Carpet chronicle
I have a love of fabrics and carpets, so when I travel to countries where carpets are part of the culture I do my best to find something small enough to carry home. Tunisia is such a country. Oh to be flying home first class with an unlimited baggage allowance!
I’m staying in Tunis, not far from the picturesque, upmarket town of Sidi Bou Said. It comprises winding, narrow cobbled lanes of white buildings, blue railings and window shutters. Souveniers fill the shops at street level and although there are many people trying to sell their goods, the atmosphere is laid back and not at all pushy.
The locals are fluent in Arabic and French but struggle a bit when it comes to English. Either way, their English is miles better than my French.
I discovered a nice, quiet carpet shop off the main street and settled in to enjoy the ritual of carpets being pulled from colourful piles and laid out on the floor for viewing. So much to appreciate and oh, the battle of making a selection.
I selected a small Berber carpet and when it came time to pay, I used a credit card. However the transaction didn’t go smoothly so a colleague was brought in to look at the machine and the bank was called to discuss the problems being experienced. No joy. As an alternative, I offered to walk down and get cash from a nearby ATM. This seemed like the only option, so the shopkeeper and I walked down together.
When I handed over the cash, the shopkeeper asked for my phone number as he was concerned that the credit card transaction might have actually gone though and debited my card. Although he seemed nice enough, it all felt strange enough to feel like some kind of scam. Still, I couldn’t see any harm in exchanging numbers and did so.
About 30mins later, back at my hotel I received a call from the shopkeeper saying the credit card transaction had indeed gone through and now he needed to return my cash to me. I became deeply suspicious – especially as we struggled with our mismatch of languages. He promised to send a taxi driver to my hotel the same afternoon with my cash.
True to his word, he did, leaving me and other veterans of market rip offs equally stunned.
Sidi Bou Said street