The lovely woman, Agnes, who works for BidAir who’d delivered the first of our two missing bags on New Year’s Day, was in touch with me all day yesterday as to when the second bag would arrive at the airport when “it” missed its first flight in the morning.
Finally, while we were sitting at the bar in Jabula, I got a text and a photo of the bag from Agnes. She’d collected the bag and would keep it safe overnight. We didn’t want her to drive in the dark on the N4 and suggested she bring it to us at her convenience. She said she could arrive in Marloth Park in the early morning when Tom would meet her outside at Louise’s Info Centre if she’d call when she was close.
Agnes called a few minutes before 7:00 am and said she’d arrived. Tom quickly headed out the door to meet her so we could give her a generous tip. A few minutes later, she wrote, thanking us profusely for the tip, explaining she’d be using the money to buy food for her family. Heartbreaking. Workers in South Africa are generally paid low wages.
Once Tom returned with the bag, with the tag missing, he started going through it. So far, it appears everything that had been packed in the bag was still there, including his two new pairs of Cole Haan shoes and several of my items. Over the next few days, we may realize something was missing, but it looks good now.
As it turns out, I spent no less than 40 hours working on the insurance claim for all the items in the bag. On Monday, I will call the insurance company to find out if we are entitled to any compensation for the things we had to buy to replace many items in the bag or whatever compensation we may be entitled to. We shall see. I am not optimistic we’ll get any compensation.
Also, we submitted a claim with Ethiopian Air a few days after the incident but have yet to hear anything from them. I will also contact them on Monday. I don’t feel like spending hours talking about this over the weekend. I need a break from paperwork for a few days.
We’ll stay home tonight since tomorrow is Dawn’s birthday, and we’ll see her and Leon at Jabula on Sunday evening to celebrate with her. Last night, we had a lot of fun with both of them and David as we sat at the bar, as well as lovely conversations with other patrons such as our friends Patty Pan and her husband Sydney and another friend Wimpy (pronounced Vimpy). It couldn’t have been fun.
We got home in the dark to a sweltering house when the relentless heat and humidity has lasted for weeks. We might get a little reprieve on Monday when it is supposed to be slightly cooler with slightly lower humidity and dew point. That will be nice.
With the number of mozzies flying around after lots of humidity and rain, I have to wear long pants and long sleeve shirts to avoid getting bit by them and other flying things. Wearing repellent on bare arms doesn’t seem to protect me, although I wear products with DEET. Sweati8ng wears off the product, leaving me vulnerable to getting bit. I don’t like applying DEET every hour. Right now, I m wearing long workout pants (to the ankle) with short socks and a long sleeve Bugs-Away khaki shirt. It’s hot.
Later today, the temperature will be a high of 99F, 37C, but fortunately, by around 5:00 pm, 1700 hrs., the humidity is expected to be a low of 21%. When the humidity is low, the heat is quite bearable, even at night during 4½ hour stretches of load shedding.
It’s too much of a scorcher for a hot dinner tonight, so we’ll make “unwich” (breadless) sandwiches with a cold lettuce salad on the side.
Be well.
Photo from one year ago today, January 28, 2022:
