Wednesday, July 2

Today is market day and the first evening market of the summer. That meant that Naa started work at 8:00 and I got her up at 7:30. We had breakfast silently and left the house with the cat, leaving Irma deep in sleep.

Today was the first day that it did not rain at all in (what feels like) several months. It was dry and windy.

I wrote until 10:30 and then started painting the inside of the new toilet. This took almost the entire day, and at the end I realised that everything I had painted white would need a second coat.

At 15:30 we had an early dinner and at 16:00 Irma and I left Naa at home writing while we raced to the market to set up the hut. When we got there some stalls were already open so we opened ours as soon as we could. Now the market is officially open and the few customers aree wandering around. A bus has arrived from Lovissa full of old and bewildered potential customers, and we are waiting to welcome them.

The wind will be biting and there will be a sharp distinction between places in the sun (warm) and places not in the sun (very cold). The inside of the hut, and the space behind it, will definitely not be in the sun.

At about 18:00 the market will empty and Benita’s will fill up. After that it will become like a poker game. Everyone will be looking at everyone else to see who is going to be the first to crack and start packing up.

Not us.