idioglossia 2

I've started reading W G Sebald's Austerlitz.

The narrator, arriving at Antwerp railway station after visiting the city zoo, wonders if the main hall of the station shouldn't include cages for wild animals, given the fact that so many zoos feature miniature railways.

A while ago P had been staying at mine. Early in the morning he heard me mumbling in my sleep. Apparently I mentioned something about the mini-trains which run through zoos, and how there's always one kid who looks slightly too big to be riding it and how I was always that kid.

flint knapping

This was explained to me by an archaeologist.

It's the art of working flint to make tools. It's the beginning of technology, he said, It's the reason you're here now. To knap flint is a skill that requires you to think several moves ahead.

This same archaeologist beat me at chess.

Later, I ran my hands over him, his biceps, his well-turned sides. Hard and shaped like a piece of worked flint.