SMILES ALL AROUND (March 18, 2011)
When I enter the Kolding Caffe, I take one of the newspapers from the counter before I get to my table. I glance through the newspaper before my drink arrives, and then I put it on an empty chair at my table. Sipping my drink, I drift away. All of a sudden, my reverie is broken by a loud voice from a neighboring table: “Excuse me!” A young woman sitting next to me looks exacerbated. “The woman over here is asking whether she can have the newspaper,” she explains somewhat impatiently. The middleaged woman two tables away waves at me with a big grin. I nod, grab the newspaper from the chair next to me, and hand it to the woman over the table in between. There are smiles all around, and I return to my reveries. Chances are that I was not responsive for quite a while. Which only goes to show how far the world surrounding me has gotten. Very, very far, indeed.