Friday 31 August 2007

Kuwait City 31st August 2007


Well after a resonably short flight from London of 5hours 30 minutes i am here is Kuwait with an average daily temperature at this time of year of 47 degress or about 119f, unbearable and when leaving the airport it is like walking into a very hot sauna and someone blowing a hot hairdryer in your face.

Hotel is nice and free breakfast was great and with a 0630 pick up tomorrow for airport and may squeeze breakfast in before the crew bus leave for the airport.

Flight here checked in at 2100 and we took off at 11pm, yes, a short flight but considering i had been up since 0900 and then all night it's tiring, Passenger sin First and Business class were mostly women with huge shiny expensive designer handbags and all desperate to but some duty free goods and spend spend spend, what a life to have no money worries.

I fly with people who live in houses worth 1million£££ + and there is me in a modest 3 bedroomed one bathroomed house, Now, did they marry money for a comfortable life, or did they marry for love? This is the question that i guess would never be answered honestly by cabin crew colleagues.

I do think i should be able to redesign my bathroom and have some personal luxuries at my age but it seems in the UK we work to survive while other countries work for luxuries.

I hate my bathroom and my lounge is looking tired, the hallway and upstairs needs redecorating , dining room is ok and the garden needs some decking or even better an extention of a conservatory. A loft extension would be good with an en-suite but then again it all falls back to money. My partner likes his job and his 4 on 3 off, 3on 4 off work pattern really helps with having the dog to take care of and although we have a lovely dog walker called Angela we only use her maximu, 4-5 times a month. But i also know many of my colleagues partners earn in excess of 100k and my partner is on about 14k with bonuses included so money is a little stretched sometimes and i do subsidise him without him actually realising.
I have one more traumatic body clock trip we call back to back, it shoudl be renamed a back to front. On 4th September i fly to Boston i leave on 5th flying through the night arriving early morning of 6th in London, i then check in for Chicago on 7th leave on 8th and night sector arriving early morning on 9th so 4 atlantic crossing in a short period but we do these once a month and sort of battle on to get them over and done with until 28 days later when the next one appears on the roster.
I will sign off now as a 0530 wake up call in morning for vile daylight sector flight to London when few passengers will sleep and we will be kept on our toes by people who i used to be pampered by servants in their every day life but get a shock as we will not tolerate this sort of approach, We are always polite but never treat like thirs class citizens by anyone!!!!

Monday 27 August 2007

Rio by Helicopter


Jesus



Copacabana Beach






I did a very brave thing when in Rio last week. I was persuaded by 2 colleagues to go in a helicopter ride for 15 minutes to Copacabana beach, Ipanema, Sugar loaf mountain and of course th statue of Jesus. These are the picture i took from the helicopter. Cost was £90 each.

Agraphobia

I am not sure if i am suffering from this or i just try and shut out the outside world as much as possible as so many bad things have happened to me.
I do manage to walk the dog as alone but as soon as i do anything with "people" or "friends" i get stressed and need to get home as soon as possible. I have this awful feeling people don't like me or they do not like my partner. Maybe his accent is too strong for them to understand so they try and avoid conversations or just stop visiting.
I have no friends here, nobody stops by to say hello. I am alone most of the time and it can get lonely but i do feel safe.
I should be so excited about my cruise in September but i ache at the thought of it. I worry that people will stare, i worry that we will have to share a table and noone will understand us, i worry people will point or snigger as they know we are gay.
I wish i could switch off but i am so aware of it going on i can see it before it happens, then it happens. Weird i know!!!!
Work is not a problem as working on an aircraft gives me control of situations and the feeling of safety as if anything happens it is not as if a criminal can run away at 35,000 feet, i suppose that cruise holidays appeal due to their safe and secure environment.
I am now watching the news about the poor 11 year old boy who was shot in Liverpool and his parents are wrecks. Is this the world we all have to get used to living in? Guns? Knives? Unsafe streets?
I must say the community police that walk the streets where i live add that bit of security to my area. It's a good neighbourhood but we are hemmed between two "not so good" areas so groups of youths use our road as a thoroughfare between the two so we do get loud voices but that's about it.
I suppose when my parents are no more and my dog has died i will have nothing to stay in the UK for except my job and even that is stale and stagnent right now. Flying used to be glamouros but now it is a McDonald's with wings!!!
Well its almost the end of august and i do hope people are reading my blogs, it's a sort of relief from things which bug me or stress me out.