13.12.2008

i met today, yet another reason to love the polish. though really this woman should count for about a hundred. 'met' might not be the right word, as we couldnt communicate and i will probably never see her again- but 'bumped into' is too accidental. I was sitting in a cafe eating crepes with Magda, lost in some intense discussion about how we needed to write down 'goals' before time dries up, when this small middle aged woman sits down opposite us; honestlyshe was one of those odd helplessly mumsy people, with a back pack and this little hat pulled down to her ears. Maybe it was at my unconscious cue; observing to Magda that the woman's salad looked nice, but suddenly, very randomly and despite our english, this woman gets out an encylopedia of quotes and sets it on the table in front of us. She invites us to look through, explaining to Magda that Hitlerand Stalin aren't included, before showing us another illustrated hardback aout the Russian Orthodox Church or something. As we flipped bemusedly through the pages, trying not to laugh, Magda discovers that this woman is half polish! And having prepared us with her exhibition of russian books, which neither Magda nor I could understand, she gets out a little green hardback. The second page is a photo portrait of her, and it turns out that our new half polishfriend is in fact, a poet! She autographed a free copy for each of us and as we left i concluded, "So she's kind, not crazy".