I had the houseboat to myself and slept well. Bashir also had me to himself and was very keen that after breakfast I should go with him to visit his "uncle' who had a carpet showroom. Why not? I have already said that I like looking at carpets and I felt sure that I was unlikely to be persuaded to buy anything too extravagantly expensive.
I think that the timing of my visit to Kashmir was a little wrong (leaving aside the "troubles"). The fact of the matter was that every morning dawned with a very cold mist shrouding the houseboat and it was very chilly indeed. The locals all wore long poncho-style over garments and carried a bucket of charcoal embers inside them to keep warm. I'm sure that it worked but I was always (and remain) confused by the fact that they could be so wrapped up and warm inside their poncho-things but have nothing to keep their feet warm. They nearly all wore the ubiquitous blue and white rubber flip-flops.
The livingroom of the houseboat had a charcoal stove which was very much required in the early morning and at night. Breakfast every morning was very good. There was always a Kashmiri style omelette, boiled eggs, Kashmiri bread warmed on the stove, jam, marmalade and honey. To drink there was a choice of chai and black or green tea. A leisurely breakfast was no problem given how cold it was until the sun had burned off the mist.
Rashid's service was once more called upon to transport us across the lake to the showroom of Shaw & Sons (not nephews). I have to say the collection of carpets and rugs was absolutely splendid and I was indeed persuaded to buy a small carpet (4'x 2'6") made of wool and silk. It did set me back about £85 on a credit card and I've still got it. It is by the side of my bed and its texture is still very good indeed. The quality was assured and the quality was really excellent. I love it. It was a dreadful shame that I wasn't a good deal richer because some of the carpets were absolutely fantastic and really excellent value. I decided then that one day I will go back and spend some serious money on a couple of carpets.
Doubtless Bashir had his commission from the sale of the small carpet to me. It probably wasn't as large a commission as he would have liked but it was better than nothing and after we left the showroom I was able to get ashore to have a wander around and post my letter.
In India the advice about posting letters and postcards was clear. You had to make sure that you took your items to a post office and once you had bought your stamps you had to make sure that the stamps were franked in front of you. The reason for this was that the cost of three stamps for postcards to the UK was about the same as one day's pay for some people in India (quite a lot of people in fact).
So I found my way to the Post Office. There I found another sign of the troubles. the entrance to the Post Office was fortified by a sand bag machine gun post and everyone going in had to be frisked. This was a little bit unnerving. I suppose government institutions like post offices were very likely targets for bombers. The post office was not attacked while I posted my letter.
Srinagar has not left any lasting impression on me. I can't remember very much about the place at all except that the post office was almost hidden by sand bags and soldiers were pointing guns at everyone approaching. I walked around and did some window shopping.
