[afternoon tea with professor andré brink]

At the end of April (2005) I helped a fellow ph.d student organise her conference on south african lit. Since my mum had kept in touch with her uni. prof. (Professor André Brink) I was able to e-mail him and he very kindly agreed to give a plenary talk at the conference. Later, we went for lunch which was really GREAT as I was able to ask him all sorts of questions (i.e. mini interview!). Poor guy, probably just wanted to enjoy our pub lunch and take a break from the onslaught of queries. I guess it didn't scare him off as he's back in London this week and doesn't mind meeting up. He came for interviews relating to his latest opus: Praying Mantis.

Taking time out from his myriad interviews and meetings, we met at Sommerset House's River Cafe for a chat. While the conversation flowed from travel to research to memories, we ordered our cream tea. Wow. It the most lavish display. Finely dressed waiters brought silver trays brimming with triangles of seeded bread stuffed with tasty delights like egg and mayonaise, tuna and dill, roast meats, hams, chutneys, cucumber. Then there was the cake. The most moist to-die-for coffee cake with an exceedingly light and fluffly chocolate icing. The scones were bursting with currants and velutinous with lashing of clotted cream spread atop strawberry jam. The backdrop to this feast was a ferry-filled thames. What an inspiring afternoon. To complete the sumptuous occassion, Prof. Brink very generously gave me a signed copy of his dernier cri. I'll enjoy immersing myself in it during these next few weeks.

My thanks go out to Professor Brink.