A little imagination required...

... but not too much, please!

I have a new student, a pleasant enough fellow. It was a murky, rainy sort of day when I went to meet him. The bus broke down and I had to walk the last distance to his apartment. The gatekeeper was a little clueless. Ok, more than a little clueless. I suspect I disturbed his nap or something. I walked the wide, curved drive to an impressive entrance, then found my way to the appropriate lifts. At this point, I could see the building was old. It's in an older, highly respected part of town, the Jewish sector (different nationalities tend to cluster together in communities here, which is why we're in the Lithuanian community).

I arrived at his floor. The doorbell was funky. I rang, but heard nothing. Rang again and risked knocking. Don't you just hate that? I didn't want to knock if the bell was working, but didn't want to risk it not being functional.

Anyway, he opened the door and, looking straight ahead, I saw leather-couched bachelor comfort and someone who travels a lot. You know the type. He indicated to the right to the glass-topped table. As I turned, I looked down.

There... in front of the door, between me and the lounge area was a ball and claw bathtub....



filled with balls! You know the balls you get in one of those ball pools for kids?



On top of the balls was an 'arm' cushion.... a blue one like this one...

Now tell me... what would you think? I had to DRAG my eyes away from the bathtub! At the end of the meeting, I asked him gingerly if he had kids or particularly liked them. No, he's a bachelor with no kids and he doesn't mind them, but has little contact with them. So what's with the bathtub?? In the lounge??

Anyhow, adding him to my Tuesday and Thursday morning routine is going to mean that before noon, I get to take 6 buses and a metro. That makes for a lot of quality on-the-road time, but I'm happy. I've been wanting a mid-morning student to fill in the gaps. He travels overseas a few times a year, wants to know how to chat up Swedish blondes in nightclubs without sounding Brazilian and only starts work at around 11am every day. What a life!