Today Ann is attending local government offices. I am in tow. There appears to be a different office for everything, land title over here, motor vehicles there, social matters elsewhere. Within those precincts are yet more subdivisions so even the locals seem uncertain where to present themselves. But it's keeping a lot of people gainfully employed. We should be careful, I think, before being critical of overmanning, when the alternative in the West has often been an over-reliance on technology at the expense of people. Some inefficiencies are perfectly tolerable.

Business transacted, we headed out of town in search of the small parcel of land Ann bought some years ago. She has been vague and elliptical when pressed for detail and today I found out why. Even though her land is only a kilometre or so from the main road, it is well and truly in the boondocks. Rutted lanes narrow to barely apparent crisscrossing soi, unmarked and bestrewn in foliage and fallen branches. Eventually an abandoned cottage gave Ann a clue to the correct lane, so it seems we might have found her overgrown lot. You judge for yourself.