Unanticipated consequences

Day 781 – Thursday, May 5, 2022 – Unanticipated consequences

Arrived in Zurich – 12C and drizzling - 3 hours later than originally scheduled. This, due to a side trip from Johannesburg to Durban before flying to Zurich. That, due to road and rail damage related to flooding after Durban’s torrential rainfall of few weeks ago resulted in no jet fuel transported to Johannesburg. Our filled-to-the-gills Airbus rerouted to Durban, refueled – took an hour to fill so LOTS of jet fuel – and we took off.
This airport’s security required stripping down to seeds and stems – jacket off, shoes off, pockets emptied, “cosmetics” gone through. On discovering a forgotten half-filled bottle of water in my backpack, the security agent admonished me with a stern look and, “No water! Don’t you do that again!”
Hmmm, remember Richard Reid, the guy who carried explosive material in his shoe heels, aka The shoe bomber? Thanks, Richard, for over-vigilant security agents each traveler faces while you spend three consecutive life sentences and 110 years with no possibility of parole in Florence, Colorado’s supermax penitentiary, the prison holding the most dangerous prisoners in the federal system.

***   

I have 3.5 hours to consult my cell phone – airport wi-fi is iffy – stretch my stiff body by walking and exploring Terminal E’s long hallways.
Catching up on the news via spotty wi-fi access, Ukraine has moved off the front pages, replaced by the dismaying news that the US Supreme Court really is considering overturning Roe v Wade. This means abortion becomes a state-by-state elective surgery – and that many states will refuse the procedure to women wanting/needing it. 

Will Americans really stand by for what will be an ongoing disaster?
Potentially, a very thorny socio-political direction ahead. Don’t expect assistance from Democrats who lost their spines and their courage decades ago and who seldom fight back against Republican over-reach.
Might We, the People fight for women’s rights and vote against Republican and evangelical over-reach in the upcoming election?

Days 780 - Wednesday May 4 - Foiled again!

As a goodbye “gift”, Escom/Eskom saw fit – due to “heavily constrained system” – to load shed between 10am and 12:30 pm today. This feels like the kick-a-woman-when-she’s-down syndrome… an expect-the sort-of-unexpected except it is Escom – regularly offering the loadshedding gift that keeps on giving.
No electricity, no wi fi, no printer. Grrrrr!
That was the first half of the day.

***

After I agreed to SwissAir’s conditions related to “a change in flight” I discovered the change: the flight departs Johannesburg and heads to Durban before heading to Zurich. I could have paid for a taxi service to Durban and saved myself a pile of rands if I’d simply noticed the extra tiny print on the itinerary. I’d also have saved myself several hours of wandering around Oliver Tambo Airport, too. But then I likely would been missed an incredibly intrusive security check. I thought Heathrow had intrusive security checks – they do – and today’s agent was almost on a par. Today’s agent removed a full bottle of facial freshener, a 4/5 empty bottle of mouthwash, a metal nail file, and a tiny foldup penknife set that I never use and that has traveled tens of thousands of miles, forgotten in a small pocket of my small backpack.
Passing through security, however, was the good part of today’s story. The stressful part was arriving at SwissAir’s document check kiosk and discovering my Covid test – negative – was unacceptable. It was a day old. This, after asking the test lab about the longevity of the test results and being assured that, because of the double holiday – International Worker’s on Sunday and Monday – I’d best take the test of Friday.
My downfall?
Trusting professionals.

I pushed and pulled my luggage to a series of kiosks each offering one of several varieties of Covid testing. Luckily for me, the kiosk offering the R500 test required me using a QR code that required decent internet connection… that was unavailable on my cell phone. Instead, I ended up at the kiosk offering 15-minute, R150 antigen test. This time, the paperwork was accepted at the document check point.