Woke up this morning– another beautiful morning. It’s our last full day here at La Mansión. Naomi made pancakes for breakfast. We topped them with mangos and bananas and pineapple. After breakfast was cleaned up I sat around as I usually do, reading the news or watching last night’s late night talk shows on YouTube.
In the early afternoon Naomi made a guacamole dip to go with our taco chips. A couple of cold ‘Poker’ beers to go with that. I think it was shortly after our lunch that I saw the ‘Breaking News’ that Trump and Zelensky had had a major spat in front of the press. I turned on our TV. Both CNN and Al Jazeera were replaying the meeting at the White House. Already the US newspapers were calling it a most-shocking exchange, a disaster. Trump and Vance were berating Zelensky, blaming him for the war, and not letting him explain how it was the Russians who had been the instigators and aggressors. Topsy turvy. Every time you think you’ve seen it all, every time you think things can’t get more bizarre, that ‘very stable genius’ takes it down another notch.
It was unsettling. Especially for Naomi. When I suggested we go out for an ice cream cone she wasn’t in the mood for it. Said she didn’t even like ice cream! Topsy turvy. I eventually convinced her to come with me to the mall next door. She could go get herself a chocolate bar, and I’d get myself an ice cream cone.
At the mall Naomi headed upstairs to buy herself that chocolate bar and I went to the ice cream shop. There were two employees working at the counter. They appeared to be much too busy to have time to take care of a paying customer — me. One of them had a clipboard and was taking inventory. The other was cleaning one of the ice cream ‘pots’. I stood there for quite a while, pointing to the flavour of ice cream I wanted. They ignored me. I finally turned around and left. I would find my ice cream cone where someone would be happy for my business.
I headed to the supermarket at the other end of the mall. I found various ice cream treats in a cooler near the back of the store. I took out a ‘drumstick’ and took it to the checkout at the front of the store. There were three cashiers, all huddled at the only checkout that was open, looking at their phones. The one customer ahead of me had his small cart of groceries on the counter waiting to be scanned. I guess the first item needed a price check — and one of the three cashiers sauntered off with the item. And I stood there with my drumstick, waiting. I looked at two remaining cashiers, trying to catch their attention. Finally I spoke up: Could you just scan this melting ice cream cone and let me through? The guy ahead of me nodded his approval. But the cashier waved her hand at the groceries waiting to be scanned and shook her head. What? Really? I took my cone back to the freezer and left the store.
I don’t understand what’s the issue is. The Colombian people are friendly enough — but this business of super long, super slow line-ups, of people jumping the queue or butting in line, of store clerks ignoring customers like E.G Penner service people do — it’s starting to piss me off.
I finally opted for an ice coffee from the Juan Valdez coffee shop. Even here, although I was the only customer at the counter, all three workers on the other side of the counter ignored me. One was acting busy, but the other two were just standing there, looking at their phones. I had to ask for their attention, could they please take my order, etc.
By the time I got my coffee, Naomi had nearly finished her chocolate bar and had texted me “Where are you?” messages. She was sitting at a table in the central atrium of the mall. I joined her and told her the whole sad story of my ‘shopping’ misadventures. Instead of the customer doing the business a favour, here it seemed that the business was doing me the favour, allowing me to part with some of my money for their poor service. Topsy turvy.
And then I was lying on the floor beside our table. Huh? What happened? I gathered myself and struggled to get back up. The plastic chair I’d been sitting on had collapsed and I’d gone ‘topsy turvy’ to the ground. People at the tables around ours were all staring at me. One of them came running up with a different type of plastic chair — explaining that the chair I’d been on was a terrible design with very flimsy legs. I’m not sure what was more painful — my left shoulder or my pride.
We went home and spent another few hours reading and puzzling and wasting time. At around 7pm we went back to the mall for supper. Up in the food court, we enjoyed another pizza, our second this week. We were going to watch one of my downloaded movies, but once we got back home Naomi had a long phone call with one of her daughters and I started on the blog.
And that’s about it. Tomorrow morning we’ll pack up and head on down the road to our ‘new’ place.
No interesting photos today — so I’ll conclude with a couple of uninteresting ones: the complex that we’re in here at La Mansión has buildings that feature many angles so that our windows–of which we have many–give us a view in many directions.
