glaring across the road at me. I ran back in and phoned her to tell her that she is a week too early. Then as I went out again there was the second message, "1 of these days." There is always a good laugh to be had here when Sharon is around. She makes everyday special.
At Epiphany in Paraguay the children get so excited because the three "kings" come and they usually bring gifts. In fact the children leave shoes outside and also food for the camels. This morning I decided to aid the "Kings" a little. I went out to the market to buy some toys for the Kings to leave for Sam and Ben, when they return from their hols and also to take to Juan, another little neighbour who lives in the shack adjacent to our property. He is a lonely little boy, with no brothers and sisters. Recently he has been invited round to the Hickmott's, now that the boys can speak Spanish. He loves coming and he has been looking out everyday for their return from holidays. I managed to get some remote control cars for them all.
As I alighted from the bus in the market I was concentrating on not falling. (The buses often take off before people actually get off.) I looked at the ground and did not see a wooden bar at head level. I hit my head very hard almost knocking myself out. I was then part of the Good Samaritan story, except that no Samaritan stopped to help me. Many people just walked past, looking at me rather strangely. They probably thought that I was an addict. It took a few minutes for me to be able to walk away, with a thumping headache. When I arrived home Sharon came over with ice for my head. Now I feel much better.
In Paraguay there is no natural gas for cookers so we have to use calor gas. (The bottles sre kept in the house right next to the cooker!!!) The ovens have two temperatures, "On" and "Off". Mine is eight years old and recently it has not been getting hot enough. It was time for an overhall.
I have learned from Mags' and Gwen's experiences never to let a man near the cooker to dismantle it. They wreck cookers. Last year I did it myself, successfully but very slowly. It has a strange contraption that holds the shelves when one opens the door. This all had to be taken apart to reach the gas jets. Thank goodness that I do not swear or the air would have been blue. It took me almost a day, half of which was spent working out how to get it back together.
Now it was time to attack it again. I had been putting it off. Amazingly everything went smoothly this time and it only took me an hour, including a good clean of all the parts. I am quite proud of my eight year old cooker. It is up to Army standards of cleanliness and looks quite new, apart from where paint is peeling off with age. I now need people to come home so that I can bake a cake and see if my efforts have been rewarded.
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