40C

Hmm. Just hmm. My ticket didn't have a seat number on it. I got to the gate, and they told me to wait at the side. This was almost the final straw. For some unknown reason (neither to me, nor to them), my seat wasn't confirmed, so they had to wait until the flight was closed to see what space they had left. They seemed to think this was quite normal, although it's never happened to me before – and my flight was booked on 7th May. Anyway, they've given me a seat which is, well, not exactly perfect. I have an aisle seat right beside the bulkhead, so I have lots of leg room. I also have a baby sleeping roughly two feet from my head. It's actually one of the cutest babies I've seen in a while (although, of course, nowhere near as cute as my nephew and niece), and very well behaved. I also have an elderly black woman next to me, who tells me it's her first flight. So, I've been carefully directing her...

'That's a facemask. A mask. For your face. When you want to sleep, you put it on to keep out the light.'
'Blanket.'
'Toothbrush. Clue's in the title.'
'Er, “EN-TER-TAIN-MENT CON-SOL”. It makes pictures on the screen move.'

She hasn't got the hang of 'armrest ettiquette', either, and is taking up a suprising amount of width for someone who can't be taller than five feet two inches. I'm trying to be very zen about this, but I'm quite tempted to give her a hefty elbow.

So what else is there to say? Oh, Rob's given me the details for the Uganda trip with Oasis. Nineteen days, some rafting, some chimps and some gorrillas, I'm going to give it some thought because, frankly, the only reason not to go is if the dates interfere with any plans I have already. He told me they have sixteen people at the moment, most between the ages of twenty-two and thirty, with one thirty-five. Hmmm. Very hmmm. A Dutch girl called Yvonne arrived at the hostel while I was waiting for the transfer, and it's funny how, after only two days here, I find myself telling her how everything works, and what there is to do in Jo'berg. I love the 'backpacker M.O.' - the way that, for the most part, everyone's paying it forward by being friendly and helpful to others.