Simple pleasures

Few things make me feel more serene than sitting curled up in a comfy chair, reading a novel on a breezy terrace, preferably with a view, a gin & tonic nearby, some music and lively chatter in the distant background, and the quiet companionship of my husband.

This week-end of indolent inactivity, ensconced with a highly entertaining and unexpectedly moving novel, the title of which I am too embarrassed to reveal (hint: I’m a sucker for romantic tales of mother-and-daughter reconciliation), is exactly what I needed – a balm on my soul, without wishing to sound too melodramatic. Combined with long, lazy meals with our friends, idly discussing anything from the odd timing of recent US asset freezes to the First Lady’s true identity, fooling around like kids in the swimming pool of our new, temporary (and very lovely) home, and dancing untamed in the tropical rain, it is enough to reconcile me with Kinshasa, for now.

“Breathing is the greatest pleasure in life.”

-- Giovanni Papini

I don’t often put up links, since I know you’re all so busy, but this is quite a good one to keep in your Favourites for a particularly stressful day at work: Slow Down Now.

A Congolese bonobo, demonstrating the forgotten skill of Slowing Down.

Bonobos, whose DNA is more than 98% identical to that of Homo sapiens, also have a lot to teach us humans in the art of conflict resolution: their preferred method is sex, thus embodying long before the Vietnam War, John Lennon and David Allyn, the popular axiom "Make love, not war".

Are you listening out there, Messieurs Kabila and Bemba?