This morning, while doing my daily marching up and down, I listened to a History programme on the BBC. They interviewed people at an army base in Central America that was attacked by rebels. The soldier talked about the base and its defences, huge fences, barbed wire etc. It reminded me of the army base I was in during the 1950s when I was doing my National Service. I was at the main centre for the Armoured Corps - tanks, heavy guns etc. As far as I can remember it was completely open with just a gate at which visitors had to stop and report to the office. Every evening about 10 of us had to dress up for guard duty. Generally, it was just an overnight guard duty but every so often it was for 48 hours or 72. It was during the time of the IRA and their members would creep into the camp and steal guns etc. In their infinite wisdom our commanding officers issues each of us on guard with a long wooden pole and that was the only thing we had to defend ourselves against the IRA. Fortunately, I was never on duty when any of their members arrived.
Samnang crept in around 2pm. Because he's the son of the landlords he has access to their keys. He loves creeping in and hoping that I haven't noticed. I feel sorry for him and his two brothers because the school has been on holiday for nearly 3 weeks and he's got nowhere to go. The house has no outside play area and his family doesn't want him, at 14 years of age, roaming around the streets, especially in this tourist area. He decided to come over to visit me so I took him to the riverside where we could sit, have a drink and chat. I enjoy his company as he speaks excellent English and he can be quite mature when he feels like it. He and his brothers were adopted by their aunt when their father, her brother, developed into a permanent addict. I often ask him about his past life and it's interesting how he doesn't blame his real dad and has no animosity against him.
We came back to the apartment and he helped me make a cauliflower curry in coconut milk. It turned out very well and he didn't fool around too much with the chilli. He also helped me eat it.
I felt a bit sad when I saw a video on Facebook called "Lily Savage and Parkinson". "Lily" is really a male and he's very famous as a female impersonator. I've known of him for years so I felt sorry he'd developed Parkinson's. What was so funny was that he was on a chat show with a man called Parkinson.
My sister Janet phoned in the evening. Just before we said goodbye I said I'd check the mouse trap to see if anything had happened. It was already quite dark. I'd put the trap on the balcony as a change to the steps - the steps I now spray with a peppermint mixture which is supposed to deter the mice. I picked up the trap and lo and behold there were five mice in it. Janet got me worried as she said mice can find their way back home from a distance of 3km. I was worried about releasing them in the back alley. I've done that with one mouse but dare I do it with five? What if they all ran into the neighbour's house. There was no way I was going to walk 3km so what to do?
I'm a bit slow sometimes but this time I surprised myself. I carried the trap to my front balcony, opened the trap door and released them. It was fun watching them fly through the air from my balcony - 2nd floor British style, 3rd floor North American. They all landed well and ran off in different directions. It reminded me of that song, "They fly through the air with the greatest of ease." This time it was tiny mice rather than 'daring young men on the flying trapeze.'
