Day 78

A tricky day to write about. Not a lot happened that contrasted life here in Astana with that back in Eastbourne. Perhaps our first experience of the daily grind. I don't think Ali seeing pictures of the Eastbourne beach front or the Beach Cafe helped, so it would be nice to know that it is all going downhill and nothing much is being missed; except the bacon.

Although, the taxi ordering situation has become exceptionally frustrating. Ali phoned, NU reception didn't understand at first. We wait 30 minutes without any call, so I phone them and reception asks whether we are still waiting. Another 10 minutes go by and I phone again. Another 10 minutes go by and I phone again. Suddenly the taxi appears (at the wrong door to the shopping centre) and there's already a passenger in the car. They see we are a group of 5 and then she exits the taxi. If this was a one-off it would not be too bad, but taxi ordering times are all over the place. We try and predict a 30 minute delay on another day, I go and do some shopping and no sooner do I get down the first aisle when Ali is calling me to say the taxi has arrived.

Perhaps it would not be so bad without children, but that is not possible for us without babysitters. What gets my slightly strange dairy animal is that just outside one could find several taxis waiting for business and yet not one of these ever appears to be on the call list for NU reception. Of course if we had learned some Russian we could negotiate with one of these for a similar price and hope that we say the address clearly enough.

But we now have chocolate chip cookies and all is, once again, okay with the world. Alright, so it isn't unless one is very blinkered and I believe humans are instrinsically egocentric and their boundaries are usually measured by their sphere of direct influence. And so chocolate chip cookies can help me in my small corner of the universe.

Ray