Now blogging from Kinshasa...

Three months after my last one-year stint in Kin, I'm once again in the Congolese capital--where I arrived via Brussels on Saturday, October 15.

Being at ground zero has its advantages and disadvantages. Among the former, the flavor of authenticity when blogging about the momentous events that elections represent. Having arrived before the beginning of the electoral campain set to begin on October 29 is an added bonus.

The drawback of blogging mostly from a mobile phone is the narrowing of perspective and  formatting difficulties (no possibility of establishing hyperlinks or labeling posts--as most of the latter will be sent via emails).

This being said, allow me a short rant against United Airlines.

My flight was booked on Brussels Airlines. But as Brussels Airlines doesn't fly from Dulles, I had to fly United Airlines, which is a member of the "Skyteam" to which BA also belongs. An hour into the fligjt, as drinks were being served, I waited with trepidation the cart coming down the aisle for my first beer of the day. But it was not meant to be.

"Six dollars seventy-five," the (male) flight attendant coldly told me. There's no way I'm going to buy a tiny can of insipid beer for that price. This is a fleecing of travelers!

Things changed dramatically aboard the BA flight to Kin where I was treated to 3 cans of Jupiler beer. European airlines are still civilized!