' I got home at five to ten '

' I'm doing a MA in graffiti and rap '

' A friend of mine got shot yesterday '

' It's like a ghost town ! '

' I used to be a sports teacher '

' I'm going with Air France '

' We're going to a Japanese restaurant - but I don't know which one '

David was going to a Japanese restaurant with Maureen and Elaina but he had no idea which one they were going to. All a bit secretive!

' The driver was trying to run another driver off the road! '

In a taxi with Cormac on the way to the UTC school in Soukra Cormac mentioned that 8 people had died in the recent louage accident and he then went on to talk about a crazy driver who was trying to run another driver off the road!

' I used to play for a team in Madhi '

One of my students ,Khaled , mentioned he used to play for a football team in Mahdia ; a small town on the east coast of Tunisia. He said his position was in midfield.

' I like the smell of new shoes '

Elaina,who was sitting at the desk next to me, suddenly started smelling the inside of her shoes. She was checking to see that they still smelt nice!

' C'est un probleme avec le resistor '

' L'annee derniere etait mieux '

The manager of a small artisan shop ,which sells shampoo,soap and other natural bathroom products,
in the Medina of Tunis said the revolution was bad: especially for businesses and ' l'annee derniere etait mieux / last year was better ' ;she also mentioned the situation of 'chomage/unemployment '.  She added that things would be better in five years time.

' We were talking about the Time War '

Philip was talking about his 'Doctor Who ' lesson he'd done with his quiet Young Learners class;he did quite a few Kinaesthetic activities with the students and they were a bit more lively than usual.

 

They watched a trailer of the 'Day of the Doctor' and later on a scene,with Christopher Eccleston playing the 9th Doctor ;in which the Doctor, last remaining Time Lord confronting the last remaining Dalek. Later on in the lesson the students had to imagine how they would feel if they were the only person left on Planet Earth .

 

' That was awesome ! '

Ursula was talking about the 'Doctor Who fan ' talk I'd given the class she was covering. During the middle of my class I went to her class for a twenty minute interview ;the students asked me a wide variety of questions; then later they had to write up the interview. One of the questions asked was ' How did you feel when you first watched Doctor Who ? ' .otherwise the other questions were the typical questions that you get at Doctor Who conventions for instance questions about the special effects, your favourite character, favourite story etc 
Earlier that afternoon I'd done the same Doctor Who fan for Amanda's class and for both the classes I wore my Doctor Who T -shirt from 2012 and I'd also brought along my model TARDIS, a Doctor Who key ring, the Doctor Who annual 2013.

' The revolution was bad: now no security,no economy '

The manager of Café Zero was giving his opinion on the Tunis Revolution three years;basically he was saying though everybody were happy with the revolution now there was a problem with security and there hadn't been any change in the economy and no real changes.
The only real change appears to be that Tunisians are no longer afraid to voice their opinions and actually some changes have taken place new shops.cafes,restaurants popping up in La Marsa. However, for most Tunisians their main concern is getting a job and the economy.

' I've spent over 7,000 dinars over the past two months ! '

Fahim mentioned he has spent loads of money over the past two months mostly on the two wedding ceremonies,yes! he got married twice - the first time England and then in Tunisia. He's having to cut back on lots of things which means bringing his lunch rather than eating out. He's also trying to save up for his next holiday!

' I saw the sun-set from the pier '

This morning Tom told me about his day trip on Monday to Bizerte; he said he had a nice time walking around the harbour and walking along the beach. He also mentioned the pier where he could watch the sun-set. I've been to Bizerte a couple of times but I did't know about the pier;next time I go there I'll have to visit the pier,it's probably very different from the seaside piers in England !

' In comparison with the other countries Tunisia is OK'

Today is the 3rd anniversary of the Tunis Revolution and a holiday for everyone. However,most places are open and the only thing marking the occasion are the red flags in the streets.

While having breakfast I got talking to a local Tunisian guy,Sadok, who works as a video journalist and has also worked with the BBC HARDtalk  team. In our conversation re the Tunis Revolution he said : ' in comparison with the other countries ( in the MENA region) Tunisia is OK'; he mentioned that the main issues are the economy and security rather the issue of religion.

' We should have ten more like Kom Koi ! '

Today is a holiday;it's Mouled,though you wouldn't really notice as quite a few of the shops,cafes/restaurants etc. are still open and there's always an absence of any kind of celebration;
no parades in the street,no special decorations, etc.the main thing that they seem to do to celebrate is to have a 'mousse-like dessert 'called 'Assida'.

Anyway, I bumped into Cormac and his family at the Kom Koi café/restaurant; it's a nice place for lunch or a coffee. There's usually some nice background music;it could be soul,jazz or the latest pop hits!Cormac,who had just enjoyed his salad,commented that 'We should have ten more like Kom Koi!', if only! perhaps we could have at least five or six more places !

' Your confidence is sagging! '

This evening I attended the New Arab Debates presented by Tim Sebastian, known for the BBC's HARDTALK programme. Tonight the motion was 'The Arab Spring is over' and the televised debate was held at the Grand Hotel in Tunis.The debate was fairly lively with Tim Sebastian providing humorous comments and thought-provoking questions to stimulate debate between the two speakers.
I found that the comments and questions from the audience were actually more interesting than the two speakers' arguments and towards the end of the evening Tim questioned the confidence of the male speaker ' Your confidence is sagging !'Despite this apparent dent in his confidence he turned out to be the 'winner' as most of the audience seemed convinced by his arguments and voted against the motion.

' I don't want the f........ ticket ! ! '

This morning I had a pleasant surprise ;the micro-bus to Tunis was very luxurious! a brand new bus with very comfortable seats with air conditioning more like one of those coaches when you go a tour.

Anyway, at the bus stop by the Tunisie Telecom office John boarded the bus.

When we got near the stop in Tunis a bus inspector got on; I immediately showed my ticket and though it was all scrunched up the inspector did his obligatory tearing of the ticket.

The inspector then asked John for his ticket. John twice replied that the ticket was on his chair
( the seat ) ; he didn't want to go and get it. John's rucksack landed on the floor with a heavy thud as John reluctantly headed back to his seat to get the ticket.
As the inspector handed back the ticket ,John seemed to utter something in Arabic and then uttered a few words of Portuguese and then in Spanish ' No quiero' . Then bizzarely he suddenly started shouting at the inspector ' Get out of my f'  ------ing ' way! I want to get off the bus! I don't want the f........  ticket !' . It seemed John was having a mini-meltdown!
We got off the bus; John said he didn't like the way the inspector asked him for the ticket and as the bus passed us John gestured his hand in annoyance at the inspector.
I was really puzzled at John's behaviour as I know the bus driver and the inspector and I've always found them to be friendly and helpful!

' Two for the price of one ! '

' Two for the Price of One ! '

Today I had an interview for the position of Pro-ELT E-Learning Coordinator and in the end it turned out to be an interview for the other position I'd applied for, the position of ICT Coordinator.When I mentioned this to Sarah she said ' Two for the price of one! '.

' It was the second time that I'd crashed the car ! '

In today's INSETT at BC Tunis, Cormac, who was doing the topic of 'Interaction and Rapport' did a spot of story telling ,as an activity to create positive rapport,and the story that he used involved the time that he had crashed the company car while working as a medical consultant.
He said:' It was the second time that I'd crashed the car ! '
Let's hope he's a much better driver now!

As a result of the car accident he lost his job and not long after he became a English teacher!

' Her ear-drum exploded ! '

'Her ear-drum exploded! ' ;that sound pretty dramatic! Well, Maureen ( David's better half) has been off sick the last few days as she'd come down with a cold. This morning her ear-drum exploded ;blood and pus spurted out! ugh! ugh! Well, I hope she's better tomorrow.

' We had to stay the night in Paris '

' We had to stay the night in Paris':

That sounds quite romantic but in Joe's case; it wasn't! This ended up part of their flight back to Tunis.Joe and his family had hoped to catch their Air France connection to Tunis via Paris but the flight from London Heathrow Airport to Paris was delayed and so they missed the connection.
Joe said that although it was nice having dinner at the hotel in Paris his family only had five hours sleep before getting up the next day to finally catch their flight to Tunisia and the next day Joe had to go to work ;by the end of the day he was obviously completely exhausted!

' 85 Dinars ,it's not expensive ' ' Delivery by Drone! ' ' You can't just click the 'undo' button '

Today I'd gone into Tunis to get some money to pay the rent and later on had lunch at the Café de Theatre. As I made  my way to the bus stop to go back to Tunis I passed a 'Nike' sports shop; in the main display were some Manchester United sport clothes and nearby was a Manchester United football;the shop owner said '85 Dinars ,it's not expensive... the transport costs etc....'

Back in La Marsa I met up with Mariol ,Matthew and David in Café Cosmitto.
For Christmas David had treated himself to a Kindle Fire HD tablet ;he mentioned that Amazon's got the idea of using Drones to deliver Kindles!

In a conversation with Mariol, who' s expecting her first baby, David asked her if she was OK about having the baby ;comments of 'You can't go back in time and change things' and 'You can't just click the 'undo' button ! ' came up during the 'baby talk'.

'Last week the weather was fantastic ! '

Today the weather is a bit changeable sun, rain, sun and fairly cloudy.
I bumped into Esther, Cormac's wife, on La Marsa promenade.

She said ' last week the weather was fantastic!'.
I guess the rain in Europe has arrived in Tunisia!

' There was a man in my bed! ' ' They always sound so irritated' ' I've never seen a 3D film'

'There was a man in my bed ! ':

First day back at work: I wished Philip 'Happy New Year ! ' and then asked him if he'd seen the landlady; he replied he'd had an argument with her. He had arrived back to find the light and TV on his flat; at first he thought he had left them on before leaving the flat to go to the airport . When he entered the flat he saw that everything had been moved around and he found a man in his bed!
He also found David C's cat in the flat; it seems the landlady had 'sub-let the flat to a Tunisian man and David C's cat. A pity it hadn't been a woman in the bed and not a man!

'They always sound irritated! ':
In the taxi on the way back to La Marsa ; Kristin mentioned that the Tunisian people on the local radio station 'always sound irritated'.I suppose they might sound even more irritated when we don't really know the language though comparing Tunisian Arabic with Italian, Portuguese and Spanish these particular languages sound much more delightful to listen to despite only maybe understanding a few words of the language.

During the taxi journey I briefly talked about the 3D films, 'Frozen' and 'The Hobbit : The Desolation of Smaug'   I'd seen during the Christmas holidays;
Kristin said she 'she never seen a 3D film'.

' I don't believe in Oyster!! '

'I don't believe in Oyster' this comment was let out in frustration by an elderly man who was really pissed of at being unable to get a ticket from the ticket machine and then being told he should have got a ticket beforehand at a local shop via an Oyster card.

The man exploded with anger:
' I've been trying to get a ticket for the last half an hour !; I don't believe in Oyster !'.

One of the train station guardsmen eventually escorted him to the to the other entrance and the main ticket office.

Perhaps the man should watch this video!

'For god sake , just let me chill out!' ,' Maybe we can sweet-talk him'

2nd January
location: on the train from Wimbledon back to Clapham Junction:

'For god sake! just let me chill out!

The speaker, a young girl on her mobile phone seemingly talking to her boyfriend, about making holiday plans for September.She had a holiday brochure on her lap and mentioned the possibility of scuba diving and travelling to Penang and Langkawi ( Malaysia) and also mentioned that the longest time she could ask her boss for time off was 2 weeks.


Location: Behind the London Eye while waiting for the New Year's Eve fireworks:

'Maybe we can sweet talk him ' a young elegantly young woman taking to her similarly  dressed female friend about trying to persuade the police officer to let them around to the other side of  a huge crowd of people to get across to the other side of the river Thames.However,they didn't realise that the main viewing areas by the river had been sectioned off and were already full to capacity making it impossible to get across the river from the London Eye side.

The two young women were seemed to speak quite 'poshly',though the food and drink they were eating wasn't particularly 'posh': hamburgers,probably from MacDonald's and 'Kentucky 'style pieces of fried chicken all washed down by a bottle of wine and a bottle of coca cola.