The one with the woman who lost her past

:)

Thank you so much for this wishlist book (exactly the one I needed to continue with this series :D), the chocolate (already ate the ”boat” chocolate) and the lovely card!

Once again a wonderful Mma Ramotswe book, I enjoyed it a lot. There’s always a solution for every case, it might not be the expected one but it is a solution.

This wishlist tag game book is on its way to the next reader with the help of a courier. Happy reading!

Kuriiri oli ystävällisesti toimittanut ihan postilaatikkooni asti. Kiitos hippauksesta, Soozreader!

Enjoyable as always, it was lovely to meet these people again :)

Matkustan ympäri maailmaa -challenge: Swaziland (Eswatini) was mentioned in this book. I've never been there and probably won't travel there in the future either.

Travelling to someone as a birthday present :)

Thanks! This was not an accidental wish, Mma Ramotswe is usually good company.

Just finished a weird and somewhat sickly book, so Mma Ramotswe is the best antidote. The book is also on a birthday wishlist, so I began reading right away. In both books there is a Rhodesian ridgeback...

Mma Ramotswe is missing the past. So am I. Like the old bus tickets. I seldom travel by bus, so I don’t have a permanent card which you flash to the machine. I buy single tickets from R-kiosk, because I can no longer buy them from the driver. It is sometimes hard to find a kiosk, so I have to buy several tickets. They are blue cards and you flash them to the machine. They are valid for 90 minutes (I think), but you have to remember the time you showed the ticket to the machine, because it does not give a stamp. When you put it back in you purse, you have no idea which of the several tickets was the one you used. Sometimes electronic devices can empty the card's memory of once being a ticket and nothing happens when you wave it to the ticket machine.
In the good old days you could either buy a single ticket or a 10 journey ticket. You stamped your ticket in the machine and it showed the time of the beginning of the journey. Anybody could see it and by looking at your 10 journey ticket you knew right away how many journeys were left.
Is this what they call progress?

I so like Mr McCall Smith, because he knows about life and what it is to be a woman. Like the one who wanted to find the father of her 25-year-old baby, but only knew the man's nickname. He could have written about my classmate.
We were already out of school, very grown-up by the age of 19 or 20. She became pregnant and had a son. In Finland everybody is supposed to have a father who sends at least pay-checks to his progeny on a monthly basis, so she was asked who the father was. She was pretty sure, so they had a paternity test taken. No match. Well, there was another option. Still no match. In the end she marched seven men to the lab, but still there wasn't a match.
"Anybody else comes to mind?" asked the tired lab personel.
"Well, there was this Charley. He was an American."
"The test can be taken in America as well, so you should contact him."
The problem was that they never got as far as surnames. He was a friend of Renny Harlin's and they had met in a bar with Renny and a bunch of film people. Charley was a bit older, 30-something. They hit it off well.
There are too many Charleys in the US to test them all, so the Finnish officials had to accept that here was a fatherless child and a truly single mother, who soon got all possible help from the welfare. She was really good at milking them, apart from rent and food she got money for hairdresser, women's magazines and even a trip to Greece, so that she would not feel depressed (she is bi-polar).
When her son Karri was nearly 18 she run into another party girl from way back and they began talking. It turned out that she had been at the same bar with Renny and his gang and had hung out with them afterwards. She remembered Charley.
"Do you happen to know his last name?"
She did and lo and behold - Charley was found! And the test was a match!
Charley was excited. He had been married twice, but no children. He was getting on, so he thought he would remain childless. He asked Karri and his mother to come for a visit - all expenses paid. Charley was a wealthy business man and had his own company, which made parts for airplanes. He asked if Karri would like to stay and start working in the company, which one day would be his. Karri was a bit more sensible than his mother and said he wanted to finish school first - in Finland.
They kept in touch and I can't remember if Karri moved to the US straight after school or if he studied commerce in Finland first, but he got on well with his dad and works in the company which might already be his now (don't know if the old man is retired yet). But Cinderella stories do happen in real life, too!

Finished yesterday. Hmm, forgiving has never been our family tradition...
Off to the next birthday girl tomorrow.

Today Precious and Grace are taking the post-bus up to Kuopio.
Happy Birthday, have a nice journey to Botswana!

Thank you for the birthday wishes and sending me this book from my wishlist :)! I´m eagerly waiting for the trip!

One book of Mma Ramotswe a summer is a must so I was happy I still had this unread one in my bookshelf. Once again had some pretty good laughs and enjoyed the athmosphere that only these books can have.

Toivelistahippaus postin matkaan!

Thank you Pikkis for the wishlist tag and a box full of "extras" (which I chose) :)

Once again I loved apending time (virtually) in Gaborone <3 The author must really love Botswana.

Have a nice trip to Botswana with Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi :)