BUYING BREAD

Today I would like to introduce you to some friends of mine. To me, they go by the communal title of 'The Bread Ladies' - though to be fair, as you can see, they are not all ladies. The ladies give me the bread and the gentleman works the cash register, so perhaps 'The Bread Ladies' is still an apt title if I also add 'and Tillman' to the introduction.

Anyway, we need to buy our bread fresh each day and this is the shop that we visit to do this errand. We stop here each morning on the way home from dropping the kids at school. This means, because we take turns at taking the kids to school, that every second day I get to see the Bread Team. This is truly the highlight of my morning routine. The Bread Team are so friendly and always greet me with huge smiles. They know exactly what I'm after - a large loaf of bread - but they love to help me practise my Sinhala. The bread will be on the counter as soon as I enter the store (and I've caught them out at checking the loaves to try and find me the best one) but they will still wait for me to ask for it in Sinhala (Mata loku parn denda) before I'm allowed to have it. I will ask them all "Kohomada?" (How are you?) and they will respond in various ways that I can only assume mean "Yeah, I'm well". Then they will ask how I am and I will respond with the easiest response in my repertoire (Hondai). By then I will have paid for the bread and will give a "Gihin enang" (Goodbye, which I am told literally translates to 'I will go and I will come") and then I am on my way, buoyed by their smiles and encouragement and the thought that I have successfully used Sinhala in public.

Anyway, I enjoy my visits with the Bread Team so much that I wanted to get a photo of them to share with you all. So, one morning, in I go with my camera to get a shot of the team. It was funny that they were so obliging considering that if I went down to Baker's Delight and asked if I could take a photo of them, they would probably just get totally weirded out. However, I will share that this photo does come to you with a price. In return, the team asked me if they could each have a photo of me with the family. I asked why they wanted a photo of me because I was worried they might put it up in the shop. Prince said they were going to get it enlarged and put it on the shop wall. After I had been sufficiently horrified (can you imagine going to get your bread each day with your photo on the wall like the patron saint of bread?!) Prince let me know he was just joking - they just wanted the photo to take home. I figured it was a fair swap.