We're here to annoy you

A bit of a backlog of items because thanks to crazy storms hitting my hometown, I've been without power for several days. At least I don't have a tree in my roof like my next-door-neighbour, or a trashed car like a neighbour across the street.... so far. But 100oF+ weather  without air conditioning ain't great. Did read 3 books with nothing else much to do. However, the poor cats have melted in the heat and just look at me as if to say "where's the F#@$ing air con human! I'm so going to throw up a hairball in your shoes ... when I have the energy to move." Also, had to grill every grillable item in the freezer before it went off - I'm a bit sick of veggie burgers. Anyway, back to my post ...

I've written before about how incompetent bureaucrats and admin people irritate me. This past trip has been a sequence of incompetence followed by idiocy, followed by downright rudeness. Airline staff that say I'm not on the list, then how come I have a boarding pass? My visit to the field station I was supposed to stay at was a prime example. I arrived and they told me that I was not registered and they have no record of me. If so, how come I can see a key with a sticky note with my name on on the desk? After having registered in the and jumped through the various hoops, including phoning the head office in Panama city and meeting with the station director to fill in paperwork, two days later I checked out and was told that I wasn't registered, but despite that I owed a $60 registration fee and a charge for a laboratory I never used.

Although, in an example of travel karma, despite problems an hassles, I got upgraded to first class on the final leg home and luxuriated in comfort while sipping champagne, so it could be worse.