I bumped into a woman that I haven't seen in a few years, she is the mother of an ex-girlfriend called Monika who now lives in London.
When I first arrived in Poland six years ago Monika was studying at the same university where I was learning Polish. After a year together we broke up but remained good friends. I had taken her to London and she decided to move there after she graduated.
I fell out with Monika sometime later after she told me about an incident that occurred on a London bus involving her and her then current Polish boyfriend. They had been sat downstairs alone with just one other middle-aged man sat nearby. The man got off and had left his mobile on the seat at which Monika's boyfriend promptly reached over and pocketed it. Two stops later the man, having run after the bus, jumped back on - breathless and sweating - and checked where he had been sitting. He then asked Monica and her bloke if they had seen the phone to which they feigned ignorance.
When she told me this she was in hysterics, as though it was the funniest thing that had ever happened to her. I had given her quite a lot of money up until that point to fund her life in London as the useless boyfriend was not working and they couldn't pay the rent. The first time I went to visit them one sunny afternoon at their flat in north London, he was lying on the sofa watching television and didn't even get up to greet me. She couldn't understand my anger on hearing her 'funny' tale, I've had my mobile stolen in the past and there is nothing even slightly amusing about it.
Since then I have not had any news from her until this week when I said hello to her mother on the street. She proclaimed proudly that Monika is still living in London and got married just two weeks ago, elaborating on how there were people from all over the world at the wedding, this was something truly astonishing for her as in Poland foreigners are few and far between. Her attempts to impress were futile, I am a Londoner and born of immigrants, although I'm used to Polish people talking to me about Great Britain as though I've never even been there. On inquiring about Monika's new husband, her mother told me that he was from Zimbabwe and that they were going to move there. My incredulity must have been plain because she went on to stress that he has a beautiful house there. Mmm... one might have inherited a mansion in Afghanistan or a palace in Iran but would one really consider relocating? Love can make people do extraordinary things.
Word of the week: Szalony meaning mad/crazy/deranged/insane/demented/unhinged/unbalanced/nuts/off one's rocker/round the bend/off the wall/barmy/batty/bonkers/barking/crackers/loony/loopy/not right upstairs/off one's trolley/not the full shilling/sandwich short of a picnic/screw loose etc.
