Over a table filled with Ramadhan goodies, Noi is busy describing to Fi Fi and Fa Fa how she used to sell kueh along the corridors of the flats where she lived when she was a little girl, in primary school. There was a tune she used to sing about epok epok and goreng pisang and the like to attract custom and she has been regaling the girls with it. In turn they are making memories of this for themselves, reaching back to a world largely swept away. In turn I'm remembering stories Mum used to tell of working on the buses when I was a kid eating dinner. this is the way we connect with other worlds, sometimes strangely richer than our own.
I'm pleased to report that my back seems to be on the mend, though still painful enough to make me aware of the need to move extremely gingerly. I haven't been able to manage the bowing position when standing for prayers all day, but I was able to walk to the library this morning and drive up to Woodlands to pick up the girls this afternoon. We took them to Darul Arqam where I paid my zakat for this year.
At the library I returned The Sandman Companion (a fan book, I suppose, but, since I am a fan, very rewarding), The Far Side Gallery (cartoons - funny, very), The Road To Perdition (a sort of noirish gangster graphic novel - bleak, but easy to read) and a compilation of Krazy Kat comics from the 1930's (very fashionable among the intelligensia of the period, but did little for me, though I quite liked the style of drawing.) The common theme here being that everything was related to comics one way or another, and was easy to read. This was a good thing as the serious bit of my brain, or what's left of it, has been focused on The Ambassadors, and will remain so for at least another week at the pace at which I'm moving. The Pococks have arrived in Paris, Strether's mission having been, presumably, seen as a failure, and I'm enjoying the gentle comedy at their expense.
We're off to Arab Street in a little while to soak up the atmosphere and eat yet more goodies, so I'm going to miss the United game which has an early kick off.
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