First venture to India over. In the end I was not called on to resurrect the England bowling attack, though I wonder of Mr Dilshan would have coped with the prodigious away swing. Mr Rashid now knows what it feels like to travel the world for a day in the office!
It seems my enjoyment of the cricket world cup is totally over, as the channels I had on my TV now have disappeared completely from the list, much to the bemusement of the leasing office. Fortunately they disappeared before the demise of England.
Didn't see much of Mumbai. Airport to hotel, to office (a few times) and then to Airport. Noticeable how much easier it was in India where English is spoken easily. I was fortunate to be travelling with an Indian colleague when we arrived. We took a nostalgic taxi from the airport to the hotel. Nostalgic in that the car was a Suzuki Wagon R, a pale blue and grey, not purple. In the boot (that huge cavernous space) was the drivers belongings, so our carry on bags had to be strapped on the roof, and i had to help the driver do it as he couldn't reach to put the bags up there. So we set off. After 100 yards we had to stop as there was a horrible grating sound at the back. The driver got out and walked round kicking the tyres, and checking the car. He opened the back door and told my colleague to sit in the front. No more grating sound. My colleague is about 5ft 9in, and 10st!
The most noticeable thing about the hotel (Marriott) was the security to get into the compound, and then each day to get in through the front door. Sniffer dogs, metal detector scanners and pat down search!
At airport on departure I was taken to the terminal door, where there was a huge queue, as there was at every terminal door. So set off to the back queue (still outside the terminal) and came across a gentleman with a board with the name of the airline I was flying on it. So he took me to the front of the queue, past the army guard who was checking details, passports, and to a young lady inside the terminal who checked my passport, and then showed me to the check-in desk. Can you see that happening in the UK or US?
The wonders of modern pharmaceuticals managed to keep the "Delhi belly" under control for the journey home. Still took a few days to fully recover.
Another holiday coming up here, Qing Ming festival, or Tomb sweeping festival. Many Chinese do exactly that, tending to the graves of their ancestors, lighting candles, adding flowers etc. To get the two days (Monday and Tuesday) we have to work Saturday!
Saw an unusual site today on the way to the local shop - a group of kids playing football on a patch of grass. Girls and boys of mixed sizes and I guess ages. I have seen many basketball hoops no one playing them, but not seen sight of football goals, and spaces for kids. They even had jumpers for goal posts. I resisted the temptation to go and join in, as normal would have gotten shown up.
Am looking at attending a football match in the next few weeks - Shanghai Shenhua - who play in the Chinese Premier League and are in the Asian Champions League at the moment. My colleagues are very sceptical given recent scandals over corruption in the game. They did offer to find out the result before hand to save me the expense and effort. They do not understand the madness that afflicts a football fan. Anyway the best seats are 200RMB. The time of kick off seems strange at 4.30 in the afternoon, on a work day. You would think they would wait for the fans to get there, but if you already know the result...
Had a consulting firm in this week, and as usual they brought more people with them than we can accommodate in a meeting room. However what was notable the three native Chinese consultants all spoke with classical (Oxbridge) accents. The expats all had dialects that were challenging to follow! The Australian was perhaps the easiest, the Canadian next though the french twang caught me out a few times. The three Irish lads were the hardest so we switched to Zhongwen. At lunch conversation shifted rapidly to cricket, rugby and football. Unfortunately we haven't played Ireland at football for a while. You can guess which three teams these guys follow, Man Utd, Liverpool and Celtic! At least the Liverpool and Celtic supporters acknowledged the existence of Scunthorpe, only because of the star player we have supplied these two clubs.
Looking forward to my trip home at the end of April, if only to see the relegation of the mighty Iron.
No comments:
Post a Comment