It's a red letter day for me; I finished the last of the bananas I was giving a week ago. I ended up with around 30 and they ripen so quickly here. In the supermarket I can buy a bunch of four or five but, when I'm given them by friends I end up with the entire bunch, just as it comes from the plant. I've made fruit shakes but generally I've cut them up and put them in my morning porridge along with some mango and the compulsory cinnamon. I was having around five a day so now I can relax until the next friend visits the family farm.
I have my breakfast on the balcony and it's interesting watching the tall building going up not that far away. They are now up to floor 23 but I think the crane driver's cab must be as high as floor 26. I thought he must have legs of steel going up the girders to his little box but I think I've figured out what he does. He goes up to 17 in the industrial elevator and then there's a little metal path joining the building to the crane. He still has to climb the equivalent of 9 floors before he can settle into his little box, which has a glass bottom. If I were in there I'd have permanent diarrhea. The building's going up to 33 floors so, at some point, somebody's going to have to increase the height of the crane which I hope I'm able to see.
I'm glad the crane's a few hundred metres away from where I live. Around the time when President Kennedy was assassinated, I was working in a British Railways office in York and, just outside the building, a tall crane was helping to construct a new building. I was standing by the window when there was a loud noise and something went flying past the window. The arm of the crane had been carrying a load that was too heavy for it and the arm had snapped, sending the end part, with it's load crashing to the ground. It just missed our building and fortunately it was in a construction area so there were no people or cars going by.
It's lovely sitting outside, with my feet up on the railings, dolly daydreaming. I had another red letter day this morning - there were no birthday requests on my Facebook. Generally, I send greetings to someone every day so it was nice not to have to bother today. I'm being inundated with 'friend' requests and I don't know where the people are coming from - they all know people I know. Why they bother I've no idea as I must be the most boring person using Facebook; I don't post anything and I might make a couple of comments a day. Today there was a photo of the dental group in Ecuador and it was nice to see faces of people who have been here.
I cringed while I was listening to an interview on the BBC this morning. It was a young man who was on Coniston Lake in the UK where there was a regatta for boat users wanting to break world records. He kept talking about the "wore - e". It seems to me that the young folk in the UK don't use the 't' any more. I'm fascinated by the different speakers on the BBC and so, when I hear a voice, I always want to know what the person looks like and where he or she comes from. Today it was Fiona McDonald. I searched on Google and learned a bit about her but not where she came from. I had a feeling she was Scottish - not just because of her name. I finally found her on YouTube where there's a short video of all the Scottish reporters on the BBC.
Thornin said he wanted to see me but I said I couldn't see the point as the lads were coming for their English lesson in less than half an hour. He finally came and we had a two minute chat, interrupted by his phone ringing and then he settled down in the bedroom to do some work. I really do believe the idea that says if a person answers his/her phone, when talking to you, then he/she sees the person on the phone as being more important. It irritates me no end. If I had my way, I'd have a basket at every door with a notice saying, "Please put your mobile here."
Phearak and Srun came for their English lesson. Every time I asked Phearak something, and he couldn't answer, he looked at Srun for support. Srun would then say something but I had no clue what he was on about as he was wearing a mask as he has a cold. I'm sure I was deaf in a previous life as I can't understand what people are saying unless I can see their lips moving.
My red letter day ended in disaster. I was doing some house cleaning and I found a banana.
