Feels like coming back

[ailbhe]

My hips are rotten after a bus journey on Saturday - I woke up in pain anyway, and then on the bus there was a woman with crutches and her foot in plaster and a small girl to mind, and no-one else stood up, so I had to. But my life is getting back on track.

Today we actually had visitors I haven't managed to arrange to see for AGES. They came and played and it was lovely. And tomorrow I'm hoping to get to town to get Astrid's passport photo taken and the older two's feet measured and probably new shoes for Emer. And possibly possibly we will drop in somewhere to get them haircuts, but possibly not, also. I might just buy a scissors.

It's also possible that tomorrow we'll finally go to the new Chinese supermarket, I've been meaning to for ages, though my usual isn't-it-rude thing (well-honed by years of being photographed on Aran by American tourists) always slows me down. Gawping and showing a reasonable interest are very close.

And also tomorrow we hope to meet people in town.

And buy the kids more pants because they just plain don't have enough for going on holiday. Unless more show up tomorrow morning.

Comments

[sfred]

Sympathy to your hips. Mine had a similar standing-up-on-the-bus experience yesterday and are cross with me.
Hurray for visitors!

[pne]

years of being photographed on Aran by American tourists

Why'd they want to take pictures of you in particular?

"Picturesque exotic native"?

Or do they simply take pictures of anything that doesn't run away fast enough?

[ailbhe]

Aran gansey, bare feet, small child. Probably picturesque quaint native.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

yay update, and hoping you have good shoe-finding karma, and boo other people on the bus

And I hope you *do* go to the Chinese supermarket. It is, after all a business. And they surely need more than just Chinese custom to stay in the black? I've very, very rarely gotten the "what are you doing in here, people who look like you don't shop *here*, and oh dear I'm terrified that you'll ask me a question I won't be able to answer because you don't speak my native language" look, but for every one of those, I've had people happy that I was interested in their traditions.

[ai731.livejournal.com]

I agree. My best experience in an ethnic supermarket was the first time I made Kimchi (a kind of spicy Korean pickle made with cabbage). I researched recipes, carefully made a list of the ingredients I would need, and went to a local Korean supermarket. I agonized over my choices (how to choose between 6 different brands of seemingly-identical fermented fish sauce?) and took my selections to the cash. Whereupon the elderly Korean lady behind the counter asked "You are making Kimchi?" And I knew I'd bought the right things! And then she gave me a few recipe tips :)

[ailbhe]

I have no shopping list! But I might make one.

[ailbhe]

I think I'll go, or try to again (failed today), and just try to be more polite than the American tourists of my yoof.

[clarahippy.livejournal.com]

Definitely go to the Chinese supermarket, the ones here are fantastic places to shop!

[ailbhe]

What should I buy?!

[clarahippy.livejournal.com]

Ours sell giant bottles of soy sauce and massive bags of rice so thats good if you use a lot and have a way of carting it home. The veggies are excellent too, but our only nearby choices are supermarkets so we don't really have much to compare too. They also sell big bags of spices which are much better value than those little pots.

They also sell loads of nice asian sauces, I usually pick up nice sweet chilli stuff but I have friends who buy the premade marinades and like them, I don't get them cos I like to make my own marinades. I do get the Japanese curry stock but its a bit allergy-full, I can't remember if it has dairy but it does have nuts. In ours you can also get bean-curd skins (in a can) which you can fill with sushi rice (and anything else you like) to make inari-sushi.

[cat63.livejournal.com]

And tomorrow I'm hoping to get to town to get Astrid's passport photo taken

It seems a bit silly to me that they require a passport photo for a child of Astrid's age - surely at the rate babies grow and change it won't look much like her after a few weeks?

I can see why they want it for identification purposes of course, I just don't think it can be terribly effective really. But I suppose there's not much else they can do.

[rmc28]

Certainly my son stopped resembling his passport photo (taken at about a week old) very quickly. Still, I suppose the next one, which we will have to get next year, will last a bit longer before becoming ridiculous.

[cat63.livejournal.com]

I presume the prohibition on smiling must be waived for babies - you can't exactly explain to them what facial expressions the passport bods want :-)

[ailbhe]

I think it is, which is one reason I get them done by a photographer - I only want to pay for the one which works, and they'll retake them if the application is rejected.

[ailbhe]

Apparently they do things about proportions - distance between eyes relative to width of eyes, and things. I heard a long, convincing thing about it once on Radio 4 or somewhere.

I think this might just be the latest we've ever had an infant's passport photo done. I had no ambition to apply before the end of August, while the late-holiday ones are still all being rushed through...