Gosh I guess I shouldn't be so hard on Sri Lanka but it's hard sometimes. It really is an emotional roller coaster. For example; yesterday. I went to pay my Dialog bill at the new kiosk after having learned that the guy who sits behind the desk and window won't accept my payment anymore. Okay, fine, but I went to it only to find out that a) they won't let you touch the machine, b) the machine doesn't make change so "is it okay that we round it up?" and c) a guy stands there beside it with a bag of cash to give exact change?! Is that not a direct duplication of a "service" already provided? Anyone seen "Brazil". So that's kind of stupid.
I left to pay my other internet bill at Sri Lankan Tel, yes, I pay 2. They use the "old" method except you have to write all the info on your receipt. Seemed positively refreshing after Dialog.
One the way home I decided to cut through Slave Island. (You may have read of my trips there previously.) Once, steps into the neighbourhood, I was re-jazzed about how special Sri Lanka is. There were women in full burka, muslim boys on the way home from school taunting each other to say "hello" to me and then running away when I responded! Crowds of tuktuk drivers standing around smoking watching one guy do all the work on the vehicles, chickens running around, wash draped on every surface to dry before the rains set in. It's so vibrant and the people so friendly. It's vanishing as the area is being squeezed to death by luxury hotel/residential developments. Progress really is a 2-edged sword.
So tonight, the boys and I board the first of 3 flights to get to Vancouver. It's a lot easier now than when they were little. However certain parties think that on a 2 hour layover they will just "pop into Bangkok or Tokyo". "Yeah, and monkeys will fly out of my ass."*
The flights are just part of it. After one night in beautiful Richmond (again "I'll just pop into Vancouver") we return to the airport to catch the bus down to Seattle where we'll stay until Monday the 16th. We then fly out to Calgary. So in reality, I'm on the road for awhile.
Looked at what I'm going to do in Bellevue. I plan to visit with my old school, perhaps rejoin the "Soccer Mom Blonde Streak Nation" and thrift. There is just one bus to take to the ground zero of thrift stores in Bellevue. On the outer edges are the Children's Hospital followed by the American Cancer Society. Next, is the weird one next to Fred Meyers. Oh yeah, pitstop Fred Meyers for a decent bathroom and coffee. Then onto the nerve center of the thrift vortex, the Bellevue Goodwill (cue heavenly host)! Yeah Macklemore, watch me bust some tags!
Catch you later.
*Wayne's World.
Hi Peggy, if you have internet banking use that to pay your Dialog and SLT bills. So much easier than going in to do it. Alternatively, I see lots of people paying them at the supermarket (I'm usually in line waiting for them to process the telco payments *sigh*). Anyhoot, glad to see you're whizzing around the place and soaking in the way of life. I feel the same about the double-edged sword on progress!
ReplyDeleteBon voyage! Enjoy your travels. Cheers Eva