A misunderstanding

I got myself into an interesting situation last night. I went to the Sheraton and just as I was arriving, I remembered there is probably a dress code in the Gaslight lounge. Yes there was, and my sneakers, football shirt, jogging pants and fleece not fit the bill. I trundled off to get a cab to return to Deker and change. I negotiated a 100 birr return fare from the driver and off we went. We turned right at the palace, then the driver decided to pull a U-turn. I asked him why and he said "the street is closed". No problem. Then he continues driving north towards MoFED so I ask him to stop the car and I get out. I grab a blue cab, negotiate the same rate, and get back to Deker.

Then Melaku calls and says he'll pick me up so I pay off the driver and we return to the Sheraton. I tell him my story and he seems confused. As we pull into the Sheraton, the guards speak with Melaku and apparently the driver came back to complain to them. As it turns out, he thought I wanted to go somewhere else which is indeed near MoFED. The driver appears as we are parking and there are more discussions with Melaku. Melaku believes the driver but I do not, and he tells me that he understands why I bolted from the taxi. When we left the club, I gave the guards 20 birr to give to the driver as after I thought about it, I relaized it was a misunderstanding and the driver was not trying to do me any harm. Melaku did suggest ANY time I take a cab from a hotel, I should ask for the guard to get me one so someone else knows who picked me up. Lesson learned ...

We ended up first at the Office club for the R&B band from Atlanta. I visited with the Oracle guys in town and then we went to the Gaslight. The music there was HUGE. At first there was a 6-piece then a woman and a solo guitarist did a set which was beauty. The place was large and crowded. They save the good tables for Sheraton guests so there was really no good place to sit. I did run (again) into Dmitri and Sergie whom I met through Micha. I am lunching today with Roger and Michael from Oracle then no plans tonight.