A Japanese woman took my breath away this morning
I’ve always maintained that the true tragedy of the modern world isn't that it's wicked, but that it's so bloody predictable. We spend our lives shuffling through airport terminals and hotel lobbies that look identical whether you're in Birmingham or Berlin. But every now and then, reality chooses to drop a spanner in the works of our dull expectations.
That happened to me today. I was sitting in a hotel bar cafe here in Da Nang, nursing a drink and watching the usual parade of tourists trying to negotiate the tropical humidity with varying degrees of dignity. It’s a strange place, full of the ghosts of old history and the aggressive neon of new money. I was perfectly content in my role as a detached observer, convinced I’d seen everything the world had to offer in the way of human eccentricity.
Then she walked in.
She was a Japanese woman, and she absolutely took my breath away. It wasn't merely a matter of physical beauty, though she possessed that in spades. It was the sheer, terrifying authority of her presence. In a room full of sweaty westerners and chaotic local traffic outside, she moved as if she carried her own private climate control system. She possessed that rare, quiet elegance that makes everything and everyone around them look instantly cheap and badly assembled.
I sat there, frozen with my cup halfway to my mouth, feeling like an absolute idiot. You see, at my age, you don’t expect to be flattened by a sudden bolt of aesthetic lightning. You think you’re immune to that sort of thing. We like to pretend we’re cynical, sophisticated creatures who understand the mechanics of the world, but the right person can reduce all that intellectual baggage to rubble in five seconds flat.
I didn't speak to her, of course. To break a silence like that with some clumsy, bumbling attempt at conversation would be an act of vandalism. Instead, I just watched her order her drink and vanish back into the crowd, leaving me alone with my thoughts and a lukewarm beverage.
It’s comforting to know that even when you think you’ve got the world completely figured out, it can still surprise you.