Michael Roberts
SYDNEY to ADELAIDE: Having been informed on Thursday night that I had no Covid and would receive CLEARANCE I proceeded to pack and on FRIDAY the 1st October confirmed my ticket booking to Adelaide that afternoon on JETSTAR [an airline which permitted extra luggage].
It was just as well that I got to the airport early. After I had gone through CHECK-IN and was in the airport concourse ordering a sandwich, the Jetstar check -out man FOUND ME [colour of skin helps does it not!!]. My big suitcase had been rejected by the machines as being battery-powered. ….. So, back we trudged to the luggage area.
With some difficulty I pulled the heavy 40kg bag out …and began searching inside for I knew not WHAT …. and WHERE the WHAT was. …. Ahhhh a white ROSSMOS was seen. THAT was it, said the man – A CHARGER.
So, the offending instrument was fished out and placed in my hand luggage. ..a…. nd the suitcase sent on its way. The Jetstar official, fortunately, was an Egyptian migrant and he found a wheelchair that could ease my work in carrying my hand luggage back to the concourse and then guided me back to the front desk where I was booked in again … … We Asians assist each other you know [I doubt if the regular Aussie would have gone as far as this man did to assist a fellow-coloured].
That was HURDLE ONE.
HURDLE TWO was the narrow, cramped seats in the fully crowded Jetstar flight with no food or drink on offer…. okay only 150 mts flying time.
HURDLE THREE was …… Wow .. a transformed Adelaide airport domestic terminal: no shops functioning; outgoing pasngers cordoned off by belt-barriers and the incoming forced into a single-lane QUEUE with armed policemen every 20 yards along the route till e we reached a carefully cordoned off arena with OFFICIALS at desks with computers where one had to answer questions. “Did I have a PASS to enter South Australia?” was the first question. Huh! What pass!!@!#!! ……… I indicated that I had been in Quarantine and showed my clearance papers plus OZ passport. THAT cleared the way.
Adelaide airport fortunately has free baggage trolleys [I had no Aussie money on me]. … so, I was able to each the taxi stands … and had the good fortune to be picked up by an Ethiopian taxi-cab driver who could handle heavy-duty suitcases.
Ahhhh … 1 Woodlark Grove, Glenalta …home and the bosom of my wife SHONA.
But first a cuppa!
…. and EVENTUALLY….. a day or so later after my toe dressing was removed by Shona, …. Voila, my toenail had dropped off on its own saving the local Adelaide doctors the task of a minor toenail removal job
So, now, I have another trophy to display: my right big-toe TOENAIL
Another? …. Yes. Count …
- Fractured olecranon process in right elbow.
- Fractured deformed right index finger
- fractured deformed right little finger
- Fractured deformed left little finger
All that in the cause of sport … BUT in what cause was the Sydney Adelaide flight!
Welcome back Michael! …and thanks for that candid account of human nature defined by skin colour! You say it ‘as it is’ in this PC world! Your account and reporting of your recent sojourn in Galle filled me wish nostalgia for the ‘old country’!
While you may have welcomed the extended stay in SL to renew acquaintances with people and places home is where the heart is. Glad you hurdled back to Home sweet home.