Ra's Life

Ra's Life Here's the view from room 132 of "Hotel Rwanda" (Des Milles Collines).

OK, so it DID rain today.. and that led me to losing my mobile phone... for a while.

The rumor was that the temperature yesterday approached 100 - it was indeed hot at lunchtime. Today we got a major reprieve, clear air and a cloud filled sky made it a balmy day. Late in the morning the rain started - very heavily for 20 minutes, and drizzling since.

I went to the bank thinking I could change money there - wanting to avoid the longer walk to the FOR-EX bureau in the rain. Well, no, they don't change money in the bank, I found out, which is WHY they have FOREIGN-EXchange bureaus anyway.

OK, so when I passed through the metal detector at the bank entrance and handed over my computer, backpack, mobile phone, coins, etc. - just to walk right out 30 seconds later.. The bank has a lot of security and car are only allowed in one gated entrance. As I left the bank I headed for the OTHER gate, which was wide open and tried to walk out - especially since this entrance was only 200 yards from the hotel entrance. And it WAS raining.
But, NO, the guard told me I cannot walk out there. I actually had one foot outside and he put his arm across me to prevent me from taking that second step to freedom...

So I walked up and around to the 'official' entrance (exit) and walked around the block and got refreshingly wet in the drizzle. I headed to my hotel for a noon workout in the small fitness center.

Heading back to work at 2, I realized my phone was missing so I returned to the bank. It was closed. Actually, it was locked. The parking lot was full of cars and the official gate was chained shut. So I approached the 'bad' entrance and got them to let me in to try to get my phone back

With the chaining of the gate there seemed to be no need for the police to man the metal detector any more so no one was there to ask about my phone. At the bank information/sign-in desk (which WAS open - although it seems unlikely any customers could make it past the gauntlet) I had them call my missing mobile - which turned out to have been shoved into my backpack by the guard.

Happy Ending...