Hi people, sorry for vanishing [I think I say this phrase a lot]. I am busy at my new job things are okay but I still have not gotten accustomed to the highs and lows of the newspaper. The staff are cool and I realy like the extra hours I get. This week was all about the 8th AU summit lurking around the lobby of the Sheraton to find and corner a minister. I have not yet received my press ID and have had my first encouter with angry security people.
It all started when I was trying to take pictures of Robert Mugabe but one irritating hotel security guy almost had me beaten up. You see while I was taking pictures this guy comes up to me and starts yelling, saying that my taking pictures of Mugabe in the hall which is a public domain jeopardises the hotel and that their customers could sue them for millions because their privacy has been infringed on. I found that a little too much with other foreign media people snapping away witrh their cameras and some curious bystanders doing the same with their cell phones. I suspect the guy was on a power trip and wanted to give someone a piece of his mind, apparently I was the nearest guy to him that understood amharic.
As the ‘discussion’ lingered on and more people got involved he calls a security guy who threatens to beat me up and sned me to prison I tell him to explain and he says ‘You know what you have done!!!’. My boss and another individual which had some clout intervene and teh thing ends with warnings and frustrations [I at teh momenet was terrified]. The next day I ran intot eh same security guy but this time he was chummy and tried making jokes, I could not se the humor he was trying to enlighten me with but his sudden change in demeanor sure made me smile. I Still throw menacing startes towards the hotel security guy.
