On the 5th day of March 2023 my beloved and I ate a delicious lunch, al fresco, just outside a tiger sanctuary in southern India.
On the 18th of March 2018 in southern Tasmania, the food, the winery’s Pinot Noir and our lunch’s quasi-natural setting were all lovely.
However, as so often proves true, in both the above cases it was one of our fellow diners who made our lunch unforgettable.
Neither of them had made a booking.
We were unable to converse.
We never discovered their names…
…nor even their particular genus.
Our very big, south Indian beetle hero, pictured above, “made my day”, simply by his (her?) unexpected presence.
At the time I was en route to my second helping of deliciously smoky chicken at Kabini River Lodge, just outside of Nagarhole Tiger Reserve.
(a few hours later, as documented here, a leopard remade that day. A tiger made our next day, and that will be documented on Pelican Yoga before this year’s end)
On 18 March 2018, in southern Tasmania’s Huon Valley, Home Hill winery’s restaurant lived up to its reputation, but we have forgotten precisely what we ate there.
However, I’ll never forget the uninvited “guest” who shared almost all of our lunchtime, albeit from just the other side of the glass wall.
Nor we will ever forget that he or she proved of no interest whatsoever to any other diners; very evidently, most of them never even noticed the spectacular, very clearly visible insect’s presence.
