Further proof, as if it were needed, that my nephews and niece prefer their uncle with a foot missing.

Aio’s been putting his mind to constructing an artificial limb out of K-Nex, complete with moveable toes. Nice job. His younger sibling’s Ben and Elin, meanwhile, have discovered that being pushed around the street at speed in my wheelchair constitutes Really Good Fun. Ben has trouble comprehending the fact that my prosthetic foot will be made out of metal and plastic. Then again, he is only five.

The kids were at my parents’ house when I returned from an afternoon’s car shopping. It was great for morale to be making moves towards renewed independence – and independence with a new set of wheels at that. Coincidentally, one of the salesmen who tried to flog me a car was an Assyrian Christian from Kirkuk! He left Iraq when he was 19 and was a master in the Middle Eastern art of salesmanship. We chatted about Sulaymaniyah, the Kurds and the war in between discussing part exchange deals, 8 valve engines and twin airbags. Sadly, though, in the world of car sales stepping on a landmine near one’s hometown doesn’t seem to warrant a discount.

Discuss "Beyond Northern Iraq"