Blogs from Mahé, Seychelles, Africa - page 9

The premier treatment ends alas at the airport gate as we join our fellow peasants in economy. I muse over the fact that people are prepared to pay huge amounts of money (but hey they subsidise my travel) to sit in a slightly more comfy part of the aircraft where the only thing separating them from people like me is a natty little curtain. Surely, people clever enough to build hulking machines that fly in the sky can devise something better? Come on business class people, arise and revolt, demand better flying conditions. Oops sorry, forgot, that's what the people behind the curtain are meant to do but then Sky TV happened. paradisepromised.wordpress.com ... read more

Half a year it's been since I arrived on Seychelles shore so I thought it about high time that I reflected seriously upon how life has changed for me rather than pontificate about what animal I'd like to be if I was reincarnated or the paucity of questions in the 2004 edition of Trivial Pursuit. Without doubt, I miss London a lot less than I thought I would, like hardly at all. I miss friends but that's it. Do I want to be doing the same commute I was doing for near on 12 years? No. Do I care less about X Factor, Cheryl Cole, Jordan or Sienna and Jude's love life? No. Is the i-phone changing my life so much that I can't remember how I ever coped without it? No. Do I miss my ... read more

We’ll begin this episode by actually re-winding the clock back till the evening of March 31st, as we are sailing the Indian Ocean about 24 hours from Port Victoria in the Seychelles. We’re watching FOX News in our suite and an announcement comes on about the U.S. Navy capturing five ‘suspected’ pirates off the Seychelles Islands after gunfire exchange. HOLY SMOKES! The guided missile destroyer USS Farragut fired on and sunk the pirate mother ship after it attacked an oil tanker off the coast of the Seychelles, and they reportedly captured 5 pirates. The Farragut is part of Combined Task Force 151, a multinational task force established to conduct anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden. GO TEAM! Well, it was the talk of the ship the next day…Happy April Fool’s Day! NOT! So, we arrived ... read more

Taking time out from the bad street of Baltimore and change ups, I thought it time to check out some real life action. I went to a tennis match. And this man how it went down.: 'Yo D, you got my back, we're rolling down southside brother, catch us some action. My boy Horpinitch, the ex cheese man, y'all know he was the Seychelles national coach, he play the new French guy, who be the national coach now man. It gonna be tough, but my man H, he gonna do it D. He fly. 'Yo D, can you believe this s**t. These brothers be running all over the goddamn place man, my man H, he like family and he good and he like he high the way he be running round but he gotta change up, ... read more

Like Groundhog Day, we found ourselves back at the tyre place Day 4 of half term (day 3 being a write off). We learnt our lesson and arrived about 9.30 - surely that can't be lunchtime? I enquired after our bad luck with tyres and the experts confirmed it was nothing but bad luck- no-one to blame- that's a pity. Looks like I should just chuck in my lot with the car saint (who really needs a name...) Knowing we'd have to wait, in a soon to be discovered masochistic move, we decided to go for a run followed by a cool off in the pool. It near killed me - three times round Roche Caiman (6km) and a half km pootle (it wasn't really swimming). What's wrong with me? What happened to big comfy sofa, ... read more