Halfway There

After ten hours of flying and taxiing around airports, I am resting in Frankfurt.  No flight left on time today, although the flight between Osh and Istanbul did land at the time scheduled for us to be at the gate.  However, after we landed, we taxied for twenty minutes. And when we left Istanbul, the tug pushed us back and we sat there for seven (timed) minutes until we started moving again.  After that, it took fifteen minutes to get to the threshold.  Landing in Frankfurt was worse, as we landed in a rain, thunder, and lightning storm, with wind-shear and micro-bursts just before we reached the runway. Kind of a bouncy landing, too. It was hard to tell in the heavy rain where we were going, but after a three hour flight, we taxied for almost thirty minutes.  So, I guess you could say that Turkish Airlines gave us 110% today . . .

My foot is just a mess, red and swollen with brushing at the base of the toes.  The rough plaster on the inside of the cast has created sores that hurt worse then the ankle.  I am really looking forward both lie-flat seats on Condor tomorrow.  I am gonna get me some horizontal tomorrow.  In the meantime, I found crutches at the pharmacy at the airport here.  only 23 euros!  Now I am unsafe at a slightly higher speed.

People are often wonderful, offering to help and helping.  This injury may turn some of my curmudgeonly ways around if I don't watch myself.  And while the men want to know what happened to cause the injury, women actually help move a bag, or pause so they don't run over me (I am moving like an inch worm, very slowly).

Both Istanbul and Frankfurt are great places to observe people, as both are international hubs.  But I think Istanbul has the edge.  I mean, where else are you going to run into men dressed like John The Baptist (but with an ID card on a lanyard around their neck)?  I should further note that the the rough woven robes worn by these men are actually too clean to be like John, as they are all a very white shade of white  But for that (and the ID cards on lanyards,and the eyeglasses), the me look like stylites before they climbed the pole . . .