by A solid week of work: 23 hours, with not a single cancellation. With new students coming aboard and some existing ones clambering back on deck in the coming weeks after various business trips, I expect to have my hands pretty full in the near future. This morning’s lessons with the sister and brother weren’t the easiest: their family seems to be slightly dysfunctional and that doesn’t help. I felt sorry for the girl who was tired and impatient: she complained of being overloaded with homework and under unnecessary pressure from her mother. On Thursday night I reached a milestone as my 50th student came through the door; she was the woman I met last week at one of the ferry stops. Her English is very good indeed. She had lived in Milton Keynes, which she described as a fake, soulless place. Yesterday I saw number 51, an eleven-year-old boy, in his fourth-floor apartment within striking distance of Iulius Mall. He was a fan of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? game I often play with kids. After the session, his dad was almost shovelling money into my hand. Um, it’s only 60 lei, not however many hundred. He did insist on “tipping” me an additional 10 lei. By Western standards Timișoara is poor, but there’s no shortage of well-off people, and sometimes I wonder if I could get away with charging double what I currently do. (I have pushed my rates up a bit. A year ago I would have charged just 50 lei.)
S arrived back in Timișoara a couple of hours ago, but will fly back to Prague after just one full day. We plan to meet at the art museum tomorrow.
The Red Sox did close out the series against their bitter rivals, after a bit of a bum-squeaker in the fourth game, and tonight they start their best-of-seven series with the Astros, an exceptionally strong team, particularly in defence.
Scrabble. Three games today, and not a blank to be seen on my rack. The first game was pretty nondescript, my opponent used both blanks to form the only bingo of the game, and I fell to a 52-point loss. The second game was far from nondescript as my opponent out-bingoed me 4-0 and won 466-387. After being pummelled by bingos from all sides, to get within 80 wasn’t a bad effort. That 387 was in fact my highest ever score without a bingo. Also notable was my opponent’s 102-point play; remarkably that was the first three-figure play I’d seen in any of my ISC games. My highest remains at 98. Game three: I played an early bingo (BEAMIER), my opponent replied with a bingo mid-game, but I was able to edge him out 379-335.
I drink loads of water. More than the two litres a day the man on the radio keeps telling me I need to consume. But I still get dehydrated all the time. It could be the effects of Citalopram, the antidepressant I take. On Thursday I asked my doctor to take my blood pressure. The reading was 110/70, which according to the doctor is below average but still absolutely fine. He told me I should perhaps drink more liquid to ensure it doesn’t drop any lower.
Timișoara is beautiful at any time of year, but in the autumn it’s really quite stunning. Sitting by the river this afternoon made me think that there isn’t anywhere else I’d rather be.
