Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry....

SORRY!! I am really sorry. Really, really sorry. Please forgive. It's me, not you.
OK, it was actually Facebook that came into my life and offered such easy, instant gratification of my communication needs that I got swept off my feet and well, it just happened...as it does.

But trust me, not a week went by when I didn't think of you and feel guilty and toy with the idea of just logging on, but the longer it got, the more difficult it became to know what to say.

Anyway, it's now nearly a year and I have just celebrated ANOTHER Luang Prabang Boatracing Festival with my beloved little village and, as I crawl out of the massive hangover that it caused, I vow to be a better blogger.

We won AGAIN, due to sheer guts and hard work, this time by a wide margin, and I say this not simply with sentimental admiration but with real pride in their achievement because I have discovered that the number two team (representing the big bank in town here), has NO local members at all, but consists of hired, professional paddlers from Vientiane, the big smoke, with a much vaster pool of talent than my dear little hardscrabble village of blacksmiths and rice farmers.

So I was honoured to be one of their patrons and to dance the night away with this motley collection of old and young, stubby and skinny, leathery-faced, sinewy guys who have shown us all the meaning of working hard for the sheer glory of your traditions.

Oh yes, they each get a share of the prize money which amounts to ten bucks and all the beer they can drink on the night.

I have been admonished by one reader to be briefer with my posts but can't really promise anything----sometimes I have a lot to say and I go on a bit.

But this will be brief as I have a lot to prepare for my return to work after time off visiting my family who gathered in lovely green, peaceful Vermont last month, just a week before Hurricane Irene tore through the place and left everyone feeling washed out, indeed. Love to you all, especially the washed-out ones, and there will be more soon as the mists of jet lag begin to clear.

And again, sorry!!!