Sunday, November 21/2010

Sunday is a little laid back here. It`s not a work day per se and many shops are closed, leaving the field to smaller family run ones and restaurants. A surprising exception seems to be shoe stores, with even quite large ones spilling their goods out onto the sidewalks. Shoes are impressively inexpensive here, if not impressive in quality. Plenty of signs on racks proclaiming everything for 10TD ($7.20 CAD or £4.46). Because this is not a school day there are young children playing in the lanes and families out enjoying a snack. Our street, named after former president Habib Bourguiba, and the area by the traffic circle are heavily touristed, though with many locals too, but the small streets and lanes only a block away have mainly Tunisians - drinking coffee, buying pastries, chatting. We stop at a little shop to buy a bottle of water - bonus size 1.75 litres. The man hands me two ml coins - implying that the price is 8 millemes. Fortunately we bought water here yesterday so I look at the change and say "sept". He looks, J says, sheepish, and hands over another coin. This is a standard complaint amongst tourists - comprehensible from both sides, of course, as the tourists hate being taken advantage of while many locals must see Europeans as so rich it shouldn't matter to them.

Breakfast was a little thinner than usual, with skeleton staff as most seem to have the day off. But at dinner there's a huge turkey at the carvery - gone despite the skilful carver's best efforts by seven o'clock. The printed card we were given on arrival says that dinner is from seven to nine but a bit of observation has shown that the actual time is more like six thirty to eight thirty, with some guests beginning to gather about six fifteen and doors actually opening at six twenty. So, as the turkey's disappearance shows, it's a bit hard lines on those who suppose dinner starts at seven. Though there's always plenty of other choices when one dish is finished.