THURSDAY 17th March
Today was my day off but it has been cold (12o) and rainy all day. I was going to go to the supermarket coz I’m out of fruit and teabags, but Dave recommended staying in and keeping warm, so I did. I watched ‘Burlesque’ and ‘Alpha and Omega’ then at 5pm decided to wander down the lane to see if I could get something to eat. They weren’t open for business yet, but Bich was there... she has a little stall in the middle selling snacks and drinks and oil and essentials. So she invited me to sit down and poured me a glass of this awful bitter tea and we tried to communicate... Then her daughter came and sat down. She’s 25 and understands written English a little, so we ‘chatted' for a bit. I came home and got some of my family photos to show them and they were very interested.
There was a very scraggly (no fur) female dog wandering around that is obviously feeding pups and I commented on her. Next thing I knew, Bich was handing me a gorgeous fat little puppy to hold. It was way healthier than the mother, but it was so very smelly, I didn’t want to hang on to it too long. But I got the perfect excuse to put it down when it started to wee on me! Lovely... It was very cold in this open space and Bich started to talk about me needing warmer clothing. She came out with some knitting and held it up to my arm, then a crocheting pattern book pointing to a crocheted cardigan. I hope I misunderstood, but she may have been saying she intends to make me a cardigan or something, coz next she came out with a ball of white wool casting on a long row of stitches....
At about 6 the lady in the restaurant section brought out some food and people started drifting in out of the rain. One of them was a charming young man who spoke a little English. He came over and started to chat, then went over for dinner. After a bit, Bich sat me down at the table next to him and his friend for my dinner. They are 21 year old Maritime College students studying navigation. He was good company. I had rice and green vegies (hot) and fish and pork (cold!). It all came in little bowls. As they got up to go, a very loud drunk cane in shouting the odds. The little lady serving the food shouted him down, but he had no intention of going anywhere. Maybe he lives there... there are at least 3 houses opening onto this covered area. Anyhow, my young cadet came back over and hovered protectively, explaining to me that the man was very drunk and was using foul language, but not to be concerned, just ignore him. What a lovely considerate thing to do! He and his friend waved goodbye when I got up to leave.
A little excitement to flavour a day of bleak, miserable weather! Now I’m home, tucked up under the quilt all warm and toasty... very glad not to be out teaching tonight like all my housemates. It’s only 7:30, so I will watch another movie before lights out.
No comments:
Post a Comment