Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Old values and modern routines.


Angus heads off to London. At the airport security check three nuns travelling to Milan are being frisked. Something under their cowls makes the scanner beep incessantly. They are told to take off their head wear. Two of the nuns think it's all very exciting. The third, and possibly more senior, is not amused. She has a grumpy Mother Superior air to her. Angus discovers that the French word for wimple is 'guimpe'. There is something incongruous about this momentary clash of old values and modern routines. The modern routines win.

In the newspaper a story about a craft beer company that gives staff with a new dog a week off to let it settle in. There is something very Scottish and pastoral about that.


One of those anonymous fancy hotels. The sort that men in dark suits like. Could be Manhattan or Sydney or Vancouver. By the elevators a young woman is arranging flowers. '' I'm calling this arrangement tropical paradise " she says while I wait for the lift to whisk me to the eighth floor. ' It's just like Tahiti' I reply, untruthfully. She looks at me blankly. Completely blankly.  The doors open and I'm away before she can ask me ' What's Tahiti ? '


A yellow fever injection has been scheduled. The doctor insists I wait for half an hour afterwards to make sure there are no ill effects. Seems that yellow fever injections can have a fatal effect on over 60's. '' You've got the constitution of a mule " the doctor says in a tone of voice that is supposed to be reassuring. While waiting to see if there are any side effects Angus looks at the art on the walls and reads waiting room magazines. There is a particular type of content free magazine only found in doctors waiting rooms. 


The Manhattanites are early diners. This is fine by me. Start at six. Finish at nine thirty. They are also abstemious. A one glass of wine with dinner type affair. This is not so fine. Even worse it's a unexceptional hotel Malbec. The sort chosen by a tee total catering manager. We discuss the Wall, Brexit, Taiwan and the fact that Africa’s population is forecast to double from 1.3 billion today to 2.5 billion in 30 years. Over that time Africa will contribute more than 58% of world population growth .



Starting in August robots will park your car : https://www.topgear.com/car-news/future-tech/its-future-robots-will-park-your-car-airport




9 comments:

Emm said...

Angus can now answer a question most puzzling: How do the nuns wear their hair under those headdresses? Cut short, braided, shaved, I've always rather wondered.
The projected population growth in Africa is going to make certain elements of the West very nervous, while others will look upon it as new markets.
I suspect that the dinner menu wasn't exciting, either. Sorry about the bad Malbec.

Poppy Q said...

I went to Tahiti in the 90s to the club med there that was very Butlins on the beach. The French were very funny and the prices crazy. Although the food and horrid house wine was all inclusive, I remember it cost $30 for a pack of cards and $10 for a bottle of soda at the local supermarket (about 5-10 times the current NZ prices).

I had a great aunt that was a nun. A lovely lady but always insisted I wore a skirt. My dad used to make her go to tell the managers at the restaurant that she was taking the parish poor out for dinner when there was a large group of our family with her. She never quite understood how the buffet restaurant worked though and embarrassed me by getting each plate piled high with food rather than going up for several serves.

Angus said...

These ladies had hair that was on the easily 'manageable' side.

Angus said...

Tahiti sounds as though it might be a 'crazy' priced place.

WFT Nobby said...

Clearly that is not an NHS waiting room, where one expects to encounter a crowd of grey and disgruntled patients coughing germs over each other, with only a pile of Hello magazines from the 1990s for reading material...
Cheers, Gail.
PS Bertie says 'Yay for BrewDog'. Gail recommends their Dead Pony brew, to those who like a flavoursome but only moderately alcoholic beer.

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari Om
Not one of Angus' favourite trips, then... not even a decent croissant, I am suspecting. Hope this frost and inch of snow doesn't delay your return to the ROF. YAM xx

Taste of France said...

The florist needs to find a new line of work.
When I lived in Kenya in the mid-1980s, the population was 17 million. Now it is 50 million. Kenya has about the same area as France but only 4% is arable. The idea that the population will double is scary not because I don't like Kenyans but because I do, very much. Over the years, I have seen so much progress--most people wearing shoes instead of going barefoot (think of the injuries avoided), more homes with solid roofs, electricity, running water. But it's hard to keep up a standard of living let alone improve it when serving more and more people.

Angus said...

In addition to a popuLation set to grow to 100m Kenya also has a new set of challenges ;
https://www.nation.co.ke/news/Hidden-traps-in-SGR-deal-with-China/1056-4932764-ebw46r/index.html

10NISNE1 said...

I love the new dog leave benefit!