Since leaving Canada for Nigeria in January 1981 I've kept a diary. It started off on a little Smith Corona manual typewriter. After a while I moved up to the IBM typewriter with the "ball" - you oldies may remember this. When I returned to Canada I bought a Mac Classic and since then I've been through various laptops and now an iPad. So my diary is all over the place.
At the moment I feel like those archaeologists who have to dig frantically to uncover things before the area is covered with cement. My early journal pages are now so faded I'm having a job reading them, so I decided I should get cracking and get them onto this iPad.
I went to the supermarket this morning. As I walked into the place two foreign ladies stared at me and smiled. My instinct was to check my fly to make sure it was closed. I had no idea why I caused this reaction. Later, when I was at the dairy counter, one of them came up to me and asked me where I came from, did I live here, how long I came for etc? She thanked me and left before I had a chance to ask what it was all about. From their accent they were from the Philippines - they are everywhere! Here they are often teachers and I have to put up with their way of teaching when I interact with the lads across the road. They've had teachers from the Philippines and so they speak English in the same way - at the speed of sound. I'm constantly telling them, "Slow down!"
I bought a can of Heinz Baked Beans and had them on toast for breakfast. I was disappointed. Have you noticed that the same thing, made in a different country, tastes very different from the taste you know? I've had that experience with chocolate and now it's beans. They were manufactured in Australia and they weren't a bit like British or Canadian baked beans.
I'm angry with the BBC. They published an article about overweight or underweight people living less than normal and they gave a link so we could find out our Body Mass Index (BMI). I'm told I'm overweight but well below the British male average for my age. If that's supposed to make me feel differently, it doesn't. How can I be overweight? I exercise and often only eat two meals a day. I don't booze or smoke and I'm definitely not into red meat in a big way. I give up! I'm going to ignore all these tests in future as it's too depressing.
Our sidewalk is being ripped up again. There must be a system or method going on but I can't figure it out. Our sidewalks are made of tiles, which I think are made of cement. They are different shapes and sizes and regularly a sidewalk is ripped up and a new one put down. The base is sand and the workers hammer the tiles into it. Then along come the cars and motorbikes that park on the sidewalk and the tiles start to wobble. No problem, in a couple of years they are ripped up and replaced. It's madness in my mind but obviously someone thinks it's a good idea.
I learn a lot listening to the BBC World Service while I'm doing my morning walking exercise. Today I learned from the USA that there's such a thing as an "Impossible Burger". This "food" is made from soya and the scientists have made is so that it "bleeds" like a regular burger. I could tell the other two commentators, from the UK and India, were ready to vomit at the thought. Apparently, it's very popular in the US. I hope it doesn't find its way here. At the moment we don't have McDonalds. The Burger King franchise is owned by the Prime Minister's daughter so I think she's keeping out the competition.
