2002-09-18 - 6:30 p.m.

A coda from yesterday: I remember how the brothel proposition came up. Sasha was asked me: �So you have the girlfriend but she is at home, yes?� I explained that no, in fact, I was cripplingly single. Him: �Ahhh�you have a lot of the girlfriends instead, no?� Me: �Not so�s you�d notice, really, no.� Him: �But�you are�normal? You know the girls?� Me: �Er�I know of them.� I assume he then thought I was gay, my aversion to the socialist prostitutes probably confirming it in his mind.

I also forgot the very funny Italian tour guide in the medieval town, who spoke better English than just about any of the group, who, being journalists, were all theoretically paid to be vaguely fluent. I just remember being in the old cathedral, and she�s pointing at things and using phrases like �preromanic bassreliefs� and she points at one part of the sculpture and says, �And these figures are�oh, how do you say in English�I am so bad�.anthropomorphic��

Pablo on tour: 26th Sept - New Orleans, 3rd Oct - Chicago.