Overheard by the pool

This afternoon I got about twenty minutes in the sun down by our pool, which just opened for the season a week ago. Since I haven't really had much sun this year, I am blindingly fish-belly white, so a little bit of sun goes a long way – but even so I was sad when the clouds rolled in (it was a little too cool at ~22c to stay there without the sun).

I parked myself at the upper-right corner of the pool (it doesn't look quite that pristine anymore, three years later) near where the afternoon pool queens gather to dish. I had my iPod implanted and was gamely trying to complete Halting State. When the first song ended, I paused to eavesdrop on our neighbours' conversation.

"I got them in New York. I really liked them, but the only ones they had were scratched, so I ordered them and they said they'd deliver them in a couple of days. But do you know how long it took? It took seven weeks. [italics his] I was calling that woman every single day, eventually she stopped taking my calls."

So I turned my iPod back on and kept reading. The next song ended, so I paused again.

"Yes, they're Armani, but not the new ones. I don't like them very much."

I turned the music back on and stuck my nose back in my book.

A few minutes later I paused to turn over, and saw Adolfo arriving at the pool for his swim. I hit pause, and then gaggle next to me fell silent (yes, they were still talking about sunglasses) and watched as Adolfo took off his shirt and shorts and stepped into the pool. After he was underwater, they resumed.

"I loaned him my Pradas but then after he wore them I didn't like them anymore."

After that I left, so I can't attest that they continued to talk about sunglasses longer than the twenty minutes I was there.