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Rugby An English breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast and jam, grapefruit, cereal and coffee. We sat at the picnic table in the courtyard and enjoyed the sun and calm while eating chicken salad for lunch. Sharon and I had trifle for dessert while Alistair looked on longingly. That diet business was getting him down. He went off to watch the semi-final rugby match England versus New Zealand, hoping a good game would help take his mind off his stomach. Bruni drove Sharon and I into London to visit Camden Town Market. The market was very much like Beverwijk's black market but there were far more interesting weird people of all shapes, sizes and colours. Normal hair colours were green, orange, red, blue or yellow. And lots of earrings in all sorts of hurtful places. The best costume went to a woman with green scarves in her hair. Bruni's godchild Mattias came with us. He was ten and was interested in collector comic books. He bought two Batman comics. "They're really old," he assured me. "How old?" I asked. "Oh, two years. I have a very old one at home. Fifteen years." Guess that was considered ancient. It was older than he was. We met Mattias's parents, Anne and Mikhail, both psychologists living in North London. Bruni said their little house cost more than their cottage in Tring. After supper of chicken, chutney and trifle I phoned home. I had planned on waiting till on my birthday, which was in a couple of days, but Bruni, learning of my mother's illness, said it would be better to phone on a day other than my birthday. Being a psychologist she thought about those things. If my mom had died, she didn't want me to learn about it on my birthday. To my surprise and delight Mom answered the phone. We caught up on all the news. Mom was allowed to go home for weekend visits. She was having eight chemo treatments instead of six . The doctors said eight doses was the optimum. She said she had no hair left. "Just like a baby." I wanted to know if she had a smooth or a bumpy head. Bumpy. Mom said Madeleine had sent photos of us. She said it sounded like we were having a wonderful adventure and to tell Alistair and Bruni that the world was a better place because they were in it. Alistair and Bruni's neighbours, the slug squishers, invited Sharon and I over for a drink. They were having a barbecue since, as they told us, it was one of the two nice days they got each year. Terry and Joyce sold grandfather clocks from their home. Friends of theirs, Rodney and Jenny were over also. Everyone had a wonderful sense of humour. They asked lots of questions. They couldn't believe that anyone would want to cycle around the world. Neither could I. Rugby highlights came on at 11:30. Alistair explained the basic rules. The match had been ninety minutes. The highlights with commentary, slow-mo, replays and various reverse angle shots took an hour. Rugby was a much better game for spectators than the slow paced North American grid-iron. |
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