Dear Diary

Gautam == The game of cricket has a great deal to answer for. If Brits were meant to play at this time of year, Lords would be bathed in comfortable warm sunlight all day long.

Dear Diary,
I do not live such a risky life; although, I do enjoy reading about the adventures of others.

Dear Diary
Yesterday I finally got back to the gym after many days absense. Felt better. Later went to visit Maritza, her husband and Sandra. They invited me to lunch at Lenos Al Carbon. That was a surprise. Can't recall being treated here before. Later my fiance came by. She was still recovering from my having damaged so many of the wedding invitation envelopes with my awful scrawl (she was sitting next to me saying "be careful! be careful!" so of course I messed up). Problem is she never learned to write in longhand so she later took the rest to her mother who did an acceptable job.

We've been looking at stoves and turns out there is a store just a few blocks away that was offering a discount on the one we were interested in so we walked down the street and placed the order. It's a propane stove since my house doesn't have natural gas service. We'll have to have a small gas cylinder in the kitchen but that's customary here and they make attractive cloth covers to disguise them. One day a week the gas truck comes by ringing it's bell. That's your signal to rush out side and flag it down when you're low. The stove was cheaper than the others at $129.13 at todays exchange rate. oddly you can't find a stove here with a broiler. Too bad. I'm not much into baked fish.

DD,

Arrived in Florida to join my husband who had already come down almost a month agol. Because of my accident with the unwieldly parking meter, I was delayed in Connecticut for much longer than I had planned. It is so good to be here and to be with my husband again.

Mapleleaf, could you and Mrs. Mapleleaf come to the Florida gathering? Urs and BigDice are coming from Germany, Phoenix, Joanne, Misti, Rae, Roger, ( I'm probably missing someone--senior moment) oh I'm the one left out Most of us will be there for 3 or 4 days starting around April 5. Georgia isn't too far away. It would be great to meet you and all the other a2kers.

Pitter, it is fascinating to read your account of life in Columbia. You are a brave and adventurous man.

As my son says, "I will check the schedule with the boss."

My Diary
Diane-Thanks for your comment and glad you enjoy the stories. Here's another contribution to the "My Diary" string:

News flash: Day before yesterday two businessmen and sports scouts, an American and a Mexican were kidnapped at gunpoint from their hotel in south Cali. It wasn't named but I wonder if it was the Pacifica Royal a very elegant one down in Ciudad Jardin, the richest barrio in Cali. Yesterday the kidnappers and their victims were stopped at a police roadblock on their way out of town and the two were freed. The guys who took them were common criminals but I wonder if they were on their way to sell them to the FARC guerrillas. Ugh!

The visit to DAS (Department of Administrative Security or secret police) to renew my cedula didn't go so well. I got there a half hour before they opened at 8am and chatted with a nice Korean guy while waiting. His family live in Bogota, the capital but he's in this city importing and selling clothes from Korea. Anyhow he was first in line and I was second. Behind me was another American who wasn't carrying any documents. It seems he planned to "talk" to somebody in the upper echelon so as to "streamline" the process. Wonder if it worked. We all got in and as I sat next to my Korean friend an agent came up and asked me if I had this, that, and the other thing. I only had the "this". Turns out the requirements here are quite different from those published on the internet by DAS in the capital. Fine. So I will go out and get another thousand fotocopies of my various documents, a foto of yet a different size and try again tomorrow. I see that this plus the annual trek to the capital for the visa (the trip by bus is ten hours) is going to be quite a chore for the next four years untill I receive resident status.

Dear Diary,

Today we got to see the new office building. Wow, impressive. And I am so glad I don't have to work in there. No privacy at all. Everything is automatic - lights, heat, windows. It is all open. Looks neat - to look at ;-)

Tonight I'll go to the musical with Uschi. A fun evening! But first I have to find some food for dinner.

urs, Your excitement is noticed by all of us - across the world. Have a GREAT TIME. c.i.

Pitter, I must admit that I am curious as to your motivation for living in Columbia. I know you mentioned the dollar value, but I sense you may not be the average bear. Please tell us a little bit about what makes you tick and the rationale behind your decision to move to Columbia.

Good q, Mapleleaf. Along with the stronger dollar, the living standards has to be sacrificed a bit. I'm not sure where the 'positive' tradeoff point is, but I'm sure it's different for different folks. c.i.

Hello Mapleleaf-Why Colombia? Well I came down for the first time in 1996 to visit a friend, became enamored with the place and kept coming back to see more of it. Then I retired a couple of years ago and a year ago met a calena (woman from Cali) on one of my trips and now we will marry shortly. Obviously she is a major draw. In the states my good friends are widely dispersed and I have only a few living relatives there. Moving on with my life following retirement I just find there is more for me here now than up there. And it's paradise for a nature lover. There certainly is no denying the economic advantage for a pensioner and despite one weird experience with a dentist I don't find myself coming up short in any way so far except for certain areas I'd like to go visit being off limits. And prices are stunningly low for many things from my $130 a month three bedroom/two bathroom house in an upscale neighborhood with tree lined streets to a typical streetside restaurant plate lunch costing eighty-six cents.

Please share some more prices. Please describe your lady friend.

Now, now, mapleleaf!!!

I don't think Columbia will be on B's list of suitable places to visit!

Mmmmm...I might want to think about that.

Dear Diary

I am feeling good, but tired. Just returned home from a MASSIVE peace/anti-war rally in the centre of my city, Melbourne ... This was the first chance that we, as a community of this city, had had the opportunity to say what we thought: the exact opposite of what the Australian prime minister has been saying on our behalf. WE DON'T WANT A WAR WITH IRAQ!
It was one of the most congested, yet feel good rallies I have attended in ages ... It was wonderful to see so many young people, so many Muslims, so many representatives of all the different ethnic communities that live here. I have never seen a more united group of people ... & so few police!!! God, it felt good to say NO!

Way to go Olga !!!!

Gautum

Pitter, how very interesting. I, too, am looking forward to hearing more. My parents moved to Hungary after they retired. Initially only for economic reasons. Now they've been living there for more than two years and love it.

Msolga, sounds good! I am glad to know that Germans are not the only ones against this war even though some people make it sound that way.


Dear Diary,

We had a great time last night. Even though it ended with hot chocolate and discussing Uschi's problems with life, love, age... That's what you have friends for. But we will have to talk a lot more, I can tell you. She is in bad shape at the moment. I guess it's also the season. As soon as spring is here she will feel better. However, spring will come a month later to her town than to Balingen. Whyever did they move there???

And now - the weekend! I think I want a quiet Friday evening watching a movie and making myself some pasta. A glass of wine? Most definitely!

dear diary ...
habibi called me on the cell phone from the dunes. he said "happy valentine's day" - oh my god, I melted. he's taking me out to dinner.

I haven't been feeling very talkative lately. But that's DEFINITELY something to write about. They don't really DO Valentine's Day in Holland.

<waves at mapleleaf>

I didn't go anywhere. I was just watching TV instead of writing. <g>