There was no fanfare or razzmataz of being back this time, not like from North Carolina so I have just slowly been catching up with people. This was slightly hampered by still feeling crap, but this week I am going to tackle it with a vengeance. So if I haven't already met up with you, want to meet sometime this week or next?
Last night we went out to celebrate Caroline That I Was In Australia With's birthday. And a very nice evening it was, dinner and drinks (although in a rash decision eating pancakes on Tuesday Dad and I put ourselves on water, milk, orange and apple juice only. This is proving to be slightly harder than first anticipated).
However the evening did take a slightly awkward turn as Caroline and I argued. Nothing serious, just the location of half a continent. We were talking about Lynsey and Caroline's proposed Philanka tour (to Sri Lanka and the Philippines) and how they might go about it, when Caroline suggested they get a boat from Sri Lanka to the Philippines because, and I quote, 'it's right across from it'.
'Aside from the Malay peninsula, Singapore and Indonesia'.
'No, there's nothing between them, because I remember looking at the map when Lynsey was there and thinking she's just right beside me.'
'Aye, except for Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.'
This carried on for a few minutes. I knew I was right, but so did Caroline. More and more people got involved in the discussion but none willing to stick their neck out and take a side. Judith, bless her, eventually did take mine just because 'you're usually right'. That may be Judith, but it doesn't prove there's a chunk of land in between Sri Lanka and the Philippines!
It had to be settled. We asked at the restaurant if they had a map, but apparently it wasn't that kind of establishment. Emma looked up a map of the world on her mobile, but it was too tiny to prove anyone right.
So nothing would do, someone would need to call home and have someone look it up. Anna, probably wanting to end the whole sorry discussion volunteered. And a few minutes later we had the call back that we were waiting for...
Caroline was right.
Except that she wasn't. About ten minutes later there was another call. Colin, Anna's husband, an educated man of the cloth I might add, couldn't read the map it seems.
'Sorry there's a few dots in between'.
Let me illustrate with my handy dandy annotated map:
You'll notice the 'few dots' of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore there. The argument was never about whether you could sail between the two, obviously you can sail between two islands. It was about whether there was anything in between. Which there is, as you'll see circled above.
Caroline took her defeat with good grace, probably better than I did after the first time, when I refused to believe him until I saw it for myself. So I didn't see the need to give her a big 'sooooooo yooooooooooooooo!'
But saying inside your head doesn't count, right?!
No comments:
Post a Comment