The present seems to last a long time here. Things happen very slowly. I’m in a cafe in a sports centre which has a hostel attached with rooms to rent, waiting for the hostel administrator to appear from wherever it is that hostel administrators appear from. According to the sign on the hostel admnistrator’s door her name is Trix.

I’m also waiting for a salad. Don’t don’t what kind of salad because the woman serving didn’t speak enough English to be able to explain, though someone in the queue was able to translate orange juice, which I now have. A few minutes ago in the past I was standing in a queue waiting to talk to someone at a reception desk to ask where the hostel administrator was but was waiting behind a woman taking ages to fill out a form, or maybe it was the receptionist taking ages on her computer. And yesterday I waited about 10 minutes behind one person in the tourist information office.

This place is a little way out of town, but at least I’ll have my own room tonight. Last night when I went to bed some of the Russians (who may not actually be Russian since I think I heard them speaking to one of the hostel workers in Lithuanian) were snoring very loudly, and then this morning when they got up at 8 or 9, they sat in the dorm and chatted, rather than going to the lounge or kitchen. There were still a few of us trying to sleep.

The salad has arrived: Lettuce, olives and radishes. Doesn’t look as big as it did in the picture.