27 October 2018
Posting from the present from the airport
Getting to Melbourne airport on the Skybus and enjoying the Singapore Airlines Kris Flyer lounge
Now I am at Melbourne airport. Right now I am in the Singapore Kris Flyer lounge eating fruit salad and struggling with their stupidly slow internet. Just minutes ago I was waiting in a line at the TOURIST REFUND SCHEME counter to claim money back on my new huge heavy expensive delicate camera. More on the camera later, now its time for a good old fashion tales from the inefficient line story.
The Australian Tourist Refund Scheme is a scheme to convince you that getting your money back on purchases you made just prior to departing on holidays to prevent you from wanting to buy overseas is a foolish endeavor, and you should buy overseas so as to avoid the terribly understaffed, ridiculously inefficient line.
You line up with your invoice and goods, and wait, while the woman at the only counter open out of 20 goes through the invoices of people trying to get money back on $5 purchases.
Meanwhile, theres a gaggle of idiots trying to convince people they are very important and should be allowed to push to the front, some claim they are on flights about to depart, I challenged them to show me their boarding pass or fight me, they left entirely.
Every now and then, a member of BORDER FORCE arrives to talk to the woman serving the line of over 9000 people to tell her that no one else is coming to help her, and that she should just 'suck it up princess'.
Unfortunately 99% of people have no clue how the scheme works and dont have real invoices or are trying to claim invoices they already claimed last week. The whole thing was a showpiece for failure, but it kept me entertained.
Here is the usual photo from my balcony. None of the buildings in my immediate vicinity fell down since my last trip. Lots more are being built. I think my suburb is now the densest in Australia, and I am the densest person in it.
A special treat. The crap that I take on a holiday. Note I take lots of underpants. There are also 2 backpacks and a man bag. Also a bag full of age defying elixirs and stuff that helps me to see even though I am almost completely blind. Finally my trusty old coat, I bought a new one but could not deny my 15 year old coat another journey, even though its not warm and not waterproof and my new one is.
Here I am on the bus. The woman behind me was photo bombing. Little does she know that my new camera has a sensor about as big as my head, so everything is always out of focus including my huge head, and she is reduced to a mere smudge.
I am very healthy. Feasting on rabbit food and water in the Singapore Airlines lounge, desperately trying to remember how to use my convoluted home made web site that features one giant text file with cryptic codes for everything, and breaks entirely if I forget to add a double pipe in the right place.