von has tootled off to amsterdam to secure some hush-hush collaboration deal.considering the number of dutch writers i have been reading since 2002 (nooteboom, mulisch, couperus, palmen, hugo claus, louis paul boon, elscchot, van eeden, tessa de loo, magriet de moor…) i feel it improbably sad that i’ve never been (yet!). poach once sent me a postcard (she was on a work trip) urging me to visit: “it’s a city after your own heart, minz!” describing streets full of glass-fronted houses full of bookshelves. and besides, the artist 马蕙 lives in amsterdam, and i’d like to go see her studio.
in the old days when sq still operated the newark route i always flew to the US via amsterdam. once, i said wistfully to the disembarking passenger beside me, i’ve always wanted to get off the plane here and see amsterdam! and she said to me (because she always took that flight too), but that’s what i’ve always thought, i’ve always wondered what it would be like to stay on the plane and continue all the way to singapore. (i wonder if that lady ever did come to singapore!)
Best of the Transparent Hummingbird