The Pilots’ Meetings are over, quite possibly the last I’ll go to; hopefully the last I’ll be responsible for organising. The latter task is not difficult, just time-consuming. For the former, there are very mixed feelings. The camaraderie and awareness that I’m among a group of first rate people will be very greatly missed.
I know, beyond doubt, that the mixed feelings are not going to go away; transition times are never easy, and big ones like this, particularly difficult.
And on the subject of transitions, the first cardboard boxes have been packed with books, DVDs and pottery.
***********
Catering at the hotel we were using for the meetings caused some concerns. Hagen town water supply was off, not an unusual occurrence. What surprised us was that the hotel didn’t have any back up supply, i.e. rain water tanks, for their kitchens or public area loos. We were due to have pizza there on Tuesday evening, but the thought of kitchen staff only being able to wash their hands with bottled water in a communal bowl, followed by hand sanitiser, didn’t really appeal.
The general opinion was that a decent restaurant would shut down if it didn’t have an adequate water supply. This one didn’t.
***********
My ankle continued to bother me during the week and after six weeks I was beginning to get concerned that it wasn’t healing as quickly as I expected. Although it potentially messed the programme up (I was due to fly to Goroka first thing to do another pilot’s routine flight checks), I decided it was time to see a doctor.
Nicki and I drove out to Kudjip Hospital fairly punctually, even though first thing in the morning is their busiest time. After not too long a wait, during which time some routine checks were done by a nurse, I saw one of the doctors.
He said that he was a runner himself, so could understand the self-inflicted nature of the injury. When he examined my ankle he knew exactly where to press: “Does this hurt?” “No”; “Does this hurt?” “No”; “Does this hurt?” “Yes!” – with the voice slightly higher in tone than that used for the “Nos”.
After a blood test to check for another possibly underlying condition and a second consultation to review the result, I was prescribed a couple of different anti-inflammatories and already it is much more comfortable, so much so that Nicki and I walked over 5km this morning. Running will sensibly wait a bit longer, though I was told that once the pain has reduced sufficiently, there’s no reason why not.
***********
There was still time after we got back to the airport afterwards for me to fly to Goroka (in our little Cessna 172 training aircraft, which is a very useful shuttle) and also to get Sebastian’s flight tests completed.
The following day, Friday, the weather was kind and I was able to do four routine flights out and back to different airstrips before coming home again in the C172.
***********
Saturday was a catch up day with some odd jobs, as well as a catch up day with myself after the busyness of the previous week.
One of the jobs was to make my favourite lemongrass and ginger cordial. Our lemongrass patch is thriving and has some really substantial stems now, worthy of any Waitrose store but costing nothing. Lemongrass stems (crushed), lemons, root ginger and some sugar make for a delicious and very refreshing cordial.
***********
PNG is the Land of the Unexpected, so it wasn’t entirely surprising when a relief pilot, who’s flying three week tours at the moment, didn’t have his new visa issued. As he’s not likely to be in country until mid-week at the earliest, I’m off to Goroka again tomorrow to fly the programme until he gets here.
Expect the unexpected and rearrange your schedule, and again, and again. As I’ll be in Goroka some meetings and tasks I thought I’d do on Monday will now not get done until Thursday, or more likely Friday.
There are times where not having anything to do, or not having plans keep on changing, seems very attractive, but I’m equally certain that I would get very bored very quickly.
I know, beyond doubt, that the mixed feelings are not going to go away; transition times are never easy, and big ones like this, particularly difficult.
And on the subject of transitions, the first cardboard boxes have been packed with books, DVDs and pottery.
***********
Catering at the hotel we were using for the meetings caused some concerns. Hagen town water supply was off, not an unusual occurrence. What surprised us was that the hotel didn’t have any back up supply, i.e. rain water tanks, for their kitchens or public area loos. We were due to have pizza there on Tuesday evening, but the thought of kitchen staff only being able to wash their hands with bottled water in a communal bowl, followed by hand sanitiser, didn’t really appeal.
The general opinion was that a decent restaurant would shut down if it didn’t have an adequate water supply. This one didn’t.
***********
My ankle continued to bother me during the week and after six weeks I was beginning to get concerned that it wasn’t healing as quickly as I expected. Although it potentially messed the programme up (I was due to fly to Goroka first thing to do another pilot’s routine flight checks), I decided it was time to see a doctor.
Nicki and I drove out to Kudjip Hospital fairly punctually, even though first thing in the morning is their busiest time. After not too long a wait, during which time some routine checks were done by a nurse, I saw one of the doctors.
He said that he was a runner himself, so could understand the self-inflicted nature of the injury. When he examined my ankle he knew exactly where to press: “Does this hurt?” “No”; “Does this hurt?” “No”; “Does this hurt?” “Yes!” – with the voice slightly higher in tone than that used for the “Nos”.
After a blood test to check for another possibly underlying condition and a second consultation to review the result, I was prescribed a couple of different anti-inflammatories and already it is much more comfortable, so much so that Nicki and I walked over 5km this morning. Running will sensibly wait a bit longer, though I was told that once the pain has reduced sufficiently, there’s no reason why not.
***********
There was still time after we got back to the airport afterwards for me to fly to Goroka (in our little Cessna 172 training aircraft, which is a very useful shuttle) and also to get Sebastian’s flight tests completed.
The following day, Friday, the weather was kind and I was able to do four routine flights out and back to different airstrips before coming home again in the C172.
***********
Saturday was a catch up day with some odd jobs, as well as a catch up day with myself after the busyness of the previous week.
One of the jobs was to make my favourite lemongrass and ginger cordial. Our lemongrass patch is thriving and has some really substantial stems now, worthy of any Waitrose store but costing nothing. Lemongrass stems (crushed), lemons, root ginger and some sugar make for a delicious and very refreshing cordial.
***********
PNG is the Land of the Unexpected, so it wasn’t entirely surprising when a relief pilot, who’s flying three week tours at the moment, didn’t have his new visa issued. As he’s not likely to be in country until mid-week at the earliest, I’m off to Goroka again tomorrow to fly the programme until he gets here.
Expect the unexpected and rearrange your schedule, and again, and again. As I’ll be in Goroka some meetings and tasks I thought I’d do on Monday will now not get done until Thursday, or more likely Friday.
There are times where not having anything to do, or not having plans keep on changing, seems very attractive, but I’m equally certain that I would get very bored very quickly.
