Greg
Greg's diary
May 1997
Translate this page
Select day in May 1997:
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Select month:
1996 Sep Oct Nov Dec
1997 Jan Feb Mar Apr
1997 May Jun Jul Aug
Today's diary entry
Diary index
About this diary
Previous month
Next month
Greg's home page
Greg's photos
Network link stats
Greg's other links
Copyright information
    
Groogle
In March 1997 I returned to Australia after living overseas for 38 years. I didn't keep a diary at the time, but I'm gradually writing down what I can remember of the experience. Don't be mislead by the present tense: all of these entries were written years later.

Thursday, 1 May 1997 Hyderabad
Top of page
next day
last day

After the course, back to the hotel to have a beer. To our surprise, the state of Andhra Pradesh had reintroduced prohibition: it seems that some extension to the status quo hadn't been applied for in time, so by default the state was subject to prohibition. Kumar and I made the best of it, I with lime juice. While we were talking, something happened that almost made it worthwhile: a group of (I think) English people were standing at the bar, and one of their friends arrived, beaming from ear to ear. When he reached them, they said something, and his face dropped. I thought he was going to burst into tears.


Friday, 2 May 1997 Hyderabad → Chennai
Top of page
previous day
next day
last day

In the evening, to the airport with all my baggage, and somehow managed to avoid paying excess baggage on the flight to Chennai. My hand baggage included my main computer in a minitower, and while walking to the plane I managed to pull my glasses out along with the boarding pass, shattering them on the ground. Not happy.

Spent the night in a passable hotel in Chennai, late to bed.


Saturday, 3 May 1997 Chennai → Singapore →
Top of page
previous day
next day
last day

Off to the airport the following morning, and finally on an Air India flight to Singapore, this time first class—presumably they had not been able to get any other booking. Waited for ever in Singapore: my connecting flight to Adelaide didn't leave until the evening. I can't recall leaving the airport.

Going through boarding was a problem: the bag with my computer was so big that it got stuck in the X-ray scanner, and I had to unpack it. Boarding the plane, the cabin staff refused to let me take my computer in with me, and despite my protests put it in the hold instead. At least they didn't charge me excess baggage.


Sunday, 4 May 1997 → Adelaide
Top of page
previous day
next day
last day

The flight arrived in the middle of the night, or so it seemed. Got a taxi to my uncle Max (Schaedel)'s house, not far from the airport, where Yana had been spending the last month. It was still dark when we arrived. But I'm back in Australia! And it's home again!

In the afternoon, got my car, and off with Yana to Echunga to stay at “Hazlemere Homestead” for a couple of months until we could move into Wantadilla, just a few hundred metres down the road. Setting up my computer discovered it had been knocked around, and the DDS tape drive had been damaged beyond repair. Thanks. Qantas.


Friday, 9 May 1997 Echunga → Adelaide → Echunga
Top of page
previous day
next day
last day

Up early in the morning to go to the airport, telling Yana that I couldn't sleep and was going for a walk. Picked up Yvonne with no problems, and back home, where Yana was still asleep. It was rather amusing to see the look on Yana's face when she saw Yvonne.


Do you have a comment about something I have written? This is a diary, not a “blog”, and there is deliberately no provision for directly adding comments. It's also not a vehicle for third-party content. But I welcome feedback and try to reply to all messages I receive. See the diary overview for more details. If you do send me a message relating to something I have written, please indicate whether you'd prefer me not to mention your name. Otherwise I'll assume that it's OK to do so.


Top of page Previous month Greg's home page Today's diary entry Next month Greg's photos Copyright information

Valid XHTML 1.0!

$Id: diary-may1997.php,v 1.3 2017/05/10 02:45:51 grog Exp $