So there we were at the flea market in Brussels, leafing through old poetry notebooks, when the owner of the stand came over. He was an old man with very white hair and dressed in a suit, probably handsome when he was young, but now making heads turn because floating about his shoulders and hanging to just above his knees was a flowing white cape. Yep, he called to mind a grandpa Superman."Do these notebooks please you?" he asked me in French.
"Yes," I replied, "I find them very charming."
Taking the one I had in my hand and adding another, he tucked the two objects under my arm, and said, "I give them to you, as gifts; just because you are so pretty."
Needless to say, I was charmed.
P.S. It turns out that this is a tradition amongst Belgian schoolgirls, to have notebooks that you have your classmates draw on and write poetry in. My friend from Brussels, who is in her thirties, remembers doing this when she was young. And now we have Myspace and Facebook.
6 commentaires:
I always find it so charming when an old men makes compliments ;) Yours was very nice indeed :D
I too have such a book. My own. Gosh! I'm old!
Clearly, your appeal is not only cross-cultural, but cross-generational, too! ;-)
Indeed,
as a young girl I had such a book, we called it a "poésie", we wrote poems and rhymes in it,
my to daughters have one too!
I hope you enjoy your visit to Brussels, are you going to Ghent too?
I remember the 'poezië' - I loved it when I was a kid. I especially was very proud if my teachers made a beautiful drawing in them. :)
yes, yes, I also had a poezie :)
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