It was a weekend – a long weekend – of getting things done. On Friday the GF and I went to the framers recommended to us, a dapper working gentleman in a waistcoat of a type you see in this country but not so much in the UK. We handed over two of the prints we bought from Oaxaca – both rather startling when we took them out of their wrapping for the first time since leaving Mexico. One is a four-foot storm trooper-like creature in a gas mask, with a belly full of bombs and a raised arm, inscribed Mexican fascismo. The other is a smaller one, a helicopter shaped like a skull, raining death from above. We also have a couple of already framed pieces: one small Japanese woodcut of an elderly scholar (where it came from we’re not sure, but in any case we have it now), and one from Malaysia, a classic photo from the country’s history, of the great and the good (men) signing important documents, and photoshopped into it, an indigenous woman looking out.
Then we did something that in retrospect we were very proud of, namely going to the notary’s office to get some documents done. A tedious and rather expensive procedure, one which we’d done before, and which had sucked the life out of us. This time it went rather more quickly, to our astonishment and one of the other people waiting his turn volunteered some information that turned out to be rather useful. The great scam in these is the requirement of an official translator – and the translator we use is a scoundrel, to say the least. But at least of the endearing type.
On Saturday we went to Nisantasi where we found a small armless armchair we liked and are likely to order, and also bought a few more plates etc to feed the appetite of the dishwasher.
Then on Sunday, we went to Vadi Istanbul, a monstrous mall, next to which is a smaller but also monstrous mall which specialises in furniture etc. Here, with some difficulty, we ordered a set of blinds for the bedroom and study where the morning light comes right in. And we bought a handheld vacuum cleaner which the GF used to clean the very dusty sofa. I have been sneezing for weeks now, and I hope this will help address it.
I listened to a rather good podcast this morning, an interview with someone who wrote a book on Somaliland and how being cut off from global aid, trade and finance – along with the very weakness of its institutions – might have helped stabilise it during its early years. I think it is very likely, and I shall look out for the book, unless it is the usual extortionate academic pricing in which case I won’t bother.