Checking my pockets at Changi Airport in Singapore I saw I had $4.40 left in change. An iced coffee was exactly $4.40 and exactly what I needed. I ordered one, but for reasons unknown to me or the guy serving me the bill came up as $4.60. He said "Look, don't worry about it if you haven't got it", but I searched and lo and behold, 20c appeared from nowhere and I paid the bill properly. "That's very lucky" said the man behind the counter.
Eight hours later when te plane suddenly banked to the left and an announcement said we were off to Melbourne to refuel while the fog cleared from Sydney, I didn't feel that lucky. Plus the iced coffee wasn't even half as good as a $2 Kopi Peng from a hawker stall. Anyway, we ended up landing in Melbourne about half an hour after I should have been through customs in Sydney, and sitting on the tarmac refuelling. While I was there I chatted to the lady next to me who turned out to be Australian, but from East Timor stock. Not for the first time, I felt embarassed at my complete ignorance of South East Asian politics, but she explained the general events leading up to the formation of the world's youngest nation. Her grandparents fled from Timor to Darwin by boat, while her mother was at university in Portugal. They've lived in Australia ever since, but her parents still want to go back, once everything is settled down. As Chris knows of the former Soviet nations in Central Asia, these things always take a while to settle, and there's an election coming up. I have my fingers crossed, and again, I hope to learn more about South East Asian politics, both for my own pride and because it's fascinating stuff. And maybe the coffee guy was right, I am lucky.
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That's worth a thousand points, surely? Or do you mean just New South Wales rather than all Australia? Any advice on how to start a political riot, from the man who leaves havoc in his wake across Central Asia?
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