Travelling

HongKong  airport, the Air Niugini 11:30pm flight  to Papua is delayed and again delayed to 4am so it was not too good sleeping across to Port Moresby where we arrived at noon giving little time to get through immigration and customs for the afternoon flight to Madang. Fast-tracked through customs who happily turn a blind eye on my blue stilton cheese and Marmite, in time to meet the deadline for boarding the final flight. Out of breath we find the flight delayed and spend the afternoon in the crowded departures hall as the Company’s flights are delayed and cancelled  and reprogrammed in a confusing welter of announcements leaving just one flight to Goroka and another airline’s flight taking off. With flights cancelled all the passengers have to get new boarding passes, again going through security checks before finally ( we naively believed) boarding the plane to be told that the flight was cancelled again and we would have to disembark due alternatively to rain in Madang or the pilot’s fatigue and air-time limits.

The booked passengers from our flight added to those from the other cancellations in collecting our baggage and joining the crowd around the airline’s help desk as the staff sought to allocate hotel places for everyone (I understand that a substantial part of the Air Niugini’s expenses goes on hotel bookings, possibly explaining the high cost of the air-fares ). Get to the luxury hotel in time to eat a meal before the restaurant closes and then to the ensuite bedroom with a commanding view aver the Capital, and sleep until leaving for the forecast 2am check-in time at the airport.  Predictably the airport is closed until an hour later.  Then the mix between a queue and a scrum to get new boarding passes just in time for the forecast 4:30am boarding time.  We board the plane which sensibly waits for the rest of the passengers to be processed before taking off and arriving in Madang at sunrise on a beautiful morning.

Pleased to find so many people happy to see me again and disappointed, but not surprised that the office remains as I left it, still no stationary supplies and my new room still not finished. Most of the staff are absent on leave, apparently approved by the provincial administration regardless of the need to provide a public service.   In this ‘land of the unexpected’ I find the Council refuse compactor truck running about again which I never expected in a month of Sundays.  A friend asks me to forge a school certificate for her niece (for an implausible and therefore likely reason) but rejected. Young catering student has problems with her boyfriend and her parents – do I look like an agony aunt?  A police reservist friend is seeking , with a dozen of her colleagues, legal assistance to claim unpaid overtime monies  (seems that some official has made off with the cheques in between the Capital and Madang.

 Wintery December in Clifton, Bristol

 Madang International airport

 London Millennium Footbridge

 Drinks on train from london