As I woke up early this morning, I turned to the wife and said, "Golf course or intercourse?" She said, "Don't forget the sweater!" Only kidding: I don't play golf. Instead, we were at the Aquatic Centre by six o'clock sharp to get into the pool before the water turned a funny colour.
We met a couple who had their first swim in the pool: Slobodan, or "Sloppy" for short, a Macedonian, and his Indonesian wife. While Sloppy and I had a heated discussion over whether Alexander the Great was Macedonian or Greek, Padma and her new Indonesian friend talked and talked in Bahasa Indonesia, with very little swimming getting done.
It was a good start to the day which got even better when we picked up a small parcel from the post office which turned out to be a belated birthday present from the booklady in Berlin. I had mentioned to her a long time ago that I was into Sergio Bambaren's books, and right on cue she had sent me a copy of "Die Stunde der Wale". Danke schön, Renate!
On the way out of town we quickly swung by Vinnies where two tanned youngsters with fuzzy hair were sorting through the bookshelves. "Are you from PNG?" I ask, which started another long conversation with Morea and Brian, two boys whose Papuan mother is married to an Australian who used to serve in the Papua New Guinea Defence Force.
I had already said "Lukim yu" when Morea ran after me to get my phone number. "I'm sure my father would like to meet up with you", he said.
