“Cool, you’ve been everywhere I’m going- I must pick your brain!”.
He froze, hand mid-locker, and gave me a look of alarmed perplexity that could have very well been accompanied by a- “What is this you want to do with my brain?!”
He was a tall Israeli guy wearing one of those furry-flapped hats he’d bought to equip himself for the ever-encroaching chill, or so he explained when I told him I liked his hat. At first encounter, his slight resemblance to Edward Cullen (love him or hate him) would’ve normally deemed him an eye magnet of sorts, but this idea was well stunted by his peculiarly literal way of conversing.
He mentioned Copenhagen.
“Oh! How was that? Unfortunately when I think of Copenhagen I just think of ice cream. You know, cause of the brand. It’s everywhere in Sydney.”
There was an epoch of silence as he absorbed my lightheartedly served statement, fed it into the mental processor encased within his fur hat, sent it to Google, had it audited for validity and then stamped in red till he finally came out with a:
“But I did not see that much ice-cream in Copenhagen?”
Followed by a:
“I think Italy is more known for its gelato, no?”
The last I saw of him (and his hat) was at the hostel bar eagerly buying 5 euro fish and chips. The other dorm-mates and I had invited him out but he’d replied very matter-of-factly that he was going to have some fish and chips, and that they were 5 euro.
Things learnt from this people-graze:
- There are two extra straps on my sadistic backpack which when adjusted make it much less sadistic. I was horribly unaware of these and my shoulders will be forever thankful for his pointing them out.
- Free walking tours are actually worth it. Without his tip I wouldn’t have been aware of the one I took yesterday, wouldn’t have scored free cheese, and wouldn’t have known they have ones like these in almost every country I’m going to. (I just hope they all provide free cheese)
- That even more lovelier than exploring the world will be, most definitely, exploring the intriguing little worlds people live in within it.
