Breadcrumbs

The car keys

 

Our issue with the car keys started at the Trans Kalahari Inn. We could not open the back canopy of the pickup to extract our luggage for our first night stay.

We tried before and after dinner, both to no avail. Perhaps, it would be better in the full light of the morning. We were not despondent though. Still high on the euphoria of arriving in Namibia and starting our adventure. This was just a minor hiccup.

 In the morning, with the benefit of full light, we tried again. Not really expecting a different result, but worth a try.

Back to the airport

So off we set, heading back towards the airport, and Henry from Thrifty Car Hire for lessons in jiggling locks. As expected Henry was there. He tried to work his magic with the lock again. To no avail. Now even if he had been able to open the lock, I don't know what we would have proposed. Would we take him with us for the next 18 days, just to open locks for us? :-) We did not have to explore that because he could not get in either. That was one of those mixed moments of glad it does not work, it was not us being stupid, and wish it was sorted and we were on our way. The person who checked us in wandered by, surprised to see us before the rental was finished. Henry made some phone calls, and said we should follow him.

So, off we go, not knowing the destination. Not long before we found out that it was to be Thrifty's maintenance depot, and safari camping vehicle center, which was in another part of the airport. We were checked through the security gates into the compound. A mechanic arrived and started with a liberal application of WD40, or similar approved. Another jiggle of the keys. Another statement that the key number and lock number don't match. Some more WD40, and another jiggle.

Henry slipped away to his normal job of pre and post inspections. The mechanic went off in search of the correct key to match the lock. He came back without success, and took us out of the sun, into a very large reception area / office for the camping 4x4. We were still happy, the problem was being resolved and we were being looked after. We were offered tea or coffee, or cold drinks. We sat and watched a long loop, a number of times,  of promotional video about Southern African safaris, and the animals that may be seen. A trip to the loo found it to be a massive room, including a shower. Just right for stepping out of a dusty, sandy, desert safari car into a plane home, clean and refreshed.

Still chilled, we saw a canopy being carried from a store at the back. Are they replacing our canopy, we ask ourselves? Did they have to drill the lock to get in, or perhaps even more damage?

Two hours

After about two hours, we were shown back to our car, with a new canopy, and a key that matched the lock. The mechanic suggested that we open the rear quarter lights of the canopy when travelling on dirt roads, to reduce the amount of dust. We blagged a 5lt bottle of water and were back in the car. 

A short discussion at the security gate, as we did not have the correct token, and we were on our way. It was now 11:39 and the odometer was 35470. From a start of 35426, we have travelled 44 km to be at precisely at the same location, the airport entrance gate. Whilst this was entirely avoidable, and totally Thrifty's fault, we were still happy, and full of the euphoria of  the beginning of our Namibian adventure.

 

The next article in the series is 'To Tsauchab'

 

 

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News Flash

Change of host Sept 2023

 

Change of host Sept 2023

 

In the begining of August 2023 I transfered my ivanhurst.me.uk sites, including this one from 123-reg to IONOS. It was meant to be a simple task. However, that was to to be the case. The reason for the move was primarily the hugh increase in price that 123-reg was applying regarding email boxes. Previously, the upto 500 of the boxes were included in the various hosting packages I had. Now they were going to charge for each mailbox based on size, and as far as I could make out, this was going to cost me nearly £2,000. This was not acceptable, and I did not get satisfactory answers from support. So I turned of all the auto renews and stated to move sites and domains accross to IONOS.

Travel data problems

 

Travel data problems

This is where it starts to get a little technical.

The site is built on a content management system, CMS, using Joomla. Joomla is moving forward and version 3.10.?? is being discontinued. Future developments are for version 4.??

Similarly, PHP 7 is being replaced with PHP 8.

Part of the migration is relatively simple, I have already changed to a new template which works on the new platforms.

However, some of the helper applications, which work within Joomla are not yet ready.

Fabrik is one of those applications, if fact a significant 'Joomla Custom Website Application Builder'.

Refresh 2021

 

Site refresh Easter 2021

I decided to give the site a bit of a refresh over Easter 2021 and install a new template and some additional functions. One of the things I didn't like about the old site was the delay in text appearing which probably meant some people left before the content appeared. This has been corrected now.