the special ones [mums not football managers]

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The Czechs have a charming way of describing someone who is peculiar or off their trolley: “he is special.” The kindest thing I can say about the majority of women in Bac Kan is that they are special.

If I want to buy bread at breakfast time, I have to pass three chemists¹ and four hairdressers². One of the main monthly expenses for the Bac Kan household is mum’s hair.

As a good old fashioned chauvinist pig I am happy to note that the women take care of their appearance but there is a slightdrawback: they spend all day with their crash helmet on. In banks, offices, restaurants, walking down the street, selling, buying ….. high heels, puffy jackets, cloth smog masks and a crash helmet.



It is socially unacceptable to have thin sons; hence what often looks like the treatment of suffragettes 100 years ago in dear old blighty. Not only do they press spoons at unwilling mouths, they also – as illustrated- continue to spoonfeed large boys. My mother used to get annoyed at mother blackbirds feeding offspring larger than themselves. I don’t know what she would have said about Vietnamese mothers. The term, “special” springs to mind.



<sup>.1 or pharmacies as we must now learn to call them – God Bless the BBC who have taken to using American English

2 I also pass two large shops which sell crash helmets and bird cages – a combination which sets you wondering about killer birds or “guano” but surely if the bird is caged either threat is minimal.</sup>

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Comments

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can anyone at travelblog know why there are lines through most of the article?