14th February 1992 Day 209

The Diary
A good start - Boro had beaten Peterborough and are now to meet Man Utd in the League Cup Semi-finals. Then things started to go downhill. Oz had lost the duty-free film he'd bought the previous day. I got to the Commonwealth Bank at 9am but it didn't open until 9:30am. So I stood by the door. However when it came to opening time they opened another door so I ended up at the back of the queue instead of the front.


I took the cheque to the counter and the girl went off to do what she had to do. Then she was told that they could clear the cheque immediately if I paid $5.50 for them to phone another one of their banks. Seemed a bit of a cheek to me but of it meant I would get my money then the answer was yes. Over an hour later I had an extra USD600 and AUD56.75 and no bank account. I stood there patiently while they made calculations, had meetings, walked around, re-did the calculations, had more meetings and argued about roundings and fees. It's a good job there were two of them doing it or I might have missed the plane.


Still, I was late back to the Transit Centre and the three of us and a Welsh Turk called Yil had to catch a taxi to the airport. It turned out to be half the price of the bus. The airport was small, uncrowded, new and spotless. We had a quick snack , I phoned Christy to say bye and before you could say Rolf Harris we were in Bali.

At the airport people were desperate to get us to stay at their accommodation. We chose Kuter and the Matahari bungalows. 44,000rp per night for 3 people. A gorgeous swimming pool and beautiful setting. That is, until you got on to the streets of Kuta. People everywhere and if they were Balinese they were probably trying to sell you watches, wallets, bangles, , cigarettes etc. or get you to ride in their bemo. The shops along the street were spotless but the road was filthy because all the rubbish and litter was just swept into the road. Kuta had a lovely smell of sewers and the beach was probably the dirtiest I've ever seen - but it was cheap and we had our own little sanctuary. 

For tea we ate at the Matahari restaurant and I had a pizza that was still covered in flour. So to bed.


2012
Man Utd had yet to start winning the league and were far from the force they are today so this semi was a good opportunity even though Boro were still in Div 2.


Kuter - person or my mis-spelling of the place? Who knows?


rp - Rupiah. I think it was about $5. It's AUD4.49 at today's ex rates.