So I was in work on Friday (In a bizarre twist of fate, I now work for the Nepalese Inland Revenue Department. If I was a religious man, I'd wonder if someone was trying to tell me something...) and the Nepali guy I'm working with says this to me:

"No, taxpayer himself will usually not file appeal request at Court. Usually, taxpayer will send his liar to file it for him, isn't it?"

I managed not to laugh. Probably woulda taken a while to explain that.

Last Friday at work, Kathmandu, Nepal

G

"Two pints of breast bitter please."

1996 (I think), Torquay, UK, my friend while ordering drinks from a barmaid he secretly fancied.

Excerpt from yesterday's Kathmandu Post (print version) slightly mangled as I can never spell the placenames here and the web version doesn't have all the stories.

"Lhantong: Lhantong province was struck yesterday by an earthquake registering 4.1 on the rector scale."

Read yesterday, whilst waiting for my order in the Vegetarian Chinese and Malaysian Restaurant near Jawalakhel (Kathmandu, Nepal).

Excerpt from an exchange between yours truly and a carpenter employed to build a wardrobe for me, via a translator (otherwise, I wouldn't have understood this little gem).

Me: But it's black. We ordered this colour and you agreed. (Pointing to a brown varnished table)
Carpenter: Ke ghaanay? Nepali phrase meaning: Yeah, well, that's life. Literally, what to do?
Me: We want it changed to this colour.
Carpenter: Can't you just think of it as very dark brown?

Honestly, only in Kathmandu is this sort of thing said in perfect seriousness.

- Two days ago, my flat in Kathmandu, Nepal.

"Of course, it's not the price one worries about, it's the sheer insanity of owning so many shoes."

A friend, last year, while shopping for shoes in Kathmandu

"This situation clearly requires tequila."

My wife, last Thursday, when I was a bit down about not getting a job I'd applied for, in Kathmandu