Week 3 - Return Ticket

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Mon 16th
Left for the airport in good time because I was yet to take delivery of my return ticket. Called into Partnership Travel on the way (because it would be awful to have to come all the way back). The boy on the desk called Yusuf who seemed a little annoyed that anyone should want attention at this hour, especially as he was getting dressed ready for work. I explained that I still hadn’t got a ticket in my hand, even though I’d paid for it on Saturday, and I really didn’t want to go all the way to the airport only to discover I should have got it from here etc etc, and so reluctantly the boy on the desk wrote out slowly but carefully my name, and the date, and the route, and the cash amount, including to my relief the words "paid in Zanzibar". He filed two of the counterfoils in his drawer and stapled the other two into an Air ticket cover folded it back on itself and handed it to me. As I was leaving I shouted towards the room behind the office "thanks Yusuf see you again some time". "Yes, see you at the airport" came the reply.

Of course when I got there, there was only the person around was the man that collects the airport tax. He explained that he couldn’t do anything till I checked in… and I couldn’t do that until Mr Yusuf arrived. Mmph. I’m beginning to understand – could Chake be twinned with one of those Scottish villages where the man running the Post Office is also the publican and the lifeboat skipper and the minister?

Some other passengers arrived and began to "queue" up – around the front of the check-in counter. Then another vehicle load including Yusuf – the man with the snazzy PVC attaché case. Now we’re in business, now we can get going.

Of course the flight only had 6 passengers and if you didn’t already know each other it wasn’t going to take long. As well as Catherine and Jane, there was Mike who had been ZIFF MD last year, and a guy who claimed to be on the Board of ZIFF, carrying a "Korg" synthesiser he’d been playing in Chake at a wedding. The flight was fine and we had good views in particular Mnemba Island and the reef around it.

Got a lift back into Stone Town with Catherine and Jane. Went home, showered, changed, and then wondered into the office for about 11AM. Unfortunately there is no advantageous time zone difference between the islands.


Week 3 - Return Ticket

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