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May 28 five eggssuprisingly, there have been several occasions in my life when I wished i spoke more nepali. when we lived there, we got by on tourist nepali. in other words we learnt to say the we didn't like/want or need shoes/tshirts/taxis/hash hish/taxis/change money or taxis. i think about nepal everyday. every day. i still remember a man. he owned a shop at the end of our street that sold basic kitchen supplies like flour, sugar, oil and eggs. we called him the egg man. his name might actually be jyoti or dependra or santosh. i never asked. what i did ask for, twice a week, was panch anda - five eggs. he would lift his trays down off the fridge and, while castigating his son for enlightening me in splendid english with the capitals cities of countries i hadn't yet heard of (but may have since visited), selected 5 large, white, clean eggs. i gave him 10 rupees and was on my way. it was not as easy as it sounds to carry the eggs home past the ducks, up the river, around the buffalo, past the dog, up the stairs and into the kitchen. john birmingham would appreciate the scene as mr. gumpy would find adventure on the way home, as i always did. there was egg man. and fruit man and vege man and pineapple guy and flour man and sugar man and lychee lady too. i wrestle with the words of derek lind who, refering to the paddy fields of se asia, says "they are not quaint". whether the charm of the nepali streets was set up for me or not, the daily walk home and regular shopping trips did more for me than any experience before or since. no other place has yet held me so close. i should tell you that the day we left pokhara we sat at the end of our road and waited for a bus to take us to lakeside. we were waiting a long time. egg man came down from his shop and sat with us. saying nothing he just sat with us for around 30 minutes. when our bus came, he lifted our packs on board for us and waved us good bye. it's heartwarming for me to recall. now we live in the middle east. surrounded by heat and wealth. we went to the supermarket last friday at lunchtime. we try to go at that time because while the mosques are full the aisles aren't. it's my job to get the fish, which i enjoy because i can choose a large piece. whenever we go to the shops, ben is always popular. he gets to meet a handful of people who touch his toes, give him a smile or a kiss or a glance. it had slightly puzzled me why, for the past few weeks, when i had gone to get fish, one of the shorter store cleaners always came up to say hello to ben and touch his toes and smile. he didn't say much to me, but was always there. last friday he spoke. "how many months?" "nearly six" i reply not as proudly as i should and far too cautiously. pause while i receive a blue bag containing a large piece of nile perch. "my daughter same", smiling (beaming). "really - what is her name?" my enthusiasm mounts. "not seen her - in nepal" pause "will you see her soon?" "my friend send photo" "congratulations" cleaner continues to stare at ben with unswerving smile. "i hope you can see her soon" with a feeling of appreciation of ben and sadness i hadn't felt for years, i went to look at the yoghurts. May 18 just so you knowwe'll be in new zealand soon. we leave dubai at the end of june and arrive in time for the wedding of david buck and kyly ashman. we'll spend 6 weeks in nz and about half this time in wellington. we know our friends and family will enjoy seeing ben. he's an amazing boy and should he stop grizzling, will delight you out of your socks. on aug 8 we fly back to dubai with 5 nights in hong kong on the way. we catch up with friends there too. all going well, we'll have a new villa to move into when we get back mid august. it's warming up here and verging on 'hot' (i call 40+ hot, 30-40 warm, under 30 cool, below 25 cold, just so you know. the hottest i've been in is 47, so don't ask me about 50 - but you could ask the 50% of the emirates who remain over summer). if you are reading this and live in new zealand and are a friend of ours, we'd love to see you if we can, so let us know what you're doing and we hope to pop in for tea. |
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