Sometimes the world really feels deliciously small. I'm not sure I've mentioned it, but the sublet of my Brooklyn apartment while I was in Shanghai did not work out as planned. The original subletters left early, and I had a hard time finding anyone to stay. (I was reluctant to let someone unknown in, so relied on people known by people I knew.) At one point my friend H, who teaches in Illinois, told me one of her ex-students was moving to New York from Kentucky - good enough for me. He came with a friend who turned out to be from Australia. In the end it
turned out they had not actually met, and he never made it, but she did. And when she left she found me another Australian... who noticed that one of my tea towels was from Mount Macedon Primary School: how did I come by such a thing? My nephews go to that small country school. Turns out she had been a student there too! I was delighted that she was staying at my place! I finally got to meet her today - she was picking up some things she'd left in a closet. Turns out she lived in Paris before coming to New York, and now works for the tourist promotion office of Languedoc... so she brought me this lovely fleur de sel as a gift. But the thing is: that's precisely the thing I brought people as a gift when I lived in Paris! Tiens!
