ART OF EUROPE

Week 2 - Saturday

Oh, God, that was ace. That was special. I wasn't going to bother writing this today, but I have to try to tell you about this. I think you had to be there, but -

Okay, there are these four people I sometimes see jogging past my house, two couples. Sometimes they go past with the men running together talking about manly things as they run, and the women a few feet behind them talking about womanly things, and sometimes they run as two couples, man and wife and man and wife, one pair in front of the other, chatting amongst themselves, and it's really cute.

Only today they went past and the couple in front were having a huge blazing domestic argument as they ran, a real top-of-the-lungs screaming match, faces contorted with hatred, proper frying-pan-over-the-head and stabbing time, but all the while jogging. They were like 'DON'T YOU DARE BLAME ME', 'IT WAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME YOU BITCH' - jog, jog, jog. The funniest thing though was the faces of the couple behind, all studiedly blank and neutral, as though they weren't there and couldn't hear them, and all the while two feet behind and running after them.

I wanted to chase after them to see how many miles they kept it up. Maybe they live their whole lives on the road like that. Maybe they have been cursed by a magician to run until they die. Maybe that's what they're blaming each other for. Maybe an hour from now over on the next hill they will have make-up sex, he behind her, at a jog-trot, while the other two avert their eyes but are forced to run behind.

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