You Australians

The VeloDrone, intrigued by his colleague's depiction of Australians, decided to take the day off, and observe them for himself.

He bicycled down to the Broadway Kiosk and sat under an umbrella drinking iced coffee, reading a newspaper and enjoying the view of the sea.

There were three women at the next table, also under an umbrella. They appeared to be three generations of the same family. The daughter had arrived on a bicycle, the mother and grandmother had got out of a car.

They were talking about politics in an animated manner. How interesting! thought the VeloDrone, they are talking about politics! He returned to his newspaper.

Now the women were eating. The grandmother was eating a pumpkin salad, the mother a Mediterranean doorstop and the daughter a warm chicken salad. They were drinking iced coffee and iced chocolate, through blue plastic straws. That too is interesting, thought The VeloDrone.

They began to speak of the great grandmother, who had died many years ago. How did she die? asked the daughter. She had been shopping with me, said the grandmother. She had bought an entire new outfit, a jacket, skirt, a hat and some shoes, She was very pleased with them. I dropped her off at her flat and then went home myself. Minutes later I had a phone call from my father to say that she had gone upstairs to visit a neighbour, sat down in a chair and died. There was a silence. That was a good way to go, said the mother. Yes, the other two agreed. There was another silence. What did you do with the clothes? asked the daughter.

The VeloDrone wished he were sitting a little further away, in case they noticed his expression, but they did not. I kept them for a long time, said the grandmother, but they weren't really my sort of clothes. Eventually I must have got rid of them.

At last the three women got up to go. The VeloDrone buried his nose in his newspaper as they passed his table. Had he learned anything about Australians, or not? He wasn't even sure they were proper Australians. He resolved not to jump to conclusions.