Sunday 21 October Day 142

Friday 19 October Day 141

Wescot hassling me. I've sorted Skype out, at least, so I’ll ring them at 1pm when they wake up. And we're having a Bonnevaux first anniversary celebratory meditate at 5pm.

I've just noticed - I've made 301 blog posts since I started this. And also, that I passed the one year mark (not counting slip ups) the day I said goodbye to S. And didn't give it a thought - other things on my mind I suppose . . .

and I thought last night Susan, Anne, Susanne. S didn't seem to get it (my reference to nicknames may have distracted her)

Friday night / Saturday

calling S Binky. talking to her on the phone. trying to upload my photos to facebook.

Talking to Hattrick. I left a long recorded message / podcast - she left a reply which sounded awkward, as if she was leaving a voicemail (which I suppose she was, really) and not wanting to forget any important bits - clearly my ability to talk to a machine in a stream of consciousness is not that common - why do people feel so self conscious about it? Felicity’s podcast was brilliant - as nice to listen to as my own - maybe it’s genetic - but she didn't like doing it. And B just won't, period. But it's like having the talking stone - I have the stone, you can't interrupt or contradict or say anything until I've finished. Lovely.

Booked flight to Basel. Said ‘lets go’ to Aden, which set him off again. Aden about our "issues" this morning. A very long painful and at times angry conversation. He said some terrible things about me which are so different from the way I actually feel I started to lose my grip on ‘reality’ - maybe I really am a total turd - criticizing him, interrupting, interrogating, talking down to him - or it’s 35 year’s accumulated resentment of me never being satisfied with him - which was a very long time ago. I think it helped both of us. We didn’t lose it, and we really did give each other a hug at the end of it all (after about 2 hours).

Aden went to the gym. I stayed home, meditating and saying the office and emailing (Bonnevaux mainly)

Excellent meal in the evening at the West Lake Station / Tay Ho Bar - delicious steak and chips. Met up with Khalid from British Somalia via Deptford, Aden’s upstairs neighbour. A brewer, now teaching English. Been here a year, with his American wife, who’s taking a year off (and spending all his money). Talked until midnight, then i walked home alone.

Sunday

“since we can't ever be 'caught' up, and since impatience is something to watch for, and since doing things slowly and under the wolfie radar is how progress is made ... then yeah, that's what i'm doing. decided. thanks for helping me confirm that!”

From Belle’s blog today, Sunday. 

Think I’ll go to mass at 9:15 and maybe visit Uncle Ho’s mausoleum afterwards.

It’s two weeks since I left Basel. A very hot sunny day.

not Notre Dame

not where he wished to be buried

not where he actually lived

cool tat

Ho's brother, gardening - Co Lao

Temple - Co Lao

BBQed duck and beer for 6 - €12

Nice mass at the Cathedral, lovely singing, everyone made very restrained bows for the peace. Rammed - standing at the back. I got a seat near the front, behind a pillar. I think I was the only gaijin there. Funny how like the ancestor temples / pagodas the church felt.

Then found my way to the Mausoleum. Had a breakfast baguette on the payment, bought a conical hat, walked around Ho Chi Minh himself - very impressive and dignified, guards very smart and strict, a very long walk through a beautiful garden, last in line, then drove back along the lakeside and found my way home very easily. I thought ‘that looks familiar, I’ll turn down there’ and there I was at the front gate.

Uploaded Viet photos to date.

Going to the chilli festival with Aden. 1 pm.

Came home about 3pm thinking a shower and a kip would be nice, only Aden said as I sat there with a beer in my towel, 'let's be off, we're going to eat duck, see the countryside and the sunset, and look at some old temples' in the ancient Viet capital (as in about 300 BC - Co Lao, I think). So I got dressed and we went out to Guy's house, two brits, from Halifax and Wolverhampton, with very nice and pretty Viet girlfriends - Van and Phoung, and a dog and two puppies, who came with us for the trip. They have both been here for several years. Like the climate, apparently. A nice house with a garden, full of sand. Guy has some desert fantasy. I said he should add rocks and rake it every morning. Co Lao was lovely, very close to the city, but completely rural. We drank tea by a lake and inspected a very beautiful old temple and then went to eat duck and greens at a roadside BBQ. Delicious. Cost us €2 each, including beers. Back to Guy's for delicious pudding, mango with chilli and something sweet / vinegary, ice creams, fresh pomegranates - Van had peeled about 4 into a bowl. Very warm, sticky, tropical. Aden and I left about 9 for an early night.