We move out of the 47 star hotel today and into real life in a private house in the old part of Amman. No A/C 5 mosques with strident calls to prayer (4am is the most powerful) within 200 yards and fairly constant street noise but we won't miss the Very Grand Palace. The academics have gone but the Italians have moved in, by the tour bus load. I have nothing against Italians (not even during the world cup) but they take up a lot of space, make a noise not dissimilar to mating starlings and if you don't get down to the breakfast buffet by pre sparrow fart the tables have ben stripped of all sustenance=for starlings read locusts. So its in a 6pm check in -demolish the supper buffet, off to another adventure by 8-30am full of everyones breakfast. How they can enjoy the wonderful sights/sites of Jordan mob handed I have no idea but they seem to.
Internet access may not be so assured downtown although there is a formidable array of machines just down the road from our flat in Amman's only (believed to be) Gay bar. It is regularily raided by the police as Gaiety is illegal in these parts-whether the fuzz do so in persuit of arrests, or in search of custom (as has been alleged in certain quarters) is not knowna and I am not in a position to make an educated guess.
Yet
