The thud of the massive front door, the sound of muffled voices and shuffling of a few dozen feet almost always indicated something exciting was happening outside our flat door. Our group of flats was always fairly quiet. We were the only children in the group of ten apartments and after my father had successfully got rid of the surly lady who lived in the flat below us, by effectively offering her a very attractive price for her home, my little brothers could run rampant down our hallway without a batty old lady beating her broomstick on the ceiling. So, when the sounds of life could be heard quite prominently, and the dings of the lift going up and down, and vibrant conversations in a foreign language, I would peek through the peep hole. My favourite discovery was always the arrival of our upstairs neighbors from Kuwait every summer. Why did a teen get excited about neighbours from Kuwait? Well, because neighbours from Kuwait meant great Gulf food was sent down to us regularly and that was worth getting excited about! I knew good food at a very early age. The family who lived upstairs from us, resided in Kuwait during most of the year, but when the temperatures soared in Kuwait, ... continue reading...