When the going gets tough ... the tough go Shopping

Friday, August 14th
Kabul


I woke up at 4:30 am to the sound of another missile flying overhead and then a giant KA-BLAM! It sounded like it was across the street. In fact the Taliban blew up their own stupid out-post on the other side of town. But within minutes there were F-16's flying over head and roar of helicopters whizzing by. It sounded like Armageddon. Yeesh ... I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Fridays are our day off. So I had a good lie-in. I woke up late and wandered into the other building to make toast and fight with the coffee machine. Finally Delip Sen wandered inside. He is the Indian Special Forces guy who is generally in charge of all security. He's the most peaceful person in the world. But I've also seen him draw a knife so fast it made my head spin ... so I know he's on his mark all the time. But this morning was very hot ... like 110 degrees hot. We are all bored shit less with this lock-down. So Delip said, "Sir" (He always calls me Sir) ... I think I need to take you sir to the shops at ISAF ... I think you had better get out of here ..." I almost kissed him on the lips.

So off we went to go shopping again. Me and Delip and his knife and three armed guards - a lead car and a follow-up car. I love shopping. But as we flew around check points at 90 miles an hour I realized I've crossed some kind of sanity line when it comes to shopping. As I bobbled around in the middle of the back seat with two battle-rattle guys flanking me I sort of thought ... "what the hell ... I always told people to bury me in a Neiman Marcus bag. So if I go down, I'm going down shopping.

Anyway, Delip bought his wife a beautiful necklace and took a photo of me. Then we went for ice cream ... While the marines were inside the ice cream place ordering the most delicious grape ice cream I've ever eaten, I took this photo of Delip.