aborist, so they all have the same basic shape, a single trunk then open branches supporting a domed canopy of leaves, not unlike a sprig of broccoli.
The medians and verges are also lined with ordered flowering hedges, bouganvillea mostly.

I had a mission for Singapore which was to get a Netbook (a baby laptop, cheap, small, very light,and very slow) so we worked out transport, some of it on the fly, and went to the digital life shopping precinct. Expecting fierce competition, we got none. 6 floors and dozens of shops all guilty of price fixing. In the end we went with the biggest one (it had the whole top floor) Challenger, because they threw in the most extras, and gave the best service. For those who want to know, the best deal was a Toshiba NB305, I got a red one because they go faster.

It kind of let Sheryl down because the shopping blew any chance of seeing more of Singapore, but no doubt we can come back another day for a longer time. I'd like to.


The EFF Word

Air France loaded us gently on board, lots of 'BonJour', which means good day, so I responded with the Australian equivalent. The First/ Business class was the biggest I have ever seen on a plane, things can't be that tough in Europe.

As we took off, Singapore looked like the Star Wars planet Coruscant (yes I had to look up the spelling), a vast expanse covered entirely in buildings

We were still quite shattered, so when the food came we had to be woken. They have good cooks for Air France because the food was the best airline food I have ever eaten. We were so tired we would have slept in a dumpster, but the seats were Ok, if a little hard, and I was able to get my legs straight under the seat in front.

The steward who served us was young, had an easy smile, and not the "eff word" type, not efeminite, or efite, I therefore surmised he was not the gee word either, as so many are, not that I care, just noting the exception.

I woke about 6 hours out of Paris and went down the back for a drink and a stretch. A young couple were milling around each other, oblivious and tired I got my iced water and hung back there. The ninja Hostie came out of some corner and perhaps, seeing that I was cramping the young couple's style, ordered me back to my seatbelt because it was, at the moment, 'boompy'.

I suspect the couple wanted to experience some the Eff word as well, and join the mile high club. I am sure now the Hostie conspired, for the sake of - L'amour.

We had a tight timeline, 70 mins getting off the plane and onto the next, fortunately the arrival was early, but it was an agonising (for more than one reason) taxi-ing session around the entire airport to the terminal.

Anxiety rose a little when they hadn't posted the Rome flight on the boards, so I didn't know which gate to go to.

Sheryl sorted it with the AF desk, and we were off.

Charles DeGaull airport, bigger I think than Changi, certainly has the longest corridor I have ever been in, and terminals A to F.

Immigration was a hot crush, followed by a hotter crush in security, kids were screaming, guards ordering, 200 people jammed up against three gates, everyone agitated, but like a blackhead, we werre squeezed out and into the gate area with a few minutes to spare, walked directly onto the plane, and got seated.

The A320 made a horrible loud and constant sawing sound when standing, but it went away as we took off late for Rome.

It was cloudy so I missed the potential views of the Alps and such like, the flight was mercifully short and we arrived in Rome, uneasy and still agitated.

Rome Airport

Reuniting us with our bags intact took some of the stress off.

There must be a lot of Customs officers looking for work in Italy, because the Customs galley at Fumicino is smaller than this hotel room, and empty. Articles to decare=nothing to declare. They wont make a TV series on Border security here.

Outside the airport, compared to Singapore, Rome is a TIP, I mean this place is filthy.


The Holiday Inn - Eu Parco dei Medici is old but gutted and refurbished, half way to Rome from the Aiport, with free busses. Forecast 30 degrees, might give the pool a test run after our compimentary breakfast.

It's sited next to the single ugliest building I have ever seen. I'll get a photo and post it.

That Ugly Building


We have a day sight seeing in Rome planned then the Cruise around the West Mediterranean.
Till next time.

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