veggie heaven

Hello again my faithful congregation, I trust you are all well and the sun is shining in your world, wherever it may be.

As you can see from the title and the first line your humble scribe and soothsayer is in a good mood this hot, sweaty and frankly, smelly evening (I need a shower).

Yesterday, I regaled you with the workings of the household and extolled the virtues of the cook who had created a delightful soup and veggie bake. This evening after another hard days graft (6am to 5pm) and fasting, I come home, open the fridge and lo; ALL the dishes are veggie. Now this has gone down a storm with yours truly, but my carnivorous buddies are slightly on the down side of underwhelmed. We have veggie soup, veggie pizza, veggie lasagne and salad. Oh joy, Oh joy, there is a GOD!!!. (Sorry God, I am sure you have more important thing to worry about than our fridge).

Talking of more important things, how about that trip to a minefield you promised us days ago, I hear you cry (you see, I am even hearing voices now!!!). So I shall continue, for those who are keeping up, you will remember I described the village in "A Week In The Life" so I wil not bore you again. We drove out to the village along a track. When I say track I simply mean that in the past people had picked a route across the ground avoiding the biggest lumps, bumps and dips. In was a very uncomfortable journey in a 4 ton land rover. It was during this jpourney we were discussing what a great mountain bike route it would make (Full suspension, obviously), more fun, more comfortable and probably quite a bit quicker. Anyway, I digress. A minefield is a piece of land that is suspected (with good reason) of having landmines. The areas mined are usualy known to the local people as they saw them laid and they have lost people and livestock, so they generally will know the areas to check. This may mean a single or double row of mines are somewhere in a field or across a gulley or round a hilltop where there was a gun post, but no-one is sure so everyone stays away and field does not get ploughed, the shepherd cannot take his flock on the hill etc. The minefield is a weird place. The deminers work on their knees with a metal detector and inch forward in a 1 metre wide corridor. As soon as they detect metal they have to go back 10cms and then dig down. Once down to 15cms they then begin to dig slowly forward to come to the mine from the side. If you touch the top in any way, it will explode. Once they have uncovered the side of the mine, it is identified then destroyed in situ. Usually the metal detector reading will just be a piece of metal, or an old bullet etc, but sometimes! While we were there for just about 2 hours, 5 mines were found and exploded all within 500 yards of the houses . In the background you could hear the children playing in the school, soon they will be able to play in the fields around their homes. The minefield is marked by stones painted half red and half white, NEVER walk on the red side of the stones, this is uncleared. Wherever a mine is found a green stone is put in the place it was found to show where the mines were laid and tr to establish a pattern.

So to try to put it into a Western context this is what happens. Our country is invaded and the town we live in is the front line of a battle. We leave and head to family and friends somewhere else in the country. Eventually after 3 or 4 years we come home. The people in our street who stayed through it tell us that our street was a front line and mines were laid. We know we can walk alng the path into our front door, but can we go in the garden, can we cut the grass, can we deviate of any path that has not been trodden by someone else. Where can I take the dog for a walk. What about the park, or around the pond. Then you hear someone has been blown up in the next street even though "peace" has apparently come. This is how the Afghans have lived now since the fall of the Taleban. Many of the mines date back to the Soviet invasion in the 1980's. Thats a long time to live in fear of the very ground you walk on.

Might sneak downstairs for another look at the goodies in the fridge, Oh joy.

Take care.