ukrm rough guide to Mexico City

My worst was a trip to Nyon to see a client. Although we'd known the
meeting was coming up for over a month, the office admin girl didn't try
to book any flights or accommodation until a few days before departure.
On the plus side, flights were in such short supply we got BA Club
Europe to Geneva rather than the usual cattle-fest with Easyjet. On the
down side it was the week of the Geneva motor show and empty rooms were
more scarce than flights.

So we ended up in some shitty apart-hotel in the wrong country on the
wrong side of the lake, in such a grotty area even the bars closed as
soon as it was dark. The only way to get anywhere for dinner was to get
a taxi to the next town (Annemasse) but there was only one taxi working
in the area and he went to bed before we finished dinner. Cue an hour
and a half long walk back being pelted with potatoes by unseen
assailants.

The next morning we needed to get to Nyon and, rather than head for
Geneva and get the train as usual, the bloke at reception suggested the
ferry across the lake which apparently ran every 20 minutes. Except he
got that wrong - it took 20 minutes, but it ran every two hours.

That was the last time we ever let her book flights or rooms for us.

 

No entirely, Lord Copper.

It was the book of the week, which this week is <googles> "Tequila
Oil" by Hugh Thompson.

"In 1979, at the age of 18, despite not having a driving license or
even knowing how to drive, Hugh Thomson bought a vast Oldsmobile 98
car in Texas and drove it though the length of Mexico to Belize, with
the hope of selling the car there for a lot of money"

Moderately amusing, but I doubt R4 put a stamp of factual accuracy on
every book they abridge.

 

Damn. These fish aren't biting at all well this morning.

But hey, I'll go with the cut-and-paste anyway:

You know, I thought about putting a smiley on my post, and thought
"nah, Champ is old-school, he won't need a smiley".

 

"Up to a point".

 

I'm sure I've mentioned before, but when I was crossing the border
from France to Italy, one of the border guards/cops/whatever mimed
waving a flag and the other lifted up is hands in the "go on, pull a
wheelie" gesture.

Driving/riding in Italy is fantastic.

 

I got to a point a little while ago where I couldn't tell where I was
because all Holiday Inns look the same in the room.

 

What's with all the "Lord Copper"?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoop_(novel)

 

that's two plashy fens in a month.

 

One may be regarded as a misfortune...

 

It's from a book, as Darsy's pointed.

I haven't even read it myself, mind.

 

don't confuse me with Penfold, FFS.

It's pretty good, if you don't mind the racism.

 

I went off the idea of reading anything else by him after "A Handful
of Dust", which was one of the most depressing books I've ever read.

 

Rather different bent though. Scoop is far more towards the Loved One
end of the spectrum. Reminded me somewhat of Our Man in Havana.

 

I'm either misremembering Scoop or Our Man in Havana

 

In the sense of them both being a bloke completely out of his depth in a
foreign country with masters who think he's up to something he's not.

It may not be that reminiscent at all really, I probably read them both
around the same time or something.

 

you know, you're absolutely right. For some reason (early senility
probably) I was confusing "Our Man in Havana" with "The Power and the
Glory". The latter of which really is completely unlike Scoop.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Champ

Heh. I was ferried around Piacenza some years ago by a girl, in her
father's *brand new* car. We got to the city town square which "we're
not supposed to drive through now, but...".

At the other side we found two new concrete bollards with a gap between
them exactly 1cm narrower than the car. Guess how I know that... :^)

<fx: big shrug> "Oh well..." and we carried on. Marvellous.

 

On Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:26:20 +0000, Andy Bonwick wrote:

Tricky business that. Tricky indeed.

Ah Ha! A man who knows a million uses for Gaffa Tape. The tape of life.
It has a light side and a dark side and it holds the universe together.