Carol: <file_photo>
Tonia: All the very best to you, dear Carol and Charles, in 2019!
Carol: Thank you my Dear :* :*
Carol: How are you? Enjoying Cuba?
Tonia: The country is a bit tough. Very poor, hard living conditions. So the stay here is a bit too long for my liking.
Carol: And what does Mark say? He'd been to Cuba before, hadn't he?
Tonia: Yes, some 20 years ago! No comparison. He says it's much worse now. But he seems to enjoy every moment of our stay. Maybe with the exception of loud music all the time.
Carol: Do they party every night?! Is it live music?
Tonia: Everything! In Cuba nobody cares about such nonsense as night rest of the neighbours. It is noisy, and I mean NOISY, at all hours. People, cars, children, music, dogs...
Carol: That sounds exactly like our black folk here!!
Carol: It must be difficult when you plan your trips to predict a perfect length of a stay in one place. Which town was so bad?
Tonia: Havana Vieja. Add to the noise a narrow street, windows that can't be closed and the proximity to a major thoroughfare.
Carol: I got it! Like in a township.
Tonia: Are they so noisy? Can't remember really. Or, truth to tell, was never in any of them but only driving thru.
Carol: My domestic helper, who is black and obviously lives in a township, is always complaining that she can't sleep from the partying in her neighbourhood.
Tonia: When it gets bad, I take my earplugs and Mark another drink ;-)) Nothing more one can do!
Tonia: How is Charles? Is his operation in a week's time or so?
Carol: He's doing well, thank you. It's on the 23rd and he's not looking forward to it. But we are coping!
Tonia: Poor Charlie! Is he afraid of pain? Or of the complete anesthetics? Or complications?
Carol: A combination of them all, I guess. But he doesn't talk much about it and I don't insist.
Tonia: Right. Mark will be getting his op in mid February. Too early to even start being apprehensive.
Carol: You two just enjoy your holidays and make the most of it!
Tonia: Sure! After all it is Caribbean!
Tonia: <file_photo>
Carol: Keep it up!
Carol and Mark are in Cuba. Carol is not fond of her stay because of the noise. Mark will have an operation on the 23rd. 