No money earned this day but...

Work thing was cancelled so day was supposed to be used for investment to make money but..

• The email from the brilliant woman I was at school with whose personal crisis was exposed and who responded to my email in the most dignified perfect way which spoke to recovery and coping with that crisis and acknowledging my polite intrusion in a way which almost brought tears to my eyes; and the other woman who I was at school with dealing with another crisis which had nothing to do with the crises of school work which we used to talk about . Wondering wonder back to those days when we were all in school thinking of exams and careers and not family making and family breaking..and mourning the loss of how life turned out .. celebrating not the academic and professional successes, but that one woman (whose incisive intelligence and memory are amazing) is navigating her way through her family dysfunctions; another girl (who you used to compete with at school) left her abusive marriage; another girl who was 'crazy' also left her abusive marriage and though poorer is happier..

• the phone call from a former loved one .. "I saw your facebook posts and I called to find out how you were doing" and you think of how this story ain't done yet, .. how you glad to hear the voice, but sad to talk in the professional tones .. and it is almost a year to the day when an email came talking of  meeting which never happened.. and you laugh at facebook and its stupidness..

• the 32 year old man.. mourning the loss of the dream he had of having a relationship with the man he loves who he found cheating; and who looks after his family and friends and whose generosity in the time of grief.. even as he tries to deal with the pain in his belly and the after effects of the sleeping aid .. ensures that you have sweet dessert in the freezer.. and whose text message at the end of the day that he feeling okay and looking at things differently and going and talk to another loved one is welcome like the email from the woman you went to school with at the start of the day; 
• and all of this relieved by the deep laughter of the other woman who you planning to go  karaoke with because she knows how to enjoy life in spite of all the challenges she faces

• the pandit seeking assistance for the 17 year old girl who now getting flashbacks to the time of her child abuse when she was 8, and the frustration of knowing that no real help is available where the girl is located but glad that the girl is at least talking to the pandit and that the pandit is trying to help her

• Standing up waiting for a car to get to the public road in a hurry and no hire cars pass and some fancy vehicles pass and a canter truck stops with a lot of noise, and the driver says sorry about the noise, but the brakes are okay.. a cheerful young joiner who is taking wood to turn and who says that work is good, he manages with what he has and you think of how the acts of kindness sometimes come full circle when you least expect them to..

• the hire car man going to Berbice who said he driving slow because there is a baby in the car - young baby and we adjust the windows accordingly so that the breeze dont blow on the baby. The man talks.. he was a seaman, been to many countries.. he crosses the Berbice Bridge he talks of how he worked on this river for two weeks and then sailed to Ivory Coast and then came back to Suriname .. he talks and you know he misses the seaman life . He admits driving is not his thing but he is older now and his wife stole his money and went away to America and his other wife now he does not have a joint account with and he monitors her.  But as we cross the Berbice Bridge, he  goes over to the right hand side of the Bridge so that the mother of the Baby could throw coins in the river because the Baby's hair has not been removed as yet and she has another month to go and the driver says that he has to respect her custom.

And at the end of the day of not earning money, a chance to look at this and listen to interesting conversations about how people work and look at Africa and wondering about when we will have those conversations about Guyana or maybe it is a good thing that nobody cares.