(G): The eccentric, the generous, the exasperating, the hilarious Laurie left us today as our awesome Wild Patagonia trip came to end back in Buenos Aires where it began three weeks ago. The others are hanging around in ‘BA’ for a few more days so we’ll hook up with them for farewell beers. I’m not sure she has quite as good a time on the trip as we did, but that’s mainly because she signed up for a *very* physically demanding trip without really reading the itinerary or ever having so much as walked to the shops in her life.
She also has an impatience and a cheek that make me blush even to think about. While most of us were queuing or waiting patiently-ish to board the flight, Laurie was desperately soliciting random strangers at the head of the line with cosy small talk to see where she could squeeze in. She succeeded in the end. Of course.
But I will miss her amazing kindness and inadvertent comic genius. In the meantime, it’s farewell to all that as we embark upon three days of low-intensity perving over speedo-clad, Buenos Aires boys lounging around the Axel Hotel pool.
(L): Laurie has indeed been wonderfully strange. But then, people are strange, and nowhere are the peculiarities of our species more amply demonstrated than at airports. Today was the 28th flight of the trip so far, so I have had plenty of time to observe and ponder. Firstly, why do people go on shopping spees? Almost everything is more expensive at an airport than it would be on the net. Yet people still cling to the vague notion that ‘duty free’, which is a misnomer, is somehow good value.
Also, why do people visit seafood bars in the middle of a continent – or at an airport at all, quite frankly? And who on earth buys the £50 lottery tickets to *not* win the sports car? However, the strangest behaviour of all is evident at the boarding gates. Why are people desperate to queue while awaiting boarding, in order to queue in the tunnel, in order to queue on the plane, in order to be first in the seat – which has already been allocated for them – that they are going to have to sit in uncomfortably for the next few hours?
Beats me.
