A Dosa lunch

I put on a "welcome home" lunch for Simon today after his recent deployment to Afghastiland.  We went to the "Riverwalk Tandoori" at Highgate hill  -- run by Sikhs.

Being in the military during wartime is a hard life even if you are not being shot at.  You are away from your family for months on end in some rather unpleasant places so you not only miss your family but are aware that you are not there to support and protect them.  So the difficulties of war affect not only the serviceman himself but his family as well

Although I did volunteer for service in Vietnam during my time in the army many years ago  I never got there so I speak not from experience but rather from having seen a lot.  And what I have seen makes me very appreciative of  the men in our military.  So putting on a welcome home lunch for Simon was the least I could do from my viewpoint. It was my way of saying "thank you" for his service and an  expression of appreciation for him personally.

Due to illness and other things there were a few people who had to cancel at the last minute but there were still about 10 of us there and the dosas made their usual good impression.  Simon rapidly cleaned his plate so there is no doubt he enjoyed his.  Dosas were new to most people there so I was pleased to have been able to introduce a few more people to the dosa experience.

The restaurant was packed and there was even a small queue outside at one point so we were where it was  at.  And many of the diners were Indian so that is a strong testimonial for any Indian restaurant.  There was such a big demand placed on the kitchen that it was dosas only.  The normal Indian menu was not available.  Our dosas came reasonably promptly.

Simon and I talked about Afghastiland and agreed that the Western withdrawal from there will be not a moment too soon.  The Afghans will have to fight it all out between themselves from now on but at least the whole population now know that there is an alternative to a 7th century theocracy so hopefully we will have left a legacy of awareness in Afghan minds that there are options about how to live their lives and run their country.