In Which We’re (Semi) Sure That Eggs Are Eggs
on Zoe Page (Sierra Leone), 10/Nov/2010 19:12, 34 days ago
Yesterday afternoon the police called to say I had to go back in and‘speak to the boss’. Something tells me VSO has been on the phone... So I hitch a ride with Vasile and am there by 8.40am. By 8.45am I am texting her to tell her it’s done. This country is insane. What they apparently wanted was my assurance that I wasn’t going to sue the pants off them forfailing to arrest anyone following myoh so thoroughdescription. Such assurance, I’m sure we’ll all agree, would be impossible to give over the phone.I’m done before Choitram’s even opens, so I walk slowly through the market for ingredients for tonight, since Alex is coming to stay and we want to make something nice. I spend a record 3500 Le (55p) on bread, but do get 6 loaves for that, and one of them is a double. I also get 3 different shapes, which must almost count as a varied diet. In the supermarket they have moved the Dairy Milk, something I notice immediately even though I wasn’t planning to buy any today. What can I say? I clearly have a gift. I see a familiar flash of purple one shelf over, and wonder why it’s moved literally 30cm, so look back. OMG they’ve moved it to make room for....Milka! They’re now stocking the small Milka Daim bars, for 5000 Le (so 500 more than Dairy Milk, 1000 more than Terry’s Chocolate Orange). They’re also selling those hideous Crispy Bite caramel things for 6000 Le, and though I’m sure he’s shocked his best chocolate customer isn’t immediately snapping one up, the owner politely refrains from commenting. It will be interesting to see how long it takes them to get rid of them. Seriously, out of all the chocolate available, why would you pick those? They’re bad enough normally, but in this heat the chocolate will melt and the wafer will go soggy (ick), and as of today they’re the most expensive chocolate in the store.I walk home because I’m going to have to do it at some point, and there’s no time like the present. I stop to buy eggs for Alex and Vasile to have for breakfast. It’s not the simple shop it should be. The eggs here are bleached white, apparently Indian imports, and sold by the side of the road (occasionally sheltered from the sun by an umbrella if you’re very lucky). They sell them both raw and hard-boiled, so first you have to work out which are which, and then you have to shake each one to make sure there’s no half-formed chick inside. Then they’ll put your selection in a plastic bag (no cartons here) and you have to carry them home carefully. The good thing is, I’m so busy thinking about getting them home in one piece that I don’t have a second to think about anything else.I’m hot from the walk so get in the shower to rinse off my sheets, and then spend the day in and out of the sun, on and off the computer. Just before half five, Vasile texts to say Alex is not coming tonight now after all, which means we have too much food that needs eating. Shame...