Airport II – The ins and outs of modern travel

I underestimated Tunis Carthage airport on arrival. It is mainly a result of the joyless experience that flying presents to the traveller these days, especially in economy class.

But I was not overly impressed by this welcome advert from a mobile phone company on the luggage reclaim belt which had a sarcastic quality...

...nor was I moved by the austere arrivals hall...

It is all capped by the curious habit I have only experienced at Arabic airports of delaying my arrival at the hotel by making me queue to have my luggage x-rayed as I exit the terminal.

Leaving Tunis is a very different experience, while not exactly a bundle of fun, the departures hall is much more ornate and impressive...

complete with classical mosaics under the stairs:

But then I am reminded of the more prosaic features of modern life which make me wonder what school of marketing the concessionaires attended:

Strongbow €10.50                    Claymore €9.90

This example is from the multinational duty-free booze, smoke and stink retailers who revel in the name Dufry... Duty Free… geddit?

Who in their right minds would rather spend €10.50 on four cans of Strongbow cider-based chemicals than €9.90 on a bottle of, admittedly not very good, Claymore blended scotch? 

Curiously, both are named for weapons of war - and were I choosing between actual weapons it would be the other way round.

At the other end of the retail scale is this delightful example of window dressing:

It might have proved useful for this member of our cabin crew who seems to have lost her head.

Tunisian Ant and Dec

 

Or is it the other way round...

A Real Shit Job

This is Le Palais de Sport (AKA Coupole el Menzah).

The management have retained the services of a cat to control the vermin, it is great with rats and mice, but has yet to learn the basics of cat-powered flight so the local starlings have the roof to themselves.

 

There are 4,190 seats. One woman (centre right below) is responsible for cleaning them. It is a real shit job. 

No, really.

(Just) a bit of excitement

This is one of those jobs that can be summarised as airport, hotel, venue, hotel, venue, hotel, venue, hotel, venue, hotel, venue, hotel, airport. The bits in between are mainly traffic. Driving has its interesting aspects, such as traffic lights, one way systems and lanes which are optional, and horns which are obligatory. Life it seems is cheap, well, pedestrian life anyway.

On the way to the venue we pass the Libyan Embassy all snuggly and wrapped up in razor wire with an army Hummer at one end, an army truck at the other and a small squad of very bored soldiers on patio chairs inbetween. It is just round the corner from the hotel and I walked up there after breakfast on the first morning to get a nice picture, but they don't like you to take pictures so I had to take a couple from the bus each day and mash them together.

The Tunisians I have met all seem to speak more French than Arabic, all the signs are in French (and Arabic), there are croissants for breakfast, they do not tend to have mousatches or wear dish dashas.  In fact it is quite like France with more dust and worse drivers. But as I said I haven't been out much, so it is probably more Arabic elsewhere.


I did cross the road from the venue to buy a phone card the other day (one of the more exciting moments) and came across this blue box on legs at the side of the road.

I thought it was a post box at first until I saw the chimney. Closer inspecton revealed it to be a pavement barbecue.

The Singe 'n' Go roadside barbecue

 Ideal if you just have to have a sizzling sausage and cannot wait until you get home.


Other exciting moments were passing a dead palm tree:

Finding a copy of Miss Mécano:

 and trying to choose between a red Christmas tree and Ché Guevara air freshner (also in the shape of a Christmas tree):

 

 I did not choose either as very few things smell worse than a cheap air freshner.

More later, including Amen Corner, A Real Shit Job and the Tunisian Ant and Dec...

Amen Corner

Nice to have a local bank.

 Personally, I like my bank to be a little more secure

 

Amen, indeed. Or should that be Insha'Allah?

Room 101

No, really.

But it's got TV, a shower and no rats. It could be a lot worse.