Trip to AA was not productive. To be expected sometimes here, of
course. Here's the situation -- various problems that tangle together:

Car is NOT fixed after all (the repair is a condition of the car sale.)
The garage owner is deeply distracted by medical and business problems.
He forgets to order parts, forgets when you have an appointment,
ignores phone calls and messages -- so to make an appointment with him
you have to GO to the garage. He's been so good and is such a good
fellow that I don't want to go looking for a new mechanic -- dicey
under any circumstances here anyway.

The Federal gv't has decided to make some new burdensome demands on all
biz owners like me. It's got to do with their pension program. They've
apparently not kept good records and now want us to supply copies of
ours. This sort of thing happens all the time at different ministries.
Maybe once a year there is a big flurry, and the agency in question
is always aggressive about it -- lots of threats about deadlines and
requirements. The papers they require from me are being held by the
Ministry of Revenues to do the audit that's required for the tax
clearance that I must show the Road Transport Authority before they'll
let me sell the car.

The audit is stalled and I've missed my clearance deadline with the
buyer, Fekade. Fekade is coming to A Alem (here) tomorrow. We will
see if he gets nasty or understands the situation.

Don't you love it????

Oh yes, also my landlady refuses to have the top priest here arbitrate.
She says I must fire Abrahame or leave the rental. I intend to stall
till I *%$#^*(*^&%*^ing disappear through the air back to the USA. The
next to last photo shows me and her brother after a fight we had over
it. Once again we agreed that we would never agree. One thing I am
going to miss from here is the incredibly inexpensive and often exotic
restaurants (If you can't see the photos, email me offline and I'll
send them).

[Posted in FML 7898]