Thank you; Lion Air

I'm going back before the trip to South Africa so the diamond mine post is out of date order but in sequence of writing order.

I was in Jakarta for about seven hours the Tuesday before last (19th) and my flight back to Singapore was scheduled for 7.10 pm. "No prob," I thought, "I'll arrive at check-in at 6.15 latest and there'll be no problem."

I obviously need to travel more because I did arrive at 6.15 and was told the check-in for that flight was closed.

"You can get the first flight out in the morning," "they" said.

"No." said I, "I have to get to Singapore tonight because I have a flight to South Africa tomorrow morning and the earliest Lion Air flight doesn't connect. I have no check-in luggage. I have to go tonight."

"Well, there's nothing to be done; you'll have to book onto ValueAir which has a later flight than ours."

At which point, a 'higher-up', over-hearing the conversation decided that they could, indeed, do something about the 7.10 flight.

"Excellent. Thank you."

"No problem, have you paid your airport fee?"

"Ah, no! 150,000 rupiah, right?"

"Yes."

This was a problem as the currency exchange counter near the check-in desk didn't take credit cards so I had to find an "8-a.m." One of the Lion Air girls suddenly switched from "No, we're closed," to "I'll take you to find one."

Off we went. It was a long distance through the airport. I was wearing slip-on sandals with no heel or ankle strap so I couldn't run. Solution: take them off and run barefoot. Now, appearing barefoot in a Muslim country is possibly akin to flashing in a Christian country but, what-the-hell, money had to be bought. We found the "8-a.m." and I inserted my card, keyed in the required numbers and got the "8-a.m." equivalent of a dreaded Microsoft 404! Bugger! Bugger, bugger, bugger! Off we go to find another one. And another one.

Finally, at attempt number three, we found a friendly machine that worked and liked me, withdraw Rp150,000 (~S$22) and hoofed it back to the check-in desk. Paid the airport fee, got the necessary stamp on my boarding pass, and ran to security check (this time as the real Clive Rushton)accompanied by the friendly Lion Air hostess. No probs at security, got on the plane, flew to Singapore, slept well and went to Johannesburg the following morning. Smiles all round.

I wonder what you could buy with this 1/2 rupiah note in 1945 when it was printed?