MATTA Matter

After shopping outings on Friday (during lunch and after work), I headed to PWTC for the MATTA Fair on Saturday. After paying the entrance fee, I spent some time studying the list of exhibitors, marking those I intended to visit. Only then did I join in the crowd. I was lucky as there were offers for two upcoming destinations and ended up signing for a two-day tour and a hotel stay. I didn’t foresee being so lucky to have got the deals especially because one of the booths from which I bought my package had never participated in the Fair before.

I forgot to mention earlier that you have to pay a deposit for any holiday/hotel package that you sign up for at the Fair. The balance can be paid after the Fair at a pre-agreed arrangement at the time of transaction. I usually ask about the terms of deposit and payment: how much minimum deposit is required; how the balance is to be paid (in full? Or is payment by instalment accepted?) and by when; method of payment (is credit card accepted? Or does the tour operator prefer payment by cash? If so, can payment be made by online banking?); and if there is interest charged for use of credit card. Some agents are generous enough to absorb the credit card charge while some would charge 3-5% for credit card transactions. So it’s important to ask all these questions.

I decided to pay my packages in full as I didn’t want to bring a lot of cash along with me (as my bookings were made to foreign parties, I could either pay when I reach my destinations or use my card to settle my transactions but I loathe having to bear the exchange rate charge). Because I didn’t bring enough cash with me – I live on plastic; even at work, I can use my staff ID to pay for food and have my salary deducted for this – I had to go to the nearest cash point to withdraw money.

The MATTA crowd on Saturday was massive what with it being school holidays and all and I had to rein in my patience as I trudged and fought my way behind other ambling visitors. I’m a planner: I make lists and plans – yes, even for trivia things like the MATTA fair. I like to have a clear idea of what I’m looking for and where I can find info and then I just choose from the available options. I believe this saves time and effort – instead of meandering and wondering around with no specific plan in mind, which I find most people do.

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Arsenal bereft again of captain Cesc (and Song, Gallas, RvP, Gibbs... OK, it’s not OK) travelled to Hull on Saturday - captain was keen to play despite injuries ;’) but he needed a miracle to shake off his hamstring. While it presented an opportunity to win the league as the captain insisted, it was a frustrating match and we didn’t play well. Just as we played beautifully in mid-week, we played badly on Saturday – there was no such vintage display and we looked jaded. We didn’t click or connect well with many a time passes made were intercepted. There were a few incidents: Boateng poking Bendtner in the eye comes to mind and he rightfully got red-carded after that for planting his studs on Sagna. We laboured and struggled and battled our way before Nick saved the best for last, in the nick of time (pardon the pun), to keep us firing still for the title. He’s shown even at the Porto match that he backed his words with deeds and he did just that on Saturday. That was the fifth consecutive match that we scored in stoppage time (Sunderland, Stoke, Burnley, Porto and now Hull); out of 101 goals so far this season, twelve came in stoppage time – what does that tell you about our desire, mental strength and fighting spirit? Winning games when you haven’t played well is a sign of a league winning team as some sports pundits say. If we could eke out wins even like this, who knows, maybe we’ll win the title. Amen to that. Just don’t that too often, my heart (or Wenger’s) can’t take it. Oh and by the way, Hull have horrible players like bloody Boateng and the fugly Fagan (he actually grabbed Sagna around the neck and dragged him down, WTFK was that all about?) just to name two. And yes, the ball was red to promote AIDS relief in Africa.

I shall leave you with more gem from Shava. He’s just priceless.