Time Out For A Tea Break...

So there we were, laying in bed that night, and I turned toward Haddy and said ‘What happens now ?’ ‘What happens with what ?’
‘What happens with Mariama ?’
‘I don’t know… That’s the trouble…’
Silence.
‘Are you happy with what she wants to do ?’
‘Yes… But I know there will be problems…’

 What the hell ?

She isn’t going to change her mind in a month of Sunday’s so why not just forget it ?
Chalk it up to karma.
If it happens, it happens, and if it doesn’t, then…
Karma.
She has our total support and I think at some point she’s going to need it ?
It’s not just the whole of her society but her religion as well.
Female drummers are just not ‘done’.
The weight that could be brought to bear is astronomical but I still don’t see a problem ?
It’s her ambition for Chrissakes ?
Nobody has the right to get between a child and their ambition…
Can I finally switch off and go to sleep now, please ?

Blimey !
It’s morning… And we’ve run out of teabags.
A pit stop at the supermarkets and a quickie into the bank for some more cash are in order, I think ?
We’re going out for a meal at some point and hopefully the Chinese restaurant at Bakau is going to get the vote ?
I’m still lobbying just for a change from La Mer, but we’ll see ?
Right, bank first…
Stock up on ginger beer, Fanta, Vimto (foul muck, but the younger ones love it) and Coca-Cola, and…
Tea bags.
Which are on special offer in both establishments…
Ok, we’ll go for Liptons, it’s a recognisable name after all.
It’s funny how you do it ?
I just started reading the Liptons box…
And discovered something a little strange.
Ok, most of the print is in Arabic of some kind, but the bit that wasn’t was intriguing…
There on the box, down the right hand side of the top is a flash stating ‘Catering Pack’ and there on the bottom left of the top, is a diagonal flash stating, in English, ‘Not For Retail Sale’.

Oh dear…
It looks like we’ve just bought some dodgy gear ?
To whit, yer honour…
One box of Lipton’s Yellow Label Finest Blend Quality No 1 boxes of one hundred tea bags.
Catering packs go to hotels and prisons, even ships at sea, but one place they do not go is into the local supermarket to be bought by all and sundry…
And both supermarkets had piles of these boxes.
Pile ‘em high and sell ‘em cheap…
Especially if they’re knocked off, eh ?
Even the baby mini-mart at the top of the road is flogging them…
It seems after a bit of local investigation that the whole of the local Gambian grocery retail establishment has a bunch of these boxes to sell off ?

Tut tut !
Methinks a container went missing somewhere ?
(I hope Mr Lipton is reading this ?)
Oh well, they were cheaper than usual so I guess we all benefit, don’t we ?
Except for Lipton Tea and the Gambian economy, let’s say…
But thieves and retailers seem to benefit most of all.