Pakistan T 20 world champions

WELL DONE ! Something for the country to cheer about. I like it when Pakistan wins. They are good winners, they don't gloat, they don't rub your faces in it, they don't sledge, and they are also good losers, not much whingeing. Unlike some ex kings of cricket we know.

PIA

Got to love them. 500 staff to a plane ratio. (SIA has less than 200). Bleeding red ink. On internal flights they are on a 50% strike rate with me. The plane has 50% of the time been delayed or cancelled. And the cheek of it is they have this thing stuck on the window outside their office that sets out how much we have to pay if we cancel our ticket or no show or change dates. The last time it was cancelled I asked them if they were going to pay me since I have to pay them if I cancel. Toatlly ignored by the guy. Poor bastard. Probably cops abuse daily. I once called back my driver when the plane delayed and asked him to drive me to Islamabad as I had a meeting which could not be postponed

The overseas flights are ok though, even though some of the planes have seen better days. And prices are much cheaper, and the food is GOOD. Pilots are good, but some of the FA's are in sympathy with the age of the planes. And they don't serve grog. I actually asked about this and they said "you can bring it on board, no issue. Ah, the famous "no issue".

Sent the wife and kid on their LHE-ISB flight once to make the ISB-BKK flight connecting through Thai Airways. It was adventure they won't forget. Their flight was delayed and the poor woman was panicking. So when they announced the flight they quickly got on. After they were seated they were asked to deplane. WTF? The onward flight was looking like a lost cause. So the wife,to her credit did not spit the dummy, and asked nicely why. Get this, they boarded the plane that was further delayed ie an earlier flight. ROFL. So they deplaned, wife getting upset, connecting flight looked fucked. The people were good enough to stick them on the next flight, which still wasn't the flight they were originally on, cos that was cancelled.. Anyway they just made connecting by the skin of the teeth.

Moral of the story, if you have a connecting flight elsewhere, book the earlier flight just in case.

Lahore weddings

For newcomers and expats going for their first wedding in Lahore, it's a great experience. My first wedding invitation, card said 8 30 pm. I like being punctual, so we turned up at 8 30 pm. Like the card said. The caterers gave us looks that said "are you stupid?". They were still setting up the tent.

Do turn up fashionably late, as in after 11 pm. Food will probably be served between 11 30 and 12. So eat first at home, get drunk before turning up. The "dinner" will normally finish after 2 in the morning.

Stupid Lahore airport security measure no. 491

When you want to get into the departure lounge the guard at the entrance (whose literacy level would just qualify him to be , well, a guard) checks your passport, which is well and good, and insists on looking at your ticket. Which is a problem. Most tickets are now e tickets, and if you don't have a hard copy, you can't get in. Or if the date is wrong cos you changed your schedule, and did not bother getting a new print out so that another tree does not need to be chopped down, you can't get in. I mean wtf, all you need is the e ticket number. The guard who is now all huffed up in his own ego and importance, insists you have a right ticket, or get a boarding pass so that you can go in.

WTF? How do you get a boarding pass if you can't get in. I kid you not. This happened to a friend of mine. It was a damn good thing he was traveling with me, so I could go in, tell the airline person to issue the stupid boarding pass, get the airline person to go outside and get him so he can come in. People are missing flights because of overzealous guards whose only reading ability is probably the date of travel on the ticket. The airlines are also the main assholes in this as they should station someone outside to help out.

It's a damn good thing my secretary insists on printing out my ticket, itinerary etc before I fly !

some of the reasons why KL is miles better than Lahore

Ate lots drank lots while in KL. Actually had more than this but the food and drinks went way too quickly before I could get a pic.