Oh, dear. I have had harsh words with Ibrahim the gardener, normally my ally and source of horticultural wisdom, since I know absolutely nothing about gardening. What I do know however, is that I don't want my pawpaws and banana trees planted in rows, but I want to make a little forest with the trees tout en dèsordre. Ibrahim doesn't think much of this romantic aesthetic. Nevertheless I decided to pull rank and marked out exactly where I wanted the trees. The next day when I arrived Ibrahim had completely ignored my instructions and planted the pawpaws in a neat row!
I fumed quietly for some time, whilst trying to hold on to my architect Boucoum's advice: calme-toi Sophie, c'est l'Afrique. Then I decided not to have him dig up what he had planted but instead to get some more pawpaws and simply have him plant those too but exactly where I want them, in my presence, in between his rows, thus ruining his scheme. Am I being a dreadful and cruel memsahib?