I had an emergency visit to my grandmom in Mogadishu (Somalia) whom died 7 days after I set foot on the country, and her eldest son the day after in Holland who was suffering a black dotted heart/lung disease.
From my house I took VLA56 (route 2) to Victoria, then WHV14(?) on 436 to Paddington and then the Heathrow Express to Terminals 1/2/3.
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| A Cobus300 working in the airport. |
I lived in the house that my grandfather owned (whom died decades before I was born), of which the room I was in had the problem of tiny bugs that are blood-lusted, myriads of flies that think you're food, and mosquitoes.
So a few days later I got a net for my bed, protecting me from aforementioned problems, this didn't stop the tiny bugs which actually decided to duplicate at the top my net, so for two days and nights I had to be in my aunt's room while my room was being poisoned.
This problem was solved and as soon as I entered my room flies would die (this continued for days). Otherwise you'd hear gunshots occassionally and more rarely, bombs, and ultimately common, bang noises by kids (I don't remember balloons being loud enough to hear from over a 100m...)
The time my grandmom was severely suffering came and lots of people entered and left from around the area, I think the day after that she passed away and her body was carried in an ambulance to a mosque near a graveyard, the first of a convoy of vehicles and I was in a car right behind it (you know if I had my phones that could've been a good time to snap that very long convoy)
we prayed, and buried her (I took part in the process of throwing in the result of digging, I was surprised my eye was just about to cry).
Then my skin issue has been prioritized, which I went to a hospital, got creams and pills which slightly worked, then another hospital which was mainly for free (que long qeues and waiting) with more effective creams and pills.
Days later, a cockroach and her child were running around in my net which I obviously freaked out, but the existing issue was the fact there were rats in my aunts room which was literally next door mine (and a door-like hole through the wall in the rooms)
We decided to finish the remaining 20 days (from 23/8) in a house my mum owned. The house didn't have a toilet seat which was added the next morning meaning I had to bend down, the second day was supposed to be the day my falling-apart room was supposed to be repaired and painted, it was supposed to take one day but it took 5 days, the new mat got messed already having to fold; clean; lay (repeat).
During this I hired myself as a cat chaser, an old man was living in the room I moved in who used to feed birds (at first), then cats (however didn't allow the sheep/cows take part in the food). The cats decided to make themselves home, shitting everywhere in the household, puking everywhere, pissing everywhere, and they birthed cats under a bed in a room near one of the two kitchens (for two families, I use the first one).
My room was painted turquoise (from green), during the time it took, the wire attached to my net which was removed for this purpose began to have cobwebs and I noticed flies used said wire as a toilet, oh and some gits threw a rotten banana skin through my window.
Day 6, I witnessed one of the four regular cats eat a lizard in the morning, while I was looking for cats to chase off in the afternoon (they escape through alleys between houses at the back), three sheep entered the house as the front door was open (people visit come in etc and may leave door open), one escaped to kitchen 2 but the other two were within range but I chased them off, took a while to get the one in the kitchen which was eating pasta with tomato sauce.
However what happened at noon was a fight. Between an over 40 drunk and a student, the original story was the over 40 wanted money from some other guy, they were chatting, the student gave a suggestion, where the over 40 was more reasonably able to fight the guy he was dealing with, he decides to beat up the kid. "I'll fuck you" "I'll womanize you" are all the words he said to the kid, he also went up to the kid (his back on a wall doing nothing) from afar and decides to continue the rampage, when bystanders began to separate the two, the guy began yelling the first catchphrase to the bystanders (especially when he was lectured on his wrongs), the fight began to die out when he was proud to admit he beat a younger kid by roughly 20 years.
Next day the window got fixed by another guy of the same degree in a matter of less than an hour compared to the lazy guy in charge of the room. However the green paint on the windows drugged the flies and went insane (trying to enter your eyes, your mouth, your nose, your ears, fly mad fast etc)
A bomb blast happened, close enough that I felt the shockwave, everyone was looking up to where it was from, it was by a school (halfway to the house I moved from), later on another sheep tried entering in (obviously I had go away) though another was eating a sheet which was on a clothes hanger of my front door neighbour's house.
Following day a driver decided to rev the car parked directly infront of the one window of my room, of course I got pissed, the following morning on I notice an eaten mango has been thrown in the window which had a fence added when fixed.
5 September with 12 days remaining, larger flip flops (mine were a teeny bit smaller than my small feet) were bought for me which were purple as my mum's flip flops (2) were all worn out, they happened to be purple which I disliked. I wanted red. In our language, pink and red both use the same word. A colour I hate and one I love. So the 'red' definition I hate was bought for me rather than the 'red' definition I love and was using. I decided my mum should use those instead, rather than return a third time to the shop for a second flip-flop change.
6 September, five bombs of seperate directions blasted, one after the other during noon
P.S. Al-Shabbab don't sleep from their rampages; early in the morning, during noon, afternoon, evening and night. I was awake earlier in the morning before sunrise and heard a gunshot.
For two nights I had to use the toilet without a light (got busted, and cockroaches instantly made themselves home) but luckily the torch which was used when we first entered this house of which our room had no light to begin with (which was installed the following day)
Since the window got fixed and my net was finally put in place I stopped chasing the cats which feared me, should I stomp on the ground. This wasn't good beneficially as they started to come back and puke and shit in the house. I've heard the black cat ate newspaper and food waste from the neighbour in front of our front door and puked in a room where three children and their mom live.
7 September, a cat ate part of my breakfeast bread and a piece of bag it was in, during the early morning while my mum was awake and doing stuff.
Next morning a cat puked not far off my front door. My favourite cat, a black one kept on coming back to my room thinking there's no tolls (which would be me as I'd stay in my room for most of the day).
9 September: Some services have been halted and people had to walk, due to road closures. Yesterday the airport was closed apparently due to a bombing nearby.
10 September: Spotted worms in the well near kitchen 2, which had pasta dropped inside. I later heard two cars speaking beep language outside.
In OMSI, I loaded up the Urbino 18 after making a repaint, I happened to go through cars (AI collision on tho) and gave me a penalty and a disuasion on startup. My loaded bus then crashed into the parked NL202. I obviously got screwed.
Blah blah, went into so many accidents then I drove the SD83 single door (mod) and drove it while crashing vehicles like a boss and eventually the bus became drunk, automatically accelerating while the electrics are seemingly off.
The main road I live nearby has also been closed, so regular traffic is passing through nearby streets, one of them was mine (I hate the loud horns and car shite that puffs all the time), the beach is also [still] closed.
11/9: I had a haircut beyond my will as I still have my big lump on the rear of my head which I had for months after gran's death. My hairstyle became messed up but not as bad as Deji (aka ComedyShortsGamer). I also discovered the bullet-holes in the front door were gunshots during a war between some gang and Al-Shabbab, which caused everyone to run out of their houses whom also destroyed houses and walls. Disrespectful neighbours who think the owner of my house is still in Europe decide to continue bullying our house. That owner (my mum as I mentioned before) gave them a heavy embarrassing rambling on them.
12/9: Eid; shootings also happen on Eid.....
13/9: Last night my breathing was bad, couldn't find a new inhaler I got so I slept with pain. Following morning my usual tuna breakfeast went slow down my chest, to add up, a bastard was revving his shit car infront of my window
Another bastard revved the fuck out of their vehicle, I was in risk of an asthma attack knowing last night (I started having breathing problems in the room from day 1)
Roads were still closed
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| A Piaggio, badged TVS King navigating the 'Number 4' roundabout. |
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| Standing by the roundabout is this, a Nissan Homy (aka Caravan), I forgot what it was but these are the 'buses' there. |
Flight extension was too expensive so we went on to the next task..
We went to a town with a big market and looked for some trousers and jacket materials
Then later by sunset we tried going to a tailor which was closed as they were taking a holiday out of Eid
Road closures were still there
P.S. there's tons of 'border points' were police would halt you
P.S. weed is legal and bought like food, hearing instances such as 'I GOT THIS FOR $50 MAN' is common, even from the police
16/9: Spotted another ex-UK Fire Brigade vehicle which was R654UUT (I spotted K521FYM I believe on my trips to the beach) as usual being driven idiotically with it's sirens on.
I noticed 70% don't know how to use blinkers or warning lights properly.
The most stressful day of my 15th year arrived, September the 17th.
We were in fear of being late, so while in hurry we forgot the keys of our West Norwood house and perhaps other stuff....a taxi took us near the airport (you can't actually access the airport by vehicles as I mentioned before so had to walk).
We got checked 5 times: Got squeezed in a room first being checked by military, then in the airport for the rest, I had to switch my laptop on twice within the airport... The bags got checked roughly 7 times. The five I said added on the dog sniffing prior to entering the airport and prior to entering the airplane.
Unlike my Istanbul-Mogadishu trip, the reverse was much faster as I had a Skylife book to read and I learnt how to plug in the earphones (I listened to random music to speed up time [generally opted for certain Turkish ones], I watched X-Men: Apocalypse and a 2015 Top Gear episode featuring a new Jagua and a revived from 60's Jagua plus James May getting bullied and stabbed in the back while rallying.
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| Our flight TK1987 resting by Gate 217 |
We arrived in Terminal 2, a cab picked us up. The first TfL (I say this as I was waiting at Terminal 2 spotting all the Heathrow Scanias E200s and Irizar i3's) bus I spotted in service was VWH2^4 (2222) on 140 which was also my first 140 to spot.
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| Rushed shot of T101 taken from a minicab |
I arrived home which I felt being a guest for, and that's where my wonky journey ends.
I would like to say thanks for the 12000 views in my absence!
I couldn't update my News Flash as I usually do in less than a week (in terms of update frequencies) as I had no internet. Of course this meant I didn't know what was going on and couldn't catch up on my weekly anime episodes that I watch. Also means I missed up on a lot.
I have forgotten to mention, how are the buses there?
There's only one real bus and it's an Otokar Kent 290LF which sounds like a Scania on a Voith gearbox (capacity of 74 standees + 29 seated), this had a normal layout with poles in the middle of doors, very useful for when working as an airport shuttle(!)
Otherwise, you have town to town services that are hail & ride (depends on mood and capacity) at absolutely random frequencies. Two man operation (driver+conductor), services start from early in the morning to night (precisely Fajr prayer to Isha prayer). The minibuses get parked up by buildings or houses at night.
There's also unattended broken down minibuses that are either in the middle of the road as if it was copying how the 76 stands in Waterloo, or off the road on the sandy pavement.
Before I have you all off, I am absolutely happy right now as I'm typing these words.
I mentioned that yesterday was my most stressful day, that night 6 cockroaches filled the toilet, a humongous cockroach ran in the room, then a fly boarded my airplane, didn't really get the goodbye except for nice relatives.
Right now I read the tender announcement for the 2 and I am absolutely calm, though I'm stone frozen, my wishes have been granted. 2 to be 24 hour practically, 19/249 to Arriva. I won't ask for more right now.
And with that bombshell, enjoy your day chaps!
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