Surprise em Hilly

About a week before the real day, the PC conspired to have a surprise birthday for Hilly. My job was to get the present. Right.... Right!- that photograph down on Le Loi. Managed to sneak down the road under pretense of a haircut or something. Bought the old fisherman and arranged for the shop to deliver it to Duane and Andrea's, who live near the restaurant. H and I taxied over to Le Jardin in An Phu and had a few pre-dinner drinks.

Duane called me a few times - "they still haven't come". But finally it did - on the back of a trusty motor-cycle - in one piece. D and I snuck it in to the court yard and then sprung the trap!





We have a bit of a tradition that the host pays for the birthday dinners over here. No worries really, except that when I went to give the manager my card, he sheepishly stated that they do not take credit cards! What - a french restaurant in the middle of an expat street that doesn't take a card? Of course I could have scraped up the dollars from our friends, but that wouldn't be right. So I told the manager that I would need to come back tomorrow with the cash. And he agreed - even though it was the first time I had even stepped foot in his place! Remarkable anywhere else I guess.



Happy birthday Hilly. I hope we can celebrate in another french restaurant again soon, but maybe next time in France!