A couple of months ago, while my parents and brother were here, the whole family went shopping at the market. Brady was looking for that useful souvenir that he could still carry on his travels, Mum and Dad were browsing and Marie ended up finding a necklace she liked. It looked African to me, but it was probably Tibetan. It had a big black and white swirl in the centre hanging from black beads. I told her to get if she liked it.
In our own little comic mixup, while we were going back and forth considering the extravagant $10 purchase, Mum secretly bought it, so we ended up with two. But that’s not the point of this story.
As she bought it, Marie looked at me and said that I should feel free to buy something nice when I found it too. The problem is that I haven’t found much that jumps out at me. The only souvenir that I wanted was an antique stamp to make prayer flags and Marie’s parents gave us a beautiful one with coral stones around the border when they left. Otherwise, the things that I want are related to my stereo or PC. Not the sort of things you buy when living in a developing country and are trying to start up a business. Or books, but they’re hard to find.
Then today, on my way back from cycling to BBS Tower, I stopped off to get some rice at Shop No 7 (no idea where the name comes from) and was browsing the isles when I found….. Weetabix! After 7 years in Japan and Belgium, the English breakfast cereal has come to replace what I’ve had since I was eating solids. At $10 a box of 24, I’m not going to have them every day, but I think I’ve found a treat for special occasions.