Monster trucks
A very pleasant drive over here except for a couple of things.
The Prof was, of course, not ready to leave at the appointed hour.
So we found ourselves headed east along South Street at about 10:45am towards the freeway.
Should have taken five minutes but it took about half an hour because some bleeding great bit of construction equipment with two rear escort vehicles was taking up all three lanes.
Having then made it to the freeway and taken Roe to the not-so-Great not-very-Eastern not-much-of-a-Highway, we stopped in at Meckering for lunch.
Great roadhouse there, especially if you ask them to make you a sanger.
Saw someone pull up towing an ocean-going yacht.
I mean, where could it be going?
Marvel Loch?
(Later, it was explained to me that the not-G-not-E-not-H is a perfectly good way of getting from Perth to Esperance, counterintuitive as this may seem.)
On arrival in Kal, we couldn't get through the streets at all because it was the annual monster truck show and most places around the main street (Hannan) were all blocked off.
Could hardly even find a park.
After much driving around we did eventually find one and I walked to my hotel while bloody Crispin phoned for a cab to take him to the conference lodgings.
I'd been assuming this would be a swell kind of a joint since it was called "The Palace" and fronted on to mainstreet.
After my pleasant walk in the hot afternoon sun, I finally got there and the lobby and reception did indeed look pretty posh.
Even felt slightly out of place, sweating and wearing a truckie's singlet.
But there was no one actually attending the desk.
Gal in charge was out watching the trucks.
"Oh yeh", she said, once persuaded that she might return to her duties, "there's guest parking just round the back".
However, that was inaccessible too because of the road blocks.
Had to carry my bags about 500 metres to the hotel and then on a route march to my room.
Here's a pic of the corridor: 62 rooms in length and guess what my room number was?
Room 62 had a nice view overlooking the gas cyclinders, oil drums, abandoned shopping trolleys and a deceased air con plant in a back alley.
And while we're talking of air con: in the room it was running full blast and sounding like one of the monster trucks.
I felt like the poor bastard who got billetted next to the power plant at Mawson Base, Antarctica.
Being Kal in December, I hadn't made provision for thermal underwear.
Reception was closed at 6:30pm, so it took me an hour or so to find someone who could turn the air con off.
This was down in the front bar and the sign reading "3am Lock Out" didn't bode well at all.
Headed off for food and found a passable Thai restaurant and, in a nearby dive, a bottle of Fifth Leg.
I recommend it if ever you're in town -- the Thai that is, not The Criterion (though the latter does have two drinkable take-away reds at about $26 a bottle).
Back at The Palace, Mama Mia was just starting on house TV.
I'd been told the film was funny.
But the only thing that made me laugh was Pierce Brosnan suddenly bursting into song.
Which brings us, technically, to Day 2.
Stay tuned while I collect my thoughts and, for reasons that will become clear, get a beer.
Sledge
