No I am not taking another step backwards
I feel bad for succumbing so quickly in a moment of "me, me, give me, one of those", but sadly this is what happens to even the vaguely intelligent when on press trips. I realise I have little or no will power.
There was further irony when wandering through Petra some Bedouin kid ran up shouting "Arafat" as I joked "great I'm a late Arab terrorist lookalike".
I put it down to several things:
1. It was hot
2. I thought I might look cool.
3. It was a press freebie and I can't say no.
4. And the facial hair, it does weird things to you.
5. I thought later I might want to relive the old days, hi-jack a plane and land it in the Jordanian desert, you just can't that kind of stuff in a Sox baseball cap.
14 comments:
They are also really practical for protecting delicate North European back of neck tissue from sunburn, and great for avoiding fly in ear situations.
You can also handily re-tie as a protection against dust when on the back of jeeps or camels at high speed!
My excuse was that none of the silly 'Indian Jones in nylon' hats* fitted my head - because as I'm sure you realise I really wanted a mock late nineteenth century colonialist hat.
*In fact on my second trip I found a bigger one, bought it and subsequently wished I was still in the far more comfortable, if admittedly potentially silly-tourist-looking keffiyeh.
PS Is it just me or is Jordanian cardamon coffee the best? Apologies to the Lebanese but the cardamon balance just doesn't quite seem right...
Gordon? Is that you? Gordon MacMillan?
It is I, here to free the...errr no one, just here to drink lots of beer, bad Jordanian wine (sorry, we sampled, as hacks do, widely, and found nothing palatable) and take pictures.
The keffiyeh, was excellent on the neck. Prior to this, I was quite happy with my Sox backcap – also good for the neck.
The coffee was excellent as was most of the food. Great olives. Although did nearly come under by their measures of gin & tonic. A double was like a UK quadruple. This can be the only explanation as to why I was having a who can put their hands flat on the floor yoga competition with a sales woman from BSkyB. The answer was me. Thank you.
I'm disappointed.
I believed all that stuff about BSkyB offering 'the ultimate flexible package'...
Purely as a matter of interest, what important story of our time were you out there to bring the world's attention to, in your capacity as 'journalist'? And was your choice of headwear an important part of your journalistic technique, a way of gaining the trust of otherwise uncommunicative or wary subjects? Were you under deep cover, perhaps?
Your Mex correspondent (who has been informed of his password but can't be bothered looking it up right now).
Well I liked the hat.
I think our Mex correspondent should be introduced to the concept of a culturally enriching junket
The reason your Mex correspondent is no longer a newspaperman is because he is fully acquainted with the 'culturally enriching junket', and it makes him want to puke.
El guero
I want to say it was a story of great importance, but it wasn't anything of the like. It was a press junket extrodinaire care of the Discovery Channel.
A sort of of Five Star VIP jaunt through Jordan with chartered planes and boats, scuba diving and 4x4 desert drives with champagne pitstops.
I did feel a bit pukey, and so did a couple of others - but that was down to a touch of food poisening courtesy of the restaurant at Petra , but otherwise a fantastic freebie.
The headgear was merely "oh it's hot" I might look cool.
Yes I well recall your complaints during our third world jaunts El guero. Usually around the quality of BA versus Virgin club class accommodation...
Good to see that you're self-aware, if I have reservations about the 'culturally' part.
El guerro
..... and yes, as a man of advancing years I feel I can say I have matured in my outlook, the better to embrace all philosophies, outlooks and beliefs, and to respect every individual's point of view no matter how at variance with my own. : )
El Guerro
Can I just say that I'd like to become a "proper" journo so that I can experience some culturally enriching junkets. Feels like an eternity since I got any freebies.
There is, in my experience, little better than being culturally enriched at other people's expense.
Okay, i'll stop now.
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