Not really much to report at the moment but thought I should say something, as I've been quiet lately. I was wondering how my boet is getting along with his refurbishment and Grand Designs projects over there in Hungary.
We are going to be looking at booking airfares during this month sometime for SA - it's weird how much the prices differ between airlines and where you actually decide to depart from.
It's possible for us to hop on an international carrier like KLM from Norwich but then the trip is broken up into stop overs and this can end up taking over a day to get to where you want to go. To be honest, I'd rather pay a couple of pounds more and travel direct to Jo'burg than fart about changing planes in strange airports at all hours of the day or night. Also some of the transit timings are a bit hectic, one of the flights (using KLM and stopping off at Amsterdam) only allows you 25 minutes to get on a connecting flight to Joburg - that can be a big problem with small children in tow.
Most of these so-called cheap flight booking / airfare comparison portals, like Expedia, Dial-A-Flight, CheapTicket, CheapFlights, Flight Centre etc. etc. provide a price that is way cheap. But in actual fact it is a con because it's not the actual price that you end up paying when you come to book the flight. They get around this by saying that they provide a 'quote' only. Total rip off. It's actually less hassle and more often than not cheaper, to go to the airline direct to book tickets.
We're also going to need a car when we're in jolly old SA, so have to factor that into it ... you'd think they'd give you good deals if you get a car, that's what all their marketing bollox says doesn't it, on websites, tv ads etc.? But again, that's a cart load of old twollap. It's much cheaper to just hire a car from a local dealer (like trusty old Avis there in Sebenza) that add it to the cost of the airline ticket because even though you get an Avis car with some of the Fare and Car deals, it's not cheaper than if you go direct to Avis yourself and book it separately.
We've all decided, in our house, that TalkTalk tv is a cart load of old claptrap. Programmes 'hang' or 'buffer' if they are not pre-recorded or On Demand ... and even the On Demand stuff also buffers from time to time. The system is so clunky and difficult to use; their remote must have been designed by a dyslexic Orang-Utan, it makes no logical sense during operation and moving between pages/screens is a nightmare. If you decide to watch an On Demand show, you can't fast-forward through the bloody adverts (which is the whole point really isn't it?. You can only fast-forward through ads if you've recorded the show yourself. Stoopid. TalkTalk could do to go over to Randburg and see how M-Net does it.
And before all you clever clogs tell us to get a satellite dish (to stop buffering etc.), we can't. Our landlord won't allow it. Anyway, I'm enjoying watching Kevin McCloud's Man Made Homes series, it's fun to watch him make sheds, conservatories, hammocks and what not out of scrap metal and aircraft parts. By the way, Hayzel, I don't think he's gay cos he has a wife. (But you never know these days do you?!)
My Auntie Barbara and Uncle Les arrive in the Norfolk area tomorrow, looking forward to seeing you guys soon. And then it's not long and I'm off up to the Highlands (och aye laddie) with my Auntie Jean.
Cheerio.
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