I really should have been at home preparing a presentation for Uni, but my mum had already promised my little brother and sister that I'd take them for me. What harm is another night of labouring away at the computer with no sort of sleep, R.E.M. or otherwise, going to do? We ran around the fair just looking at everything, argued about children not straying too far, stood around the candy floss machine waiting for little webs of diabetes inducing floss to float by, etc. Naty and Andy got to go on a couple of rides, and play a few dodgy luck games. I think thy had a good time, and so did William. It was his first fair and he got to walk around a bit too and get dazzled by all the lights. Oh I nearly forgot, there was a stand from the local zoo as well and we got to pet a baby camel and a python. William's favourite was a puma in a cage though, he got all excited and started bouncing up and down and schreeching at the kitty, who seemed absolutely nonplused.
While we were walking around I spotted a fortune teller, so of course I had to go see what the canary had in store for me. No, that's not a typo, a bird told me my fortune. People carry them around in cute, colorful, little, wooden cages nailed to a board with a stick for support and a little box full of folded up printed fortunes. The little bird pops out as soon as the door is opened and picks a fortune, and sometimes they'll do a little routine as well. They're trained to pull little toy cars, ring little bells, chug back little toy cups and pick up little hats. It was one of my favourite things about going to an art market with my mom and aunt when I was younger, and I wanted William to have a look. He was mesmerized by the birds, even though they didn't do a show. My fortune read:
FORTUNE STAR
SPECIAL
Your love is corresponded,
the person that you love only thinks about you day and night,
don't stop loving them intensely for they will give you the
keys with which you will open the road to happiness,
you must be faithfull to them since shattering their affection
would be betraying your own heart.
I have more to tell you...
It should have really read something more like: "You're about to get robbed!" The fortune teller said there were three boys deeply in love with me and that I had to choose one of them, the one I loved the most. But I should be careful, because there is a girl who is envious of me and she was getting in the way of my happiness. If I wanted to know which boy to pick, and how to get rid of the green goblin, I had to buy 9 other little fortune papers for 250 pesos. That's roughly 25 dollars, which is roughly 12.50 pounds sterling. I told him I had enough with the first fortune and wanted to enjoy the mystery of not kowing. "Suit yourself" he said, and charged me 50 pesos for the priviledge, which is about 5 dollars, which itself is about 2.50 pounds. It might not seem like much, but you can have a small meal with that amount here, and I thought it was a bit steep, but I payed up anyways.
You see, I hate arguing about prices, and I'd already broken the two cardinal rules of aquiring goods and services at a fair:
1) Never ask "How much do I owe you?". If you do you're giving them an open invitation to set a high price.
2) Always look around before buying that way you know what the going price for things is. I later found out everyone else was charging 10 pesos for the fortune telling, which is about a dollar, or 50 pence for you Limeys.
In any case I wasn't too miffed, and I hope the old man put the money to good use.
We rounded things up with vanilla ice lollies, much more pleasant that the rounding up I must go do know, involving putting mole in the fridge, washing a pair of socks for William, cleaning his shoes, and cutting his nails. I've got the flu to boot and its already 12:13 am...
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