Communication Breakdown

Why is it that on the morning I can sleep in I’m wide awake at five thirty? No problem, I feel refreshed with no major aches or pains and the grumpy mood of yesterday has passed. After some ABC news I have a great breakfast and head off to Anne’s café for some fruit salad with yogurt and coffee to get some reading done. I storm through some chapters, a great read about reading and Nick Hornby has given me quite a list of books I wish to get through that should keep my free time fruitful for a number of months.  

Anne suiting up for a ride in the rain.

I give in to the urge for a bagel and head to the Coffee Bean, one good reason to go there now is because after two coffees and a pineapple juice – the Coffee Bean has the cleanest toilets in District One, no I haven’t seen them all but they are really spotless. Another good reason to go there is that it is non-smoking which forces me to have some time off the death sticks.

It is midday now and I head back to the hotel to peruse tonight’s class material and possibly have a nap as well as do a little research about Vung Tau for my getaway tomorrow, I knew I had heard that name somewhere – Redgum – I Was Only Nineteen………….  

From Vung Tau riding Chinooks to the dust at Nui Dat,
I'd been in and out of choppers now for months.  

After looking over the material for school I put my head down and get close to dozing off with some wonderfully majestic, sporadic thunder and rain as a peaceful soundtrack when the plumber starts. He is here to fix the water in my old room but the banging is three floors up and not too bad. Then my phone rings, it is Tessie, she has been trying to call Gareth and he is not picking up so would like me to try him, no answer so I send him a TXT to call her. Back to lying down and the plumber for some reason has now started in the hotel kitchen, the room under me, apparently I’m not meant to get any rest this afternoon. 

It’s raining gently outside so I just go to the end of the lane and try a French restaurant ten steps down the street, I order an ice coffee and look at the menu – rookie – always look at the prices first! A burger and a beer or coffee at most places is about four dollars. The most basic burger they have here is five dollars by itself. I know it seems petty and I’m not really worried about the two or three extra dollars this meal will cost me but at the same time I don’t like to support these kinds of places. After looking over the menu I decide I’m not really in the mood for a ten dollar steak and although it’s three in the afternoon the all day breakfast sounds pretty good and I get that with my coffee for six dollars. I know it is passé to write about food but it is the best breakfast I have had for months! Sunnyside up eggs, bacon, sausage, salad, soft fresh French bread and fried potato cubes. 

The plumber must have finished his banging back at the hotel by now so I try again for sleep, I get some but I’m woken up by Gareth returning my call - dude! I got you an interview, stop bothering me and just call her!! 

With the precision of a ball bearing in a cluster bomb Wah gets me to school with enough time for a coffee at Joo’s shop before class. Joo and I are enjoying trying to communicate and tonight we go through each others ages and that of her son and daughter who is twenty eight, I suspect she has ulterior motives? 

Joo

Lisa, Cherry, Rosie, Fatman

Will Smith, Kevin, Ken, Jessie

This class is fun, I have had them twice before but tonight they are lethargic so I make them stand up and jump around, ever the task master. All the usual things go wrong, I have the wrong CD and it takes three attempts to elicit the correct one from the office. The class say “YES” when I ask if they are bored so I ask them what they would prefer to do - so we just play word games for most of the class. Tessie busts my balls about using the wrong roster folder and it’s not until I’m halfway home that I remember - she gave it to me! Not to worry, I’m off to the beach tomorrow and I’m not back at school until the weekend.

Back at the Blue River the foyer is full of mostly large, Malaysian Muslim women chattering on with a combined palaver equal to any rock concert I have been to who have just arrived, I roll my eyes to poor Mun who is going to have to carry all their suitcases up the stairs to their rooms, poor guy. I go to Dung café as usual for dinner and beer after which I am still peckish so I go to Annes and order a small entrée. About half an hour later I am wondering where the food is…………turns out there was some sort of communication breakdown and there is no food coming and everyone has been twiddling their thumbs wondering why I am still sitting there, this wouldn’t have happened if Anne were still at work, Argh!