Random thoughts about travelling

1. I hate the airport "hurry up and wait" thing, particularly since there is never anywhere convenient to sit near the information boards.
2. Trying to crochet the Moth-Wing Shrug out of mohair in a hot climate was a mistake.  The mohair is far too sticky to be comfortable to crochet.  (The pattern is "OK", but does have some badly written bits.  Must check the errata.)  Gave up and went back to knitting my sock.
3. Nobody in security batted an eyelash at the sight of me carrying a crochet hook in my hand luggage, either in Heathrow or in Bahrain.
4. The "h" in Bahrain has a "kh" sound, like this Scottish "loch".
5. The main supermarket chains in Oman are Carrefour and LuLu's.  You can buy virtually everything in LuLu's including washing machines.  
6. Talking of LuLu's, I am severely tempted by a 10L stainless steel pressure cooker with a rocker top, which costs 27.5 OR (about £50).  If it has a trivet and can go up to 15lb pressure, it's coming home with me somehow.
7. The Muttrah Souk is neither as frenetic nor as crowded as the one in Cairo.  It is big, though, with a rabbit warren of lane-ways.  I'd be happy to wander around this one alone.
8. I can't barter for toffee.
9. All my life, my skin has been a battle of genetics between my red-headed father and my olive-skinned mother.  I either burn or tan - it is totally unpredictable which will occur.  Guess my dad's genetics is winning this time, although I am using sunscreen.
10. I have managed to come to a country beyond the reach of Tesco's mobile phone network.  I can receive calls, but not make them.  Never even occurred to me to check since my last phone was a pay-as-you-go with Virgin which operated everywhere I took it (France, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Egypt, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada and America*).  Apparently, Tesco's phone deal with O2 only goes as far as Europe (they rent bandwidth from the O2 network; Virgin use T-mobile).  DH's phone is with Virgin and does work.
11. So much for scheduling a posting.  My last post was meant to be published last week, while we were leaving for Heathrow.  I had to publish it when I logged in today.

- Pam

* OK, it didn't work in North America but that was because my phone was too old to receive the signal not because the network didn't cover it.  I needed a tri-band phone and didn't have one.