I have’nt experienced Christmas outside the Dili environs since 2004 and I can’t even recall ever venturing out for Boxing Day* sales in the western world since Moses was sailing amongst the bullrushes.\u00a0 So why did I do it this time ?<\/p>\n
It was embarrassing.\u00a0 I bumped into people, tripped over imaginary and other tiny objects.\u00a0 I had lost all ability to negotiate crowds without retiring to the roadside gutter.\u00a0 I excused myself in department stores and knocked stuff off shelves.\u00a0 I had lost the devil required to negotiate the sales, the urge to buy something (or anything) as long as it was on special.\u00a0 And the one thing I bought, failed to work when I got it home.\u00a0 I even wore jeans that I had not worn in 3 years.\u00a0 The crutch hang down near my knees … and the belt didn’t have enough holes.\u00a0 Too much Dili good living had stripped off enough “condition” to reduce me to a waif-like state (compared to when I first arrived). I dared not venture out in my Dili shorts, t-shirt and sandals for fear of terrifying the well-dressed locals.<\/p>\n
I felt defeated.\u00a0 Would I have felt the same if I had negotiated the hordes (buying blue jeans) in Colmera.\u00a0 I don’t know.\u00a0 Did I really need to buy anything anyway ?\u00a0 Seems I am not the man to buy the world out of economic hard times … nor to be used as a role model for the fashion industry.<\/p>\n
And a tip for fellow bloggers, this time of year is murder for blog spam.\u00a0 The rate of inane, machine generated drivel comments has gone up 50 fold over the last 2 weeks.<\/p>\n
* For the uninitiated, Boxing Day is the day after Christmas Day renowned for huge cut-price sales, Test matches at the MCG and the odd horse race.\u00a0 All may involve drink to some degree.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have’nt experienced Christmas outside the Dili environs since 2004 and I can’t even recall ever venturing out for Boxing Day* sales in the western world since Moses was sailing amongst the bullrushes.\u00a0 So why did I do it this … Continue reading