my mum is staying with us, cause she had a wrist operation for carpal tunnel. at the same time, she had a ganglion (!) taken off her other wrist. so, now she has two wrists in bandages, one in a sling. yesterday i had to dry her after her bath. this is something i've never done, not even when she's been so sick after chemo, and any of the number of infections she's had following or during treatment. that was a first, and not nearly as hard as i might have thought it would be. i am learning i can be tender and caring and kind in ways i never thought possible for myself.
i took her to the dentist today. we had lunch at prahran market and saw gabriel gate with a box of fresh produce. why when i see a celeb are they of such minor proportions? sorry, gabriel, if you happen to google yourself and see this. i did enjoy your taste le tour recipes last month.
at the market, i had wonton soup and then mum said she'd shout us some bananas. i was very excited. we went to one of the stalls and carefully chose the best bananas. we got six of them and it cost $13+.
then the stall person had the fucking gumption to brag about how she can eat bananas whenever she wants, when she heard me saying politely and conversationally that it was such a treat for us to have bananas, and how excited we were.
so when she said she could eat them whenever she wanted, i thought she was bullshitting. so i said, really? surely not, unless you're the wife of the owner [then thinking, how sexist] or the owner of the shop yourself?
no, i just work here. but i can eat them whenever i want.
fucking smug bitch.
do not, when you are faced with someone who hasn't had a banana for ages, brag to them how you can eat them whenever you want. just be gracious about it.
10 comments:
I hate her. How dare she flaunt her banana eating like that? I've been talking to a friend about how banana eating will start to replace other status symbols. The truly rich won't even bother to eat them, instead they will throw them on the ground and stamp on them.
The Boy said to me yesterday: "Why don't you treat yourself to one?". But I still love living in a country where it's not acceptable/necessary for every item of fruit consumed, to be imported.
Hmm, would still like a banana though, perhaps I will treat myself.
Px
gumption
god that's a good word. especially when there's an expletive in front of it.
i'm inspired to start using that word again.
i miss bananas. especially mashed bananas with a little bit of sugar and some cream on top.
x
For me, the most interesting thing about this whole bananas thing is to discover that there are people - grown up people - who do like bananas. Like them enough to buy them regularly, gobble them up and think to themselves 'that banana was really delicious'.
Always learning.
the funny thing is too before bananas became such a luxury item we used to always have at least 3 going too soft in the fruit bowl, and when they became unpalatable they would be moved into the freezer for later cooking of banana bread, or banana cake.
last night because i went to the gym while the others had dinner, when i got back i had my dinner. i was alarmed to see the banana left for me was the tiniest little boy of the bunch. now while i admit freely to being a childish, selfish glutton at times, the sight of this pissy little banana that must have been hiding at the back of the bunch made me cross. i was told that child #1 had apportioned the bananas, billited them if you like, to their new owners, and the kids all got the biggest ones. john told me he got an even smaller one than me.
oh, ungracious fiend that i am.
see, the banana shortage is causing social and behavioural problems. like pomgirl's idea: Banana Status.
Oh how I miss bananas. I never consumed a huge number of them on a regular basis, and I didn't even really realise how much I missed them until I had a banana smoothie the other day (I had to pay an extra dollar for the privelege), and that sweet smooth taste tingled my tastebuds ones again. Oh bananas.
You know, at risk of seeimging absurdly optimistic, I don't envy this woman's position.
For us the banana has become the symbol of luxury; it's taste more alluring and delicious than ever. To hold one is to be excited about a moment that meant nothing a mere 12 months ago.
It's these little moments that remind us not to take things for granted.
I somewhat like that I've been forced to truly appreciate the taste of a banana. The sweet, sour and complex layers of flavour. To this woman, they taste exactly the same as they did her whole life. To us, they mean something much more.
What's the deal with the expensive bananas? I live in Texas, no problems here. What happened? Hmmm, I should learn to appreciate what I take for granted.
oh wise woman lula you. you have it so right.
holly west, there was a cyclone (tornado in american english i think) earlier this year (?) in queensland, which is australia's northern state which grows alot/most of our bananas. all/most of the banana crops were wiped out, so i guess now we are either seeing what limited supplies there are, or imports, or both, and the prices are between $11 and $15 a kilo, whereas before they were a cheap fruit, at only a few dollars a kilo. so, it's like bananas have become such a luxury item. i've had two since this started in march, and the kids have had two each. so it's only been five months, but i bet no one can tell me exactly how many apples they've eaten in five months.
you can read more about it here:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19765634-30417,00.html
I haven't had any bananas since the cyclone and I miss them. A while ago I went to a restaurant and ordered a choclate banana crepe but was rebuffed by the waitress who told me they can't afford to have it on the menu anymore :(
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