Contrasts

Just had an eventful couple of days. My last post had me end up in Copenhagen and the tugging on my heart strings got stronger and the realisation of just how expensive it is to stay in Copenhagen so I bought a cheapie ticket to Gatwick and went to the house there. Got a delightful welcome there. The power had tripped off due to the cooker hood having a fault (it took me 2 days to discover that) so the few bits and pieces that we had left in the freezer had grown hair, long stinky hair. I nearly chundered when I opened the door it was so strong. Anyhow, got that cleared up and set to fault finding the electrics. It was only by chance that I found it but I got there only on the night before I was due to leave. Got back to Copenhagen and now I'm back in Sharjah after a nice short flight down here.

It's here where the title comes into play. I spent the day in the 'Disney' shopping centre that is Diera City Centre. I say 'Disney' because they do have shopping down to a fine art down here. There are shuttle busses from hotels all over the Emirates, people on hand to answer your questions at the waiting rooms for them and that sanitised and overly expensive atmosphere that Disney creates so well. Loads of people down there spending loads of money and wearing loads of bling. So that was in the centre for commercialised excesses and I then get on the hotel shuttle back to Dubai's little brother, Sharjah. Sharjah is much like Dubai was 10 years ago but without the booze and a noticeable lack of females. Everywhere you look there are hoards of South Asians, all men, hanging around, draped over each other, staring aimlessly into the middle distance and spitting. These are the guys that built the commercial epicentre that is Dubai. They work hard, very hard and have scant little time off. They normally work 12 hour shifts of hard labour on the building sites that litter the area and have 1 day off a week. These guys send every penny they can to their families in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh so much so that on the way back from my dinner round the corner at the BBQ and Curry shop I see someone going through the contents of a large bin into which someone had dumped a load of clothes. This guy looked quite well dressed, appeared to have fairly good hygene standards but was rummaging through a dumpster for the chance of a new shirt. This may not sound so bad but the smell was reminiscent of my little freezer adventure in UK. It was vile and there he was in amongst it all holding up a white shirt with a big dark stain on it. I didn't see if he took it as he was examining it for quite some time possibly pondering if it was worth his while. Of course my assumption may be totally off but that is certainly how it appeared.

To finish this observation off is one of my favorite statistics about the UAE. Less than 20% of the population are Nationals. The rest are foreigners here to make a buck. At least they work to make that buck unlike what is happpening in the UK at the moment with immigrants arriving and being housed and getting benefits from the start. Oops, I digress. My statistics turned into a mini rant.

Flexibility

Last night, on my way here to Copenhagen we stopped off in Heathrow. I nearly, and now wish I did, get off the plane there as there was another crew flying it to Copenhagen. We have 3 full and clear days here in CPH and with it being as expensive as it is here, particularly when you live in a hotel, I have decided to get myself a flight back to London. I started looking for flights which came back at over £600 which was a non-starter. Then I remembered that Sterling used to do flights to Gatwick which have been taken over by Cimber here in Denmark. I looked on their site and found a flight for €99 return! Got to love that and considering I will no doubt spend that here in about 2 days I think it is worth it particularly as I have loads of things to do at home, not least of which is to cut the grass. No doubt it is knee high by now if the sun has been shining as I hear it has been. It will be strange to go back there to an empty house but it is a far better outlook than sitting here in a hotel for 3 days doing nothing.

So you may think what has that got to do with flexibility. Well, my job means changes. Lots of changes. I have to adapt very quickly to changes in my working pattern but also in what I do at work. We are still learning loads about aviation and improvements are always being made and implemented that means I have to change what I do sometimes. These types of changes are good but sometimes the constant changes to my roster can be a little infuriating especially when it interferes with personal plans made as a family. It's my job though and I have to deal with it. When I no longer can deal with it, it's time to stop flying I think.

Mixed Emotions

It’s always with mixed emotions that I come away on one of these trips. As I said earlier, I love what I do. I get to see some amazing sights and get to see the planet from a rare and beautiful point of view and get paid for it. I sight-see in places I wouldn’t normally go to but as I am there I try to make the most of it. I get to stay in some really nice hotels (some less than average ones too) and have swum in many of the planet’s seas. It’s when I think of what I have left behind me at home that melancholy sinks in. I am a typical first time father apparently. I have pictures of Ruru all over the place. In my flight case, on my phone, in my lap top and of course in my mind’s eye. He has changed me as I think any child changes their parents so leaving him for even a couple of days raises very powerful emotions.

Of course I miss Maki while I am away but sometimes I think she can’t wait to get rid of me. Unlike the 9-5 that many people do, when I am off, I can be around for weeks at a time, 24-7, and even I annoy myself when I spend that amount of time with myself. It’s not just the evening meal a bit of TV and then off to bed with us. It is everything for a few days or weeks then very little contact for anything up to 3 weeks before I am back again disrupting the normal flow of things in the house. It’s a strange dynamic but it seems to work. Abscess makes the fart go Honda or is it absence makes the heart grow fonder, I can never remember these days.

Storm in a Coffee Cup

It had to be a coffee cup as I hate tea with a passion. I’m sitting here in a First class seat on flight SQ494 to Dubai on the excellent Boeing 777-300. I spend quite a lot of time on one of these seats. I have to pinch myself when I do as the whole experience is fantastic. We check in as crew so jump all the queues at immigration and security, get given our seat allocation hoping that it will be as close to the front as possible (our seat is confirmed in economy but if space is available in the Business or First Class cabins we get them) where we take our seats only after changing into what someone coined our ‘drinking shirts’. First Class on SQ (the short airline code for Singapore Airlines) is incredible. The seats range from very comfortable to wonderful and the food is excellent. Service as you would expect in First on any carrier is fantastic but the attention to detail is just sublime. Lunch started with a glass or 2 of Dom Perignon 2000 and was rounded off with a selection of cheese served with a glass of 20 year old port followed by Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee and a glass of Hennessey XO. It really is the only way to travel.

Anyhow, the reason behind the title here is that it seems whenever I get comfortable with a cup of coffee on a flight we always hit turbulence. My cabin crew friends reading this will know the scenario whereby the meal service is started by the seat belt sign getting turned on. It’s a nightmare but part of life at or around 35,000ft I guess. I’m not complaining about it but it’s funny how the 2 are so interminably linked.

The title also has reference to the fact that on a regular basis I get a realisation of how small we are as a human being and how insignificant what we, individually, see as important is. Flying along at 41,000ft (7.8miles up) the other day we passed a cumulo-nimbus cloud (CB or thunderstorm). Sounds like pretty mundane stuff but this thing went up another 5,000 or 6,000ft above us. This thing was huge but by no means the biggest around. I have seen them reaching up to 60,000ft before. Looking down the side of these things as you pass them by is incredibly belittling particularly when you consider not only the fragility of what I sit in while I pass it but also energy it contains. Huge! That’s just not a big enough word to describe it. Really.

The storm comment can describe all sorts of things in our lives too. I often wonder how much of the so-called financial crisis is media generated. As the situation got worse and worse the media was full of stories of doom and gloom which I think made us all feel worse about it all but also didn’t instil confidence in the investors around the world that do power the planet’s economic heart. It made me feel rubbish about the world but then we were going through tough times ourselves too. I voted with my thumb and used it to change the channel or flick the page to the funnies. Reading the paper today, so much of it is filled with news of Swine Flu. Yes, tragically people have lost their lives to this, but people die of influenza every year. Is the reporting of this down to the fact that this is a not only a new strain but that it is taking column inches away from the financial crisis that is currently with us therefore making the rest of us feel better about ourselves. Is this part of the therapy required to take us out of the doldrums, making us all realise how lucky we are to have health and life? I don’t know. Just a thought

Me - A Welcome of Sorts

I drive planes! Some people call me a pilot but since so much of the romance of air travel has been removed these days I just drive ‘em. I love planes. I love what I do. I love life but I do get wound up by various things. These are generally just a ripple on the coffee cup but I do get bugged all the same. Things that top the list are inconsiderate people, those who don’t listen and lack of respect. You’ll no doubt learn and understand more about me and what bugs me as this blog goes on, if you continue to read it, or more importantly I guess, if I continue to write it. I’m middle aged I guess. Approaching 40 to be precise. I don’t feel that old but my passport tells me I am as do the times I can’t do the things with my son, Wataru (Ruru), that I would like to. I feel young, want to do young people things, but often can’t due to the commitments that come with the number that is my age. I’m trying not to be an old person wearing young person’s clothes and thinking that makes them ‘cool’ and don’t worry, you won’t see me with a pony tail ever and I am sure the thought of me wearing a thong has just put you off your next meal.

A lot of this is going to be written while I am away from home on my journeys around the planet. You’ll hear about what I have done, what I have tried and what has got me excited in both the positive and negative sense. I hope you enjoy it.