“My god, your suitcase is heavy,” my host of the night says. She is a lovely lady who happens to be a psychologist. “What’s in it?”

“Books,” I answer.

“You are selling your own books?” the lady asks.
Probably she assumes that my project in Dutch suburbia consists also of the literary variation of the Tupperware party. An original idea.

In my first article on Dutch suburbia I used the word “group sex”.
The lady has a copy of the article.

“People here speak about this word in your article,” the lady says. “Did you really think that suburbia involves group sex?”

Later that evening her husband tells me: “We invited the neighbors, they’ll be here any minute.”

But till now the neighbors haven’t arrived yet.