Woo hoo! Three trips in two days, all is right with the world. I'm still coming in too high. I've been flying rather large helicopters for the last 6000 hours and I'm so used to having to worry about all that helicopter out behind me, I'm having a hard time coming into the rather low hover the AW139 requires. It's got bags of power and it doesn't really matter, but it is poor form. Old habits become ingrained, and it's a weird feeling being so comfortable on a helicopter that it becomes an extension of you, and then to be on something new and learning all over again. It's still just a helicopter though, and the differences are minor in the grand scheme of things. Getting a little solid stick time has been a treat though, and I'm smiling tonight.
I'm still adjusting to Mtwara life though, but it's a good pace. There were tiny ants in my coffee mug this morning but I poured the hot water over the instant coffee powder anyway, because any of those little guys that survived the hot water would certainly meet their demise in my digestive track anyway. We then flew off into the great blue beyond and did our part to help the world in it's struggle to cope with it's energy needs, but we don't actually think such lofty thoughts, we are just happy to be flying. Then back on terra firma, smiling like idiots, our flight dispatcher took me to the air traffic control tower for a meet and great, but she obviously knew the lady running the radio communications quite well, as the tower lady brought out a bag of hand made shoes for her, leather flip flops with embroidered flowers and butterflies. Politely making conversation, I remarked that it was too bad she didn't have any men's flip flops, which brought a smile and a pair of men's flip flops from the depths of her bag. I'm wearing them now. Returning phone calls and emails and paperwork, it was too late to snag that swim by the time we all returned to the hotel. I then grabbed a shower in the trickle of gravity fed rain water from tank above my room. I mistakenly grabbed the bug killer spray instead of the mosquito repellant before heading down to supper and dowsed myself quite well. That required yet another shower. Down I went to order supper and prepare for the minimum hour and a half wait, but you can go back and chat with the cook, the security guard with the ancient rifle, or any of the other ex-pats on site, waiting for their meals as well. Most of them have figured out the trick of ordering supper then going up and having a shower and calling home and firing off some emails, have a nap, but I'm not a quick study. And the internet. You have no idea how much you count on the damn thing until you don't have it for a few days. I think the hotel forgets to pay the bill. I didn't have any internet until I was thirty, or a cel phone. It's nice to call home with skype and not worry that it's costing anything, but I'm not sure sure that we haven't lost something in our need to stay connected all the time.
Tomorrow, I must, must, must get out for a swim. I will work hard and focus on getting everything on my "to do" list done before lunch. I don't like having a "to do" list. Normally I can keep up and don't need such a cruch, but I'm getting behind, and I've learnt to become concerned about stress levels when I need a "to do" list to keep track. But I have been flying, and I will get swimming, and I'm nearly half way through my hitch. Home is beckoning.
No comments:
Post a Comment