Met up with my ex-colleague, and the travel bug bit a little bit harder!
She looks pretty much the same, shape- and demeanour-wise, and we had a most wonderful conversation for about two hours, from a quarter after three when I met her in the lobby of her hotel.
Her two eldest sons are all grown up, with the second turning out to be a promising lawyer about to embark on a potentially stellar career,while her youngest son is taking his GCEs this year.
(Funny how it's only when I'm keying this blog in that it strikes me that her family is just like mine: 3 sons,or, at least 2 1/2)
She also shared with me about how her husband's investment portfolio had declined by S$300 000 at the worst stage of the 2008-2009 crisis, but that paper loss has since halved,according to her!
Again, I gave in to the temptation to lapse into my childhood baggage(fortunately, only briefly!) when asked how I was doing...
I have to remind myself to stop seizing every opportunity to do that.
She also described how she had changed congregations from her longtime church, and how she has travelled a little since we last met, describing a tour of Eastern Europe that encapsulated the beauty of Praha and Warsaw.
According to her, Auschwitz was not the most informative source for details of Nazi anti-Semitic atrocities during WWII, with a small museum in Warsaw being a better candidate!
(This is the stage where the travel bug bit me a little!)
Her son came through the lobby doors,fresh off a Firefly flight, and I shook hands with quite an attractive young man(yes, I should stop thinking further about that!)
Apparently, her mother's family has annual gathering 'rituals' of sorts and one was taking place later that evening, followed by a tour of the town the next day.
After bidding farewell to the duo, I walked out of the hotel,a little lightheaded from the (rare) enjoyable company. I decided against taking a taxi back home, and headed out to the main road.
Remembering that there was a shopping complex not too far away, I crossed four roads branching out from a roundabout, and made my way there.
After walking around aimlessly and ordering a plate of just passable chicken rice(20c 'tax' on a $4.30 bill!), boredom compelled me to walk out to find a taxi to return home.
The first driver I asked quoted $8, but I feigned disinterest. When he suggested $7 instead, I agreed and had an uneventful journey home.
After I had alighted, I recalled the dastardly shootings of thirteen victims by a taxi driver in Cumbria just four days previous, and shivered a little.
[Incidentally, this was my first taxi trip in at least three years, not counting the one in S'pore on December 21st 2009]
Her two eldest sons are all grown up, with the second turning out to be a promising lawyer about to embark on a potentially stellar career,while her youngest son is taking his GCEs this year.
(Funny how it's only when I'm keying this blog in that it strikes me that her family is just like mine: 3 sons,or, at least 2 1/2)
She also shared with me about how her husband's investment portfolio had declined by S$300 000 at the worst stage of the 2008-2009 crisis, but that paper loss has since halved,according to her!
Again, I gave in to the temptation to lapse into my childhood baggage(fortunately, only briefly!) when asked how I was doing...
I have to remind myself to stop seizing every opportunity to do that.
She also described how she had changed congregations from her longtime church, and how she has travelled a little since we last met, describing a tour of Eastern Europe that encapsulated the beauty of Praha and Warsaw.
According to her, Auschwitz was not the most informative source for details of Nazi anti-Semitic atrocities during WWII, with a small museum in Warsaw being a better candidate!
(This is the stage where the travel bug bit me a little!)
Her son came through the lobby doors,fresh off a Firefly flight, and I shook hands with quite an attractive young man(yes, I should stop thinking further about that!)
Apparently, her mother's family has annual gathering 'rituals' of sorts and one was taking place later that evening, followed by a tour of the town the next day.
After bidding farewell to the duo, I walked out of the hotel,a little lightheaded from the (rare) enjoyable company. I decided against taking a taxi back home, and headed out to the main road.
Remembering that there was a shopping complex not too far away, I crossed four roads branching out from a roundabout, and made my way there.
After walking around aimlessly and ordering a plate of just passable chicken rice(20c 'tax' on a $4.30 bill!), boredom compelled me to walk out to find a taxi to return home.
The first driver I asked quoted $8, but I feigned disinterest. When he suggested $7 instead, I agreed and had an uneventful journey home.
After I had alighted, I recalled the dastardly shootings of thirteen victims by a taxi driver in Cumbria just four days previous, and shivered a little.
[Incidentally, this was my first taxi trip in at least three years, not counting the one in S'pore on December 21st 2009]
posted by DP at
8:30 PM
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