Special treatment

I've had a lovely day today. Church in the morning and a trip to the flower markets in the afternoon with Daisy's mum.

It was good to be back in church for the first time in several weeks. Stuff was just as usual - excellent sermon, slightly radical prayers and a 'young people's choice' hymn that was over 100 years old.

Probably because of my three week absence, I got a personal welcome from the pastor as he administered me communion. Unfortunately, he forgot that he still had the roaming mike on. Nobody else got special treatment and I was very embarrassed.

I got home from church and told Daisy (in the shop below) that I was planning a trip to the flower markets for new orchids. To get her mum out of the shop, Daisy suggested that the two of us make the trip together.

Daisy's mum is heaps of fun. We speak in Cantonese which means that we can't say much. Usually this doesn't matter because Daisy's mum erupts in hysterical laughter after every sentence (or part thereof) that I utter.

After an hour of looking at orchids I settled on a type that I liked. The flowers are very little and maroon and white in colour. It's a little unusual looking, the kind of orchid that you really could imagine growing in the wild somewhere.

When we got back I asked Daisy if she liked them. She said 'Of course you like it. Gwailo like plain. Chinese like big, colourful, expensive'. That certainly explained why it took so long to find something that i liked.