Chardonnay makes excellent wine for conversations

I start feeling better. My throat is less sore and I’m beginning to loose that husky, sexy voice of mine. A deep Marlene Dietrich whisper, crossing my lips whenever necessary. And it’s not a lot. A save my vocal cords to the most essential of occasions. But this pleasant side effect is starting to dwindle, alas…

Reinout comes home sometime after the hour has turned 6. I’m upstairs in the guestroom, doing some minor emailing after three days of utter neglect of my inbox. Reinout suggests we go for dinner, get me some fresh air as he puts it. The thought is tempting. And given my plan to be back in the office tomorrow, not all too impossible to say no to.

I agree to my husband’s cortious offer. We walk to a steak restaurant only a couple of hundred of metres down the road. Two Chardonnays and a main course later, and we are in full discussion over my latest interest, European colonialism, social Darwinism and the repercussions on today’s society – globalism and terrorism alike. I go on giving a full encyclopedic recap over King Leopold II of Belgium’s brutal venture into Congo (Congo Free State under his rule) and the subsequent annexation to Belgium in the early 20th century (Belgian Congo). The origin of concentration camps and the use of machetes in guerrilla warfare. Admittedly not very nice topics, but for once I feel completely in my moment…oblivious to the drifters and locals alike walking past our table.

For once Reinout seem marginally interested too, giving me confidence I must be doing something right. It ends in the sphere of US and International politics and I realise then I should have become a historian, or possibly a journalist…

Beautiful scene over the Haarlem bridge