The Retail Fix !

The retail fix.

We've just been for a walk to the market a block and a half away. We buy 4 carrots at 100 Tanzanian Shillings each, (about 10c ea), from a seller we haven't bought from before. Luckily between us we are able to communicate with a little English, a little Swahili and some sign language. As we wander we smile at those who catch our eye. Ladies adorn the edges of the unsealed road with their square metre or two of space to try and sell a few vegetables to those who pass by. We pass many but will we buy peas and from whom? Eventually we are lured by the seller of some fresher looking peas. 100 shillings for enough for the 2 of us for tea. She has made a sale. We try to communicate. They laugh, we laugh as we enjoy the transaction. Not often that you make a sale to a mzungu (white person). Now to find the children selling fried cakes of dough that vaguely resemble donuts. 100 shillings each. I buy from one of the girls and Graham from another. We say, "Asante sana" (thankyou very much) as we walk off with our donuts which have been hygienically placed in pieces of newspaper with a fork. We also need tomatoes. Our favourite saleswoman has provided us with good quality tomatoes often and so we visit her again. Her friends laugh as we try to communicate. Knowing that her tomatoes are 200 shillings for 4. We make our usual purchase and thank her, "Asante sana". As we wander the short distance back to Shukrani some schoolboys greet us. They are standard 7, ( year 7 primary school). We converse briefly with them in English and wonder whether we will be their topic for show and tell tomorrow. We wander the remaining distance along the potholed road. Chooks scratch around in the rubbish on the corner, bikes and people share the road unless a car or the occasional truck wants to get through. Another successful visit to the market.