Mandy’s first blog entry: 11am 29th April 2013 – pull up a chair and get comfy!

Manic Street Preachers! ……Manic, Street Preachers? or Manic Street, Preachers?

Are there male and female versions of Green Peppers (a silly question to those in the know or to anyone in Muller House who paid attention to the short grey haired semi-toothed teacher in the greenhouse at SBL in the early 70’s)

These are a few of the things I am thinking about as I listen to music and cook the veg we bought at the Souk yesterday. … Luckily I noticed a tiny hole in one of the Green Peppers and being me I cut it in half to make sure there was not an insect inside not expecting to find anything and to my horror it was full of blackish brown yucky stuff!! that i assume the insect had left behind!!! I couldn’t help but think that any other person would have just thrown it in the pot without checking….. Mesh Mesha cook the peppers whole (seeds, stalk and all) and sit the Chicken on them!!!! Yucky stuff would have been there waiting for the unsuspecting customer …..in the words of the shorter and still living of the two Ronnies…… I digress. The ’empty’ peppers are simmering nicely.

“Will the yellow birds in the cage on the balcony below us survive the heat again today without any shade?” This is Glen’s noble concern this morning as we slowly melt towards the midday heat. It seems cruel to keep them in the cage hanging precariously over the side of the balcony……cruel!!? Mmmm the mind is wondering back to those caged Rabbits, scrawny Hens and Pigeons yesterday in the Souk (sigh) sat there awaiting their fate, “buy ME!” “Take me home!” … A pet shop? No! A living butchers shop! ….the chopping block by their side (cringe).

Near by friendly butchers stand proudly by their sides of beef (?) with tails still attached and still covered in hair and strangely standing firm. No white coat and stripped hat in sight, instead a blood stained galabeya and a big friendly smile. I asked one middle-aged man if I could take a photo of his butchers shop (I use the term loosely) because, as i tried to explain to him, my Dad was a butcher in the UK….. i am not sure he understood, or cared for that matter…. but he was more than happy to hold me tightly, pressing the stains against my new top, as we posed for the photo amongst the ingredients of someone’s tea. (Not mine thank you very much!!)

 

So this blog? I have not yet done any research on how this should be approached……a diary of our thoughts and events of the day? An itinerary of places visited, times of busses caught , fares paid? ( by the way the produce below came to a total of £3.80!!! Bargin)

Yesterday we went on what turned out to be a wondrous Mystery Shopping Trip, (courtesy of white jeep tours (wink) thank you Sharon!) well who would have thought a trip to Dahar (local town) to buy such simple, but random things, could make for such a lovely day out… our lists, in our mind and on Caroline’s organised hand written list! complied… a bowl (white or grey -very important and very rare as bright pink, red or blue seem to be the in thing here!) a colander, screws, hooks, first aid box (void of all such items to aid when first having the need of the items), fruit, veg, mozzi bat, and getting a pair of glasses mended…. Need I mention the on going hunt for our balcony table!!?? Luckily there is no B & Q or Asda, (ding!) to spoil and shorten the experience. No road politeness or driving rules either to make our journey safe and boring! Which reminds me. ‘Excellent driving Sharon!’ Amazing how you un-parked the jeep between that Army truck, black car and mini bus despite the kind Egyptian man helping you by waving his arms about and grabbing the steering wheel!! You truly made threading that Camel through the eye of the needle look like a doddle!

So!! (Chris – wink! Did I always say ‘so’ as i started to ‘talk’ or only since you kindly pointed out that everyone now does it I wonder?) I am still very hot here cooking in the apartment in the midday heat. (I know I should do it at night but then we can’t have our windows open because of the mozzis, there is method in my madness) “have a cup of tea, that will cool you down” my Mum used to say this when hot after returning from shopping in town, well with that in mind I am cooking a curry for our tea tonight to eat in the soaring heat (smile). We have had salads (lettuce free versions) every day for the last two weeks so thought we would have a change seeing as Glen bought the tasty but ‘un-known’ spices in the Souk…. Talking of veg….don’t get me started on the size of the cabbages here. They are as big as a pumpkin! A large pumpkin! What is that about?….oh how they would laugh at ours, and as for our sprouts………

Here are a few more photos of our day out. Special thanks to Ray for his rescue from the garage 😉 and opportunity for me to take the perfectly balanced photo of the new Mosque by the harbour as we went around the roundabout! Never to be repeated.