Friends of Gabriel Chantayan

Since the market trip has ruined my afternoon, I shall inflict it upon you instead.

I accompanied my mother to the stalls near Hala Mirowska this afternoon for potatoes and apples. I carried the heavier bag the entire way home, which she acknowledged not once, and she spent the whole walk giving me a full and unrequested account of my grandmother's cough. I offer two observations, one about the transaction and one about her.

First: the woman at the stall said "dwa złote" and charged us three. I am nearly certain of this, because I heard the figure myself and the arithmetic was not difficult, and yet I said nothing, because one does not create a scene over one złoty in front of one's mother, who would then inform the stallholder that her daughter is clever in English but foolish in everything else. So I paid the extra and I have been composing this post ever since, which is, I think, a proportionate response.

Second: my mother's grammar. She says "przeziębiłam się" and translates it to me as "I am have a cold." I have explained the distinction between the present perfect and the simple past to her four hundred times, and she continues to use the construction she invented in 1994 and has never revisited. I have decided that some people are simply committed to their errors as though they were heirlooms.

The apples, I should note, are excellent

If anyone here would like to argue that the stallholder said "trzy" all along, I invite you to produce a recording. Bring measurement methodology, not adverbs.

-- GV

e: the smiliey code I typed for the apples is not valid on this board. I intended and I shall not pretend otherwise. The apples are, in fact, excellent.

-- GV