Old men playing backgammon
It wasn't a bad day, felt a bit better. I got some icecream (lemon, chocolate and vanilla) and went to sit down in the plaza to people watch. There were some old men in small groups. They were watching backgammon games. Turkish men, straddling the benches because there were no tables. One man was looking at me like if I should join in, but i had never learned to play properly like a Turkish old man, and I was not sure if money was involved.
Money was not involved, warm July evening, old men talking, playing backgammon and smoking. No Turkish old women around though. A cultural thing, this gathering in squares and plazas. Not many old men in the Caribbean come out to play anything in the public, some rum shops still have dominoes for them, some don't. Definitely no chess - I remember watching two old men in Oasis playing chess and eating icecream.
Lots of cultural shocks here. I was gaffing with Kenita and she went UGH.. i asked what happen, she say that lady with the baby just went in the dustbin, and she has no wipes or anything. Is true, people here dont wash their hands.. and I see man with dirty fingernails serving ice cream, and man and woman using hands to prepare the kebab and to pick up the pizza to warm up. I was advised to eat food straight off the fire when travelling in the 'third' world, but in the first world, no such advice is given. So maybe their hands cleaner and they dont spread germs.. well is so I hope. In Guyana as we know, everybody does tek care to have spoon and thing to pick up food, even on the road.
I watching people all the time. Something was strange about the young girl kissing up an old man, he have grey hair like me and face mash up more than mine but the girl, her bones showing, she not slim, and I thinking trafficking and all kind ah thing, but she seem to be ordering the group around. Maybe drugs, I dont know. It was not German she speaking.
I meet up Jean who used to work as a VSO in Guyana and we gaff about work now. We went and eat piece pizza. She ask me how politics in Guyana now, and same time I choke bad, cough up and so.. I say oh oh, somebody dont want me to talk. So when I stop coughing, I tell she how coalition trying to form and thing like that and she ask me if I getting involved in civil society partnership, I say no way... because I will want to be president too and with everybody wanting to be president, none ah we gun get de chance. Jean use to be in Guyana and laugh when she used to read people lamenting about the problems wid standard english. Jean from North England and she say that she wanted to tell the people that there is no such thing as standard english.
She say she seeing how I trying not to write this blog in standard english.
Money was not involved, warm July evening, old men talking, playing backgammon and smoking. No Turkish old women around though. A cultural thing, this gathering in squares and plazas. Not many old men in the Caribbean come out to play anything in the public, some rum shops still have dominoes for them, some don't. Definitely no chess - I remember watching two old men in Oasis playing chess and eating icecream.
Lots of cultural shocks here. I was gaffing with Kenita and she went UGH.. i asked what happen, she say that lady with the baby just went in the dustbin, and she has no wipes or anything. Is true, people here dont wash their hands.. and I see man with dirty fingernails serving ice cream, and man and woman using hands to prepare the kebab and to pick up the pizza to warm up. I was advised to eat food straight off the fire when travelling in the 'third' world, but in the first world, no such advice is given. So maybe their hands cleaner and they dont spread germs.. well is so I hope. In Guyana as we know, everybody does tek care to have spoon and thing to pick up food, even on the road.
I watching people all the time. Something was strange about the young girl kissing up an old man, he have grey hair like me and face mash up more than mine but the girl, her bones showing, she not slim, and I thinking trafficking and all kind ah thing, but she seem to be ordering the group around. Maybe drugs, I dont know. It was not German she speaking.
I meet up Jean who used to work as a VSO in Guyana and we gaff about work now. We went and eat piece pizza. She ask me how politics in Guyana now, and same time I choke bad, cough up and so.. I say oh oh, somebody dont want me to talk. So when I stop coughing, I tell she how coalition trying to form and thing like that and she ask me if I getting involved in civil society partnership, I say no way... because I will want to be president too and with everybody wanting to be president, none ah we gun get de chance. Jean use to be in Guyana and laugh when she used to read people lamenting about the problems wid standard english. Jean from North England and she say that she wanted to tell the people that there is no such thing as standard english.
She say she seeing how I trying not to write this blog in standard english.
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