4G 2023 03 09

 Prepare? For what? Who? Why?

A walk from Shiro Meda across to Hamer Nohe,

As you can see they enjoy their church here.

I am not sure what Hamer Nohe means. I thought,

From listening that it was something like

"In hope of Mercy" which seemed a very church-like

Name, but Google can only find "hammer foot"

Which might be what the monks had when they found the place and stopped for a rest.

When I looked back the way I had come along the road

I could see a light in the distance and I fancy

That it was the cafe where I took the video I showed you a couple of weeks ago.

I got a bus back because dark was coming, it was red.

It is easier to find a way home when you know

Streets and places around you.

One should always watch out though,

you may be surprised by a polite greeting, or a full moon rising.

Fabulous to see and lost this evening in

The storm clouds and rain. Plenty

Of dark when there is no power,

A full moon would have been useful.

Hooooooowwwwwllllllllll :-)

4G 2023 03 02

 Tally ho! Up and over folks.

Settling into the routine of normalcy.

Wait! Isn't normalcy implied by routine?

Error! Circular reference detected.

Now how do we explain the change in tenor from the philosophy of yesterday to what is happening to us today?

Telling of the normal makes it real.

If this is your dream or someone else's dream,

It is real enough to describe and that is good enough for me.

Each day contains enough of what I need.

Interesting work, nutritious (it feeds the body and keeps it working) food.

I get paid enough to meet my bills.

I have a beautiful, growing family.

I wake with the sun each day, eat, prepare.

4G 2023 03 01

 You will find this question asked,

In many forms,

By learnéd men and women.

By people who pretend

And teens who are growing.

"How do I know that I am real?"

Well? How do you?

Can you tell me something,

Anything, to prove that we are not

Somebody else's dreams?

Is Mark Dale still dreaming

Of the conscious society?

Conscious means both alive and thinking.

Why would I ask you a big question like this?

(I can tell your mom is very worried at this point)

In your next few years technology

(things that we do to change the real world

from something that gives us problems

to something that we believe will make us happy)

Will give you toys and tell you

"this is alive", "this is real".

You will be in charge of helping

Old people like me and other people

Who can not think so clearly.

You will help them to see if mankind

Really has made a new life. A toy that lives.

Ask your toys if they are alive?

Crazy GK, I know.

We are all the luckiest people because we breathe.

Some of us are happy, some of us are sad.

Some of us have problems,

Some of us make our own problems.

The difference? Ask Atlas, not Jeeves,

When you find your fulcrum (what you balance your spoon on to flick food across the dinner table at mommy)

You will move the earth.

4G 2023 02 28

It has been some days this time.

Passages of hours and miles.

When you work out the round about

Clock that goes with our round about world

You will find me four hours ahead.

My work time is three hours ahead,

But play time is four.

I have walked in the streets here too,

This time my streets are at sea level with

The mountains all around.

My work place is in mountains much bigger than you see here.

I have been here before and know a little.

I walk to a mall and find what is there.

Many shops, lots of people, and a few gems.

There are real gems in the jewellery shops,

They cost more than I earn in a year.

The gems that I am talking about are the odd places,

Sometimes out of the main routes and

Sometimes 'hidden in plain view'.

Last time I was here I found bonbons,

Their sign has the name spelled without capitals.

Bonbon is French for sweet.

They sell much more than sweets.

Today I had a Japanese green tea drink,

served by a Filipina,

In a cafe with a French name, to an Englishman (not in New York – ask your mom!), in Muscat.

We were all happy with the transaction (it is a fancy word for a 'deal' or a 'sale').

Yesterday and today I have been getting a little tlc on: my hair, my face, my nails. Fine tuning in readiness for the return to work at the end of this week.

You should look up the history of Oman, not so long ago it had an empire of trading from India to East Africa. It has mountains and desert, rocky sea coast and dramatic wadis. Ask Uncle Crip and Aunty Flo.

While I have been on the edge of the desert,

Dave has been to the lake.

Mystadot grows . . .

Tomorrow night I will have to go.

It is good to visit places I like and know,

In my break with Sencha Zen.

My real time, work is an adventure to do.

4G 2023 02 23

 Today I took the bus to Shiro Meda again, tomorrow (February 24^th) is the feast day for Kidane Mehret (Covenant of Mercy) celebrating the amazing Mary.

The streets were mostly full of church dressed ladies along with a few children and men. The churches were filling and houses were feasting.

I walked down a back track from the main road, behind the American Embassy, and into a public woods area and gardens. A long time ago Emperor Haile Selassie (Haile is pronounced like your 'highly') and his wife, Menen Asfaw, had a retreat there.

Now it is looked after as a gardens and public area. Four hundred metres from a nose to tail jam and I find a fresh, natural smell in my nose. Along with the foliage (leaves and stuff growing on branches!) generally and the eucalyptus specifically there was the magic of roasting coffee beans.

Two cups, one for each hand you might say! One with sugar, one without. Here, most people have a couple of heaped spoons of sugar in a coffee cup that you would know as an espresso cup.

The coffee is so good it seems a shame to lose the freshness and taste.

Looking around reminds me of the gardens at the Purlieu. Emperor

Haile Selassie and Menen Asfaw had a little more hillside than nanny and grandpa (not me, the original) so there are more terraces.

By the way, another Emperor's wife gave this city its name, Empress Taitu. If you look it up you can find the Emperor's name if you want. I have ignored him, everywhere you will see his name first, before Taitu.

He is famous but in our story she is much more important. He was a ruler, she named the city where I am. I wonder what it would have been called without her. Or, would there have been a city at all?

Hmm . . . said Pooh.

Back down the hill on the bus, a yellow and red one. Anbessa. On a normal day I would stand with no room to move. Today, no room to breathe!

A glass of water and a quiet write, all calm here now. Churches will ring out and chant through the night while most people sleep for their day tomorrow. Me too, good night.

4G 2023 02 22

Two more days until we can take a break.

I was very much hoping to come and see you and Teddy.

I checked the times and the details and could not,

Find a sensible way.

I will wait another few weeks,

Then I can come for a week,

Not just a couple of days.

Coffee is excellent, and sometimes the view matches it.

This area stretches from Entoto, across Shiro Meda to Ferensay and down towards Siddis Kilo and the main city.

Recently my friend has been trying to use up some of his food.

He likes things that he can not buy here.

So, he brings them from outside.

We have been eating sausage, chips, and beans.

A great meal for feeling good I find.

He is leaving us soon and hoping for another job in somewhere even sunnier than here. Near the sea too.

It is being the school show this week.

I saw it this afternoon.

Very musical!

Do you have any shows at your school?

Tomorrow we make a lesson for the people who work.

Those in charge will teach us how to

Do their job.

To be in charge.

First step I think is to have the respect of the people who work for you.

Next week there is a celebration of a famous victory.

This month is called Yekatit and that means 'victory'.

Do you remember I told you about the people from Italy?

In a place called Adwa the people from Italy were told to go away and not come back.

The end . . . for today.

4G 2023 02 18

 At the moment here there is a big meeting. It is an international conference but maybe the words are too big?

People who are treated as important have come to visit. The people they represent pay for them. They stay at hotels that cost lots of money. They eat food that does not grow here. They travel to meetings in cars that are not made here. The roads are closed so they do not have to be too close to the real city or the real people.

Their meetings are supposed to help the real people they never see.

So, that is my view.

I had been given warnings from the local airline about traffic delays. I decided though to go into the centre for some things because it was early and nice outside.

On the way back my bus caught the important people going to their meetings. Of course I do not mean that the important people came on the bus. No.

Ladies and gentlemen in many uniforms and vehicles, all with blue lights on top like your mom has at work. They were directing traffic across junctions and up side roads. To get back to my place we went on a trip around the city. A bit like going to see Nanna but being directed by way of Aunty Kerry's house to get there.

No photos for this story but I caught a 31 there and nearly a 55 back but I did not quite get on, so another 31 back.