In September, I fly to Australia on my own. There I shall meet up with The Prof in Sydney , who will have been working in Melbourne then sailing around the Pacific with some friends.
It sounds all very cosmopolitan does ot not?
It's a long time since I travelled long haul on my own. I've only done it once before, and that was when I took myself off to Seattle on a whim many years ago.
I don't remember much about that trip now, except that the city was wet, cold and rather glum but on a brighter note the sour dough chowder, as I recall was mighty fine.
I ate a good many bowls of it too.
Now, I don't mix well when I am on my own and apart from service people, I dont think I spoke to a living soul until I found myself sitting next to a 30 something Japanese/American woman in a lighthouse coffee shop.
With typical US directness she told me that her name was Hisoka ( which means Shy) , that she was lecturer at SeattleEU and that she was waiting to meet a nice girl called Jane for an important second date.
She was also the very first person that I told I was gay.
I shall always remember it, for even though I was in my twenties , it was a real red letter day experience, for it was the first time that I had verbalised something so important to me which turned out so wonderfully inconsequential to her.
We talked for an age, and in those pre mobile phone days, Jane had to ring the coffee shop manager to inform Hisoka that she would be late, which was lovely for me, as I talked and talked and talked about all those gay things, I never had the chance to do before.
When Jane, eventually arrived, I politely took my leave. But not before Hisoka pulled a book out of her handbag. " I love these stories" she said " please take it!" and she gave me a rather battered copy of Alan Bennett's " Talking Heads".
" I love British humour" she explained sweetly.
It sounds all very cosmopolitan does ot not?
It's a long time since I travelled long haul on my own. I've only done it once before, and that was when I took myself off to Seattle on a whim many years ago.
I don't remember much about that trip now, except that the city was wet, cold and rather glum but on a brighter note the sour dough chowder, as I recall was mighty fine.
I ate a good many bowls of it too.
Now, I don't mix well when I am on my own and apart from service people, I dont think I spoke to a living soul until I found myself sitting next to a 30 something Japanese/American woman in a lighthouse coffee shop.
With typical US directness she told me that her name was Hisoka ( which means Shy) , that she was lecturer at SeattleEU and that she was waiting to meet a nice girl called Jane for an important second date.
She was also the very first person that I told I was gay.
I shall always remember it, for even though I was in my twenties , it was a real red letter day experience, for it was the first time that I had verbalised something so important to me which turned out so wonderfully inconsequential to her.
We talked for an age, and in those pre mobile phone days, Jane had to ring the coffee shop manager to inform Hisoka that she would be late, which was lovely for me, as I talked and talked and talked about all those gay things, I never had the chance to do before.
When Jane, eventually arrived, I politely took my leave. But not before Hisoka pulled a book out of her handbag. " I love these stories" she said " please take it!" and she gave me a rather battered copy of Alan Bennett's " Talking Heads".
" I love British humour" she explained sweetly.
I found the book today when I was cleaning out the bookshelf today.....funny what you are reminded of eh?
