26th February

Tuesday 26^th February

Claire, Stuart, Jemima and Felix went to Bicheno for the weekend, to have a lovely time and, for two of them, to get bitten by jackjumpers.  Oh OUCH!! 

The bites were very unpleasant but neither of them seemed to have an allergic reaction, which is all very good.  However Felix is very allergic to many things, so Claire dutifully took him to the Bicheno Pharmacy, where she met…Superhero Homer, who had been so very helpful to Jeff when he injured his calf in January.  I said, he is wonderful, isn’t he, and Claire said, Wonderful but…ALARMING! 

Apparently he told her to Bring The Child into the pharmacy with no delay, while he painted a vivid word picture of swollen tongues, pulsating poison, festering skin for both of them if medical (or pharmaceutical) attention were not administered promptly.  Claire showed the whites of her eyes as she imagined herself, laid out on the floor of the Bicheno Pharmacy, having anti-jackjumper medication administered, heroically, by Homer… She decided the bites weren’t really all that painful and that she certainly wasn’t developing any sort of allergy.  And neither was Felix!

Saigon Day 2008

In the morning Pete and I walked quite a long way to the market.  Kerry and Rina had other things to do, nowhere near as much fun - going to the dentist, and the optometrist, for example.  It was very hot, probably in the mid-30s, but it was so interesting, walking through the unfamiliar (to me) streets, I didn’t really notice.  We spent a bit of time in the Ben Thanh market, which is huge and bustling.  Pete had been there before, and took me to meet a girl who sells T-shirts etc, Kuu.  She remembered him very well from last year, and knew exactly what he had bought, how much he had spent.  She told me that Pete was legendary in his negotiating abilities… He and Max Harmsen have a lot in common!  We forged our way through the crowd to a juice stall and had delicious tall iced mango drinks. 

Pete asked if I wanted to go to the War Museum, and I said MAYBE, but not just yet… I actually know that war is hell, and that the Vietnam War (they call it the American War there) was even more hell.  So I said, Maybe we could just stroll around a bit, before siesta time?  We went to one of the big parks, which was lovely.  All of the parks we saw in Hanoi and Saigon were full of topiary; very labour intensive, and very attractive.  As we were walking along admiring manicured bushes, an old woman came and grabbed me by the arm, “Madame, come with me!”  She had a basket full of…nail polish!!  How could I resist?  We had time to spare so I said OK, go for it!  She whipped out a little bowl, poured some water in it, and soon had my toe nails painted a particularly bright shade of pink.  Next - fingers.  Pete and I had a great time, because all of this activity attracted onlookers.  A couple of lovely young students came to practise their English; more joined them; some young men came to observe from a few metres away - or maybe they were observing the student girls…it was all very sociable and pleasant.  It only cost a dollar or two, and my manicurist was thrilled to bits.  As we were walking through the park, another old woman with a basket over her arm came up to me and hissed, “Next time see me!  Madame no good!” with a malevolent look over her shoulder towards my beautician.  Stiff competition, in the park!