Airports

I've spent a lot of time in airports.

As a child I wore my BOAC Junior Jet Club badge with pride, begged the air hostess to take me into the cockpit (they always took me in). Sitting with my brothers and their friends at the end of runway 33 of Lusaka Airport, just beyond the end of the farm, watching the planes take off and land.
As a 5 year-old on a cushion, in the right-hand seat of my mother's Cessna, trying to find the railway line that would take us back to Lusaka Flying Club and chicken-in-a-basket for lunch at the airport.
As a 6 year-old unaccompanied minor being sent away to boarding school in another country, locking my arms and legs around my mother, weeping hysterically, promising to be good if I could just stay, while my father unwound me and handed me to the air hostess. Don't make a fuss, you're a big girl now, you'll be fine.
Home twice a year. Durban to Johannesburg. Customs. Johannesburg to Lusaka. Customs. Lusaka to Kitwe (where has my trunk gone?) Kitwe to Kasaba Bay, to the sandy, elephant-walk runway at the Lake, where the 'airport' was a guard's hut, the junior jet club badge buckled and bent, consigned to my fishing box. 4 weeks and then do it all again.
As a 17 year-old, with my backpack, heading off alone to see the world, my family waving goodbye at departures."Be safe" my mother said. "I'm a big girl now, I'll be fine"
As a young adult I was the air hostess taking unaccompanied minors with wobbly bottom lips through customs. I understood their fear, and even if they didn't ask I made sure to take them into the cockpit after service, asking the flight engineer to show them the 'Christmas lights' of the night cockpit.
Braais at the end of runway 19 at Ilha do Sol.Enough rum to try out the flying stunt in Pushing Tin (yes, the jet blast actually does lift you off your feet, I've seen it happen) as your colleagues take the beautiful 747 to New York.
As a mother, heading home to my family.
As a student pilot, drinking coffee with the 'real' pilots at Lanseria, listening to them telling flying stories, or giving me landing tips, endlessly re-hashing that bad one.
As a friend, saying goodbye to friends who are leaving forever.
As a daughter, smuggling my mother's ashes through Maun airport on the way to Kasane, and Chobe to wave goodbye to her forever. Don't make a fuss. Here you are home, surrounded by your beloved elephants.
As a commuter, frantically trying to find a quiet place to send emails or get some work done.
I know the smell of airports, the tearful loved ones waving goodbye, the anxious parents making bargains 'Let her/him be safe' Waving my own daughter off to Belgium when she went to study at Antwerp university, Les Mis 'Bring him home' playing dramatically in my own head.

For me, airports have always been sad places, goodbye places.

And that's why I love this T-Mobile Flash Mob video, at Heathrow's Terminal 5. This shows to good side of airports, the welcome home. I love the surprise on people's faces, the young girl with braces, tearful with the joy of it.Watch it, it's wonderful.

Welcome Home

Snake oil

The one thing this neck injury has taught me is how presumptuous people are that you want their advice on how best to 'fix' the problem.

Image source

Yes it's frustrating that it's taking so long to get to the bottom of it and find a suitable treatment. But not once have I said that I don't have faith in the medical specialists who are working with me. Each one has told me it will take time - it's not a straightforward problem. I don't see this as an indication they don't know what they are doing.
But every day I have some well-meaning person trying to get me to try something different. It's exhausting.
'Get a second opinion' is usually the first piece of advice. Closely followed by 'have you tried eye of newt/rescue remedy/reflexology/iridology/chiropractic/a sangoma?
I have seen, first-hand, the effect of this kind of ignorance. One of my nephews is profoundly deaf because his mother 'didn't believe in antibiotics'. A simple ear infection as a baby was treated with snake oil. Both of my own children spent a good couple of years on antibiotics to treat Vesicoureteral reflux and I send a little word of thanks to Alexander Fleming every day. Between them they have 4 healthy kidneys because of his petri dish.
I am not uninformed, cursed or bewitched. My blood type has absolutely nothing to do with this. It's an injury. And I don't believe there is an instant cure. The 'alternative' remedies would have made it into conventional medicine if there was any indication that they worked. I have no intention of being a guinea-pig for someone who has taken a 6-month online course in hand-waving, juju-speaking, incense-burning incantations.
Bog-standard physiotherapy has provided relief for the referred neck pain. I'm seeing a shoulder specialist (shock! horror! he has an actual medical degree) this week to investigate the shoulder injury.The physiotherapist referred me to him, she believes I need his help since the shoulder is getting worse rather than better. She also has an actual degree from an actual university.
So please. Enough with the recommendations.

The state of education today

MyFriendRosie sent me this email, the subject line said 'Only for the more literate friends'
I have no idea why she thought I could manage this...send me your comments (but only if you failed, I need some cheering up after this!)

1895 8th grade final  exam
What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895...

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated  that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?

This is  the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA . It was taken from the original  document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society
and  Library in Salina, and reprinted by the Salina  Journal.



8th Grade  Final Exam: Salina, KS - 1895

Grammar  (Time, one hour)
1. Give  nine rules for the use of capital  letters.
2. Name  the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give  principal parts of 'lie,''play,' and 'run.' 
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of  punctuation.
7 - 10.  Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of  the rulesof grammar.


Arithmetic  (Time,1 hour 15 minutes)
1. Name  and define the Fundamental Rules of  Arithmetic.
2. A wagon  box is 2 ft. Deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. Wide.  How many bushels of wheat will it hold? 
3. If a  load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it  worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. For  tare?
4.  District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000.. What  is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven  months at $50 per month, and have $104 for  incidentals?
5. Find  the cost of 6,720 lbs. Coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find  the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days  at 7 percent.
7. What is  the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft.. Long at $20 per metre?
8. Find  bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is  the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write  a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt 


U.S.  History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas
6.  Describe three of the most prominent battles of  the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.


Orthography  (Time, one hour)
[Do we  even know what this is??]
1. What is  meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology,  syllabication
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each:  trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters,  linguals
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'  (HUH?)
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.'  Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis-mis, pre, semi, post, non,  inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the  following correctly in sentences: cite, site,  sight, fane, fain, feign, vane , vain, vein,  raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks 
and by syllabication.


Geography  (Time, one hour)
1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in  Kansas ?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4.  Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa,  Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena,  Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the  U.S. Name all the republics of Europe and give  the capital of each..
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9.  Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of  rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete.

Gives the saying 'he only had an 8th grade education' a  whole new meaning, doesn't it?!
           
No wonder  they dropped out after 8th grade. They already  knew more than they needed to  know!
         


          

A pain in the neck...

I have become intimately acquainted with pain over the last 3 months.
What started as a pulled muscle in my shoulder (or so I thought) in Italy when I leaned over the back of the left-hand drive car seat to pick up the back pack has turned into a full-blown pain in the neck. Literally.

Obviously this is not mine. Thank you Edvard Munch. 


There's not much you can do about a pulled muscle except rest it (or so my logic went) and so I did exactly that.
9 weeks later the pain was worse, not better, and Walter put his foot down "Off you go to the rooms, it's time for a doctor to sort you out"
And so I went. I had avoided it because the thought of all the schlepping involved in investigating it froze my brain. Who has the time?

Nothing beats oxtail in the depths of winter

It's the howling wind that sets me to thinking about a luscious, thick oxtail.

Image courtesy of Wicked Cooking School and their recipe looks good too


It has taken me many years of searching to find an oxtail recipe that works for me, and although this one takes 10-12 hours of cooking, the preparation is quick and simple.Ideally you would want to put it on the night before it's due and then wake to that delicious aroma...

I found this recipe on the cookbook.co.za website, and I've provided the link for those who would like to see the original (mine has a few additions, I've marked them with an asterisk). The recipe feeds 4

Slow cooker oxtail stew

Ingredients
4 medium onions, chopped
1 large clove of garlic, roughly chopped*
1 large green chilli, chopped (seeded if you don't want too much heat)*
1 whole oxtail in chunks
2 bay leaves*
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tsp each of salt, pepper and paprika
125ml Coca Cola
125ml red wine
2 cubes of beef stock
1 packet dry brown onion soup
1 litre water

In a large pot on medium to high heat add the oil and onions. Stir every so often until the onions begin to brown on the edges. Brown the oxtail, a few pieces at a time.Add the chopped garlic and chilli
Add in the salt, pepper and paprika and stir
Add the bay leaves and the wine and coca cola, stir and then leave it to simmer for 5 minutes

Transfer everything to the slow cooker, crumble the beef stock cubes on top and add the packet of brown onion soup (scattered around on top). Add the water (and stir, or things go lumpy) put on the lid and cook for 10-12 hours. On the highveld I've found 11 hours works fine.Serve with your choice of vegetables and mashed potatoes and enjoy...

The masterpiece

Contrary to my family's belief I am not a chef, but I do find recreational cooking quite relaxing. Having watched practically every cooking programme aired (from Cooking with Wooty as a child to the Masterchef series) I like to think of myself as an enthusiastic cook.
But I really can't bake. The combination of a lying oven (temperature-wise) and a somewhat lackadaisical approach to details (looks like about 250g) dooms any baking efforts before I start.
Except for the glorious baked cheesecake.I Googled a recipe while shopping a few weeks back and bought all the ingredients while I was in the store.
Once home, however, I decided the pastry was far too difficult to attempt and fell back on my old favourite of crushed Tennis biscuits mixed with butter for the base. Worked a charm.

It doesn't look anything like the picture with the recipe, but it tasted wonderful and seems idiot-proof.