Traveller’s Tales part IV

The first part can be found: HERE

The second part can be found: HERE

The third part can be found: HERE


The next morning Lily met me in the hotel lobby and we made our way to where our meeting was being held. By the time we were ushered up to the board room everyone else was there. On the near side of the table two young-looking, very earnest Slovenian men and an older looking woman who was clearly in charge. Her hair was pulled up in a tight bun. She was one of those women my Gran used to call ‘blousey’ and she didn’t look as though she took any prisoners. On the opposite side of the table sipping coffee my partner, looking disarmingly bemused as he always does first thing in the morning.

As he looked up to greet me he appeared startled when he saw Lily and setting aside his coffee looked at me in askance. I realised I should have let him know by phone in advance, but in fairness he’s a good partner and good partnerships are based on trust and he having decided I was out of my tree again decided to say nothing. Our Slovenian colleagues didn’t seem in the slightest bit put out by Lily’s presence. I introduced her and the meeting began. While the Slovenians spoke good English the conversational flow was nevertheless somewhat pedestrian as they had difficulty in imposing business precision on their basic conversational English.

Fifteen minutes later a secretary entered and handed a pile of paper to the middle-aged woman. A protracted conversation then took place in Slovene which also involved the men. After five minutes my partner was beginning to look irritated, which was not a good sign, as at the best of times he has a short fuse. This was not looking good. Lily nudged me and whispering asked if she could say something. I concluded that as things were already going pear-shaped there was nothing to be lost.

Lily began to speak quietly in what I assumed was Slovene and momentarily I wondered if they would hear her. The,n one by one they paused - their faces a mixture of incredulity and embarrassment. Lily continued to speak with an almost unnerving air of quiet authority for a further three minutes, then paused and spoke to my partner and me in English.

She explained that she had told them she knew exactly what they had been talking about and that it was not conducive to achieving a successful outcome. That at least explained the look of embarrassment on the far side of the table. Lily then went on to say she had told them she would be happy to translate for them any ideas that they were having difficulty framing in English. If our Slovenian colleagues were surprised that paled into insignificance compared to the expression on my partners’ face. However more importantly he looked pleased. While we are partners I am by far the more junior and to a certain extent I’ve still not shaken off our old employee boss relationship.

After that the meeting went extremely well, with Lily taking pains to demonstrate she was being as even handed as possible. Two hours later we concluded on a note of genuine agreement with both parties feeling that the meeting had gone well.

Back in the street Lily asked my beaming partner if he wanted some feedback. This was a concept that clearly had not dawned on him, he nodded and we returned to our hotel and ordered coffee. Lily then gave a resume of the meeting as she had read it, pointing out several inflexions and nuances in language which led her to believe that our Slovenian colleagues were much more eager than we had supposed on the basis of the raw translation. In terms of open-mouthed amazement I was now rivalling my partner. Whoever Lily was and whatever she may have been I had misread her totally. Her air of total confidence remained undented and when questioned by my partner was able to explain the basis for her conclusions. Lily’s natural, self-assured manner meant only one thing to me. As much as I hated to admit it she was clearly a public school girl. By now my partner was positively beaming. He reached for his phone and turning to me added ‘well done you pair, go and buy Lily whatever she wants for lunch I’ll meet you back here later.’



Outside Lily gave me instructions and we set off. As we made our way back into the old town she began to tell me about some of the history of the town during the Reformation, woven in with some of the local myths and folklore. She was jokingly relating a popular local myth that the country was plagued by dragons that routinely burnt crops and ravaged virgins, when I saw a dust cart in the distance with a dragon on the back.



I thought Lily had been winding me up, but this clearly was dragon country. I laughed. It seemed to sum up the irrepressible humour of the Slovenian people. I couldn’t image local council bureaucrats back home with such a refreshingly impish sense of humour.



I explained to Lily what I had seen and she laughed. Then gripping my elbow gave me new directions. ‘Let me take you to see the famous dragon bridge, there’s something I need to know,’ she smirked trying to suppress a grin. Shortly we were crossing a fine bridge, buttressed at the corners by four dragons. Lily explained that legend has it that Jason and his Argonauts founded Ljubljana and in the process killed a particularly fierce local dragon. Gripping my elbow again, Lily turned and we retraced our steps back across the bridge. ‘I want you to watch the dragons very carefully,’ she explained mischievously. When we reached the far end she asked: ‘did you see anything?’
‘Nothing,’ I confessed.
‘Well I can’t say I’m surprised,’ laughed Lily. She paused to savor my bemusement then added: ‘According to legend, when a virgin crosses the bridge, the dragons wag their tails.’
‘Well now you come to mention it I think I did see a twitch,’ I offered as we turned and re-crossed the bridge giggling like two schoolgirls.
‘Most the locals call this the ‘mother-in-law’ bridge because the dragons look so fierce Lily explained. ‘Seriously, it is probably the most beautiful bridge of the Vienna Secession and was originally dedicated to the Habsburg Franz Joseph I. It didn’t make much difference I’d already fallen in love with Ljubljana.



Working our way through the streets we paused to look in old courtyards while Lily explained the architecture. I think it was at this point I realised her blindness wasn’t total, but that she could at least detect outlines.



Like yesterday the streets were still full of students celebrating their freedom from home. There didn’t seem to be any of the sullen faces you often see at home.



Lily explained she wanted to visit the market, to savour the smells and enjoy the general vitality and gossip that markets always exude. She seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself and her expression was rather akin to a child in a sweet shop. It soon became evident that Ljubljana was a place she had sorely missed. Perhaps more than I could imagine.



While we chatted I grabbed a few shots enjoying the rich colours and shapes. As far as I could see the food was remarkably cheap and unlike our markets at home it all looked locally grown. Nothing appeared as though it had just been flown in from Tanzania.



Lily paused on several occasions and I could tell she was enjoying listening to the gossip. I began to realise that in the absence of sight just how much Lily had developed her other senses.



As Lilly became more absorbed in her surroundings I allowed myself the distraction of enjoying watching some of the housewives shopping.



In particular I allowed myself the luxury of perusing one or two of the really mesmerizing undulating derrieres on display. Thankfully Lily was unaware of my undisguised leering.



I was enjoying the beautiful vibrant colours when Lily nudged me. ‘Let’s go to the flower market.’
‘Where is it?’ I enquired.
‘Can’t you smell it? Lily laughed. Gripping my wrists she instructed me to close my eyes. ‘Now use your nose.’ At first I could smell nothing which rather surprised me as an ex-chemist, then imperceptibly I began to pick up occasional floral fragrances until gradually they began to flood my senses. Lily was right, we sighted people tend to ignore our other senses.
‘It’s this way,’ I laughed pulling Lily after me.



Shortly we paused again. Lily whispered. ‘They are talking about a girl in their village who has had a baby by a married man.’
‘Eeeeeeeee it’s just like Ilkley market,’ I laughed.



Anyone who knows me, knows I have a thing about sunflowers and I was pleased to see so many beautiful blooms in evidence. Few seem to be grown as ornamental flowers these days, as most sunflower cultivation is given over to the seed producing leviathans that farmers prefer.



I could have stayed all day taking photographs but Lily kept restlessly moving me on.



Any nation that loved flowers that much couldn’t be all bad I decided…. To be continued