Been neglecting this and there's a lot to catch up on.
Think I already mentioned that Kuwait had a two-day local holiday coming up, for National Day and Liberation Day, providing a long weekend to which I could add a few days for a break back home. Since Liberation Day this year fell on the Friday, first day of the weekend, there was lots of speculation in the newspapers - and in the office - about how the Government would compensate everyone, the likelihood being they would declare the Sunday as an extra day off. This year however, Friday, Feb 26 was not only Liberation Day for Kuwait, but also marked the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) across the region, another holiday. Clearly not wishing its hard workers to miss out, the Government declared both Sunday and Monday as off days, a five-day weekend – woohoo!
Back to Blighty then to see the lovely Sharon and her Mum who was recuperating from, thankfully highly successful, major heart surgery. It's a fairly common op these days, but still a big deal especially when the person concerned is someone you know and love. But she's a game ol' girl Anne, very strong and very independent and she's making a very good and quick recovery.
Isn't internet shopping great? Over the last few months, I've been ordering bits and pieces of kit for the trip and/or the bike itself. This gets delivered at home and I'd pick it up on visits. Obviously, you can buy online in Kuwait, but everything imported by whatever means is subject to lengthy customs clearance and mail delivery is sporadic at best. The one exception to this little local difficulty was acquiring some superb riding gear from the States through my American mate Steve (R1200GS; Sprint ST) who's something big in communications kit in Kuwait and does a lot of work with the military. As he was also ordering some gear to use on his Kuwait bike (650 Dakar), he was able to get it all delivered to the US base and cut out the usual importation hassle.
This trip home I was due to collect inner bags for the panniers and top box, a mount for the Zumo 660 GPS I got from Sharon for Christmas (there's another story here about how hopeless BMW Motorrad in Park Lane, London were and how they practically refused to sell me the more expensive BMW Navigator version, but perhaps another time…), also a Bluetooth headset for my helmet so I can hear the Zumo and iPod, and some other bits and pieces. But even in UK, deliveries are not always straightforward.
Hats off therefore to Mane Event of Manchester, suppliers of the pannier bags. They emailed to double-check my home address as the mail had returned their package marked 'address unknown'. Mane Event confirmed my address was as on the order form and the package and revealed: "On examining the parcel more closely I noticed that the post office here had stuck the signed for delivery label over the house number. That would probably explain non-delivery. However, if the sorting office had lifted the end of the label up they would have seen the number."– lazy posties.
Congrats too to Bikebits4you from Berkshire, from whom I ordered the headset for my Caberg helmet. This and some other stuff I'd asked to be delivered to my Mother-in-law's address because that's where Sharon was after her Mum came out of hospital. Everything I'd ordered was delivered, except the headset. There was a delivery note for it, even a credit card receipt, but no sign of the kit itself. Ok, I confess, I did think that perhaps it might have arrived and somehow been 'mislaid' - Sharon and her Mum did have other priorities at the time after all. But they were both adamant they had no recollection of its delivery.
So I fired an email off to bikebits4you explaining the situation, asking them to confirm actual delivery and if it had been signed for. By now I'd resigned myself to trying to claim for the thing on my credit card insurance and re-ordering. But lo and behold, a couple of days later the headset was delivered. I sent an email of thanks to Bikebits to confirm its arrival and got a reply pointing the finger at suppliers who had 'lost the order' and graciously apologising for the inconvenience. Still not too sure how we managed to get the delivery note etc first, but hey who cares, I got my kit.
Thus equipped, it was time to pack the bags again and head back for the last few weeks of gainful employment in Kuwait. There was a lot going on work-wise and I was not looking forward to the dreaded process of our houseful of stuff being packed up and shipped at the end of the month. Ok, fair doos, as an employee of a major multinational, I agree we're spoiled to the extent that this is handled by local providers under global contracts, but it's still a lot of hassle. And with Sharon staying home to be with her Mum, this time I'd be doing it alone. Ho hum, packing is such sweet sorrow…
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