A funny thing happened this morning - by the way, does anyone remember a hilarious movie from the old days called, "A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum"? It was a take on the early days in Rome.
Anyway...... I put on my Bluetooth headphones this morning and switched them on so I could listen to the BBC World Service. Usually, I hear someone speaking English in a very Chinese way. Well today, she finally gave up trying; she's now speaking to me in Chinese and I haven't a clue what she's on about.
I did my morning 1 1/2 hours walking and I really felt like a shower but, what's the point when the floors need washing? I did the floors and then had my shower and breakfast. It was a treat sitting on the balcony, in my shorts, and not giving a single thought to the snowbound Albertans. It was soon 10.30am. Normally my Protestant ethic steps in and I start to panic but today I thought, "So what!" I was even relaxing, reading the news, when the two lads came over at 12.30pm for their English class; I'd completely forgotten about them. I used my Bali photographs and we had a nice chat time.
This morning, while walking, I listened to an excellent BBC programme on WW 1. I love the radio as I can use my imagination and this programme had a lot to do with imagination. They had old interviews with veterans and one could imagine what they had gone through. We think of the war as one involving Europe but there was a lot of fighting in Africa because of the German colonies there. I felt sorry for the Africans as they were just rounded up and forced to be porters or fight. Some soldiers came from Hong Kong. To get to the war they had to sail to Vancouver, go across Canada by train and cross the Atlantic to the UK. There, they entered the war not even speaking English and having so many cultural differences. They spoke about the trauma of war and I can remember Bill and Jean Duncan talking about Bill's return from the war. He was so traumatised by what he'd experienced in the trenches that he and Jean never slept in the same bedroom as he always had nightmares and woke up howling. He said it was mainly because of the horror he saw involving horses unable to cope with the mud and drowning. Nowadays, so many people play games on computers, and they usually involve fighting and killing. They should all listen to this programme to understand the reality of war.
There was one funny commentary from a British soldier who said he was walking through a field when a man came by on a grey horse. He shouted, "It's finished, you know." The soldier said, "What's finished?" The man galloped by shouting, "The war!" One senior medical person decided to take four women to the front to show that they could handle anything the men had to deal with. It was fascinating listening to one of the ladies. She lived in the same clothes for three weeks and another lady had to help her take her vest off as it was stuck to her back and was coming off with the skin. What they did was amazing.
By the way, did you know that since WW II, the Americans have been at war during two of every three years? That's sad.
I mentioned in an earlier writing about my first job, which was with the British Railways. I happened to visit an uncle who was chatting over the fence to his neighbour who was the staff officer in the local railway headquarters. Today I heard of the Indian Railways who want to recruit 100,000 more people. The trouble is, they've received 20 million applications. You should have heard the shouting going on outside one building, especially when they closed the gates. One man had travelled for over a day. He'd studied for a year, ten hours a day, but he ended up saying he wouldn't get a job because he didn't know anyone. He said it was who you knew rather than what you knew. My hiring process was a lot more gentlemanly.
I didn't plan on eating anything for dinner yesterday as I'd eaten too much on the holiday. Unfortunately, Samnang came over and said I had to eat. I settled for a grilled cheese sandwich. His dad phoned and said, "Get yourself off to Chinese class", so that meant I had to eat his sandwich too.
Do you ever do something and it reminds you of someone? Every morning I'm now drinking stinging nettle tea and, when I can get it, cherry juice. Apparently, they are great for gout. I'm presuming it works as I haven't had a bout since starting with these drinks over a year ago. So thank you Vincent and Len.
When I do this blog I have a warm feeling for Dave who got me going - that's except when he's telling me off for not fully understanding the process. He's a retired editor from the BBC and various other networks so he expects professionalism. It's like having my own, personal Arianna Huffington. He keeps going on about feeds and posts and yesterday it was 'grabs'. I have no idea what he's on about - I just type.
I'm wondering about a photograph for today. It'll have to be one from the holiday as nobody's taken a photo of me washing the floor. I think I'll post one that's got something for everyone.
I took the three lads from across the road for dinner. Oudom (12) and Samnang (14) have just finished their school exams so I thought we'd celebrate and take Ponleu (9) along too. The two oldest spent most of the time bickering back and forth, trying to get in the last word. Every so often they tell Ponleu what to do or not to do; he just sat, smiled and munched away. The problem for me is that they argue in English; if it were in Khmer I could switch off. I warned all of them if they ordered something they had to eat all of it - and they did. I also warned my chef, Samnang, that he'd better not start criticising the cooking, but he couldn't resist. His parents are going to have to put a block on the internet to stop him from watching cooking programmes on YouTube.
I walked with them to their Chinese school with Oudom pointing out that he failed his Chinese exam because he was honest; apparently, Samnang borrowed a phone from someone and managed to pass. All three of them hate going but it's their parents' way of getting them away from the computers at home so it serves them right.
I made an impulse buy on the way home and bought some Danish Blue Cheese, so I'm happy.
