(Above, Oliver's Valentina spilling her charm over Silversant in Bovenkerke minutes before flying back to HP in Skopje) The waiter at the fashionable terrace of Silversant on the elbow-curve opposite the church in Bovenkerk stared at my rotten left-eye but still gave me high-five upon appearance. Not a single hair of his well-gelled blond hair moved. -I present myself in this unseemly edition because you have the third most interesting Valentina of my life as a guest today,- I told him. -Die charmante vrouw,- he was clever and quick to say showing at the young Amazone slowly stretching her full length to say "hi".- Wie zijn die andere twei? -One was Valentina Tereskova a ravishing Russian lady who was the first woman ever to roam the outer space. The second, much closer to Earth and real life was Valentina Filonova a Russian refugee to Skopje who at 18 was madly in love with me. My reputation with you may be lost forever but I will tell you I loved her better than comrade Tito and the Party. And the third Valentina is here, the wife of my friend Oliver. -So, no vodka? -No. They are not Russian. My friend gave short, elegant nods of acknowledgment when their names were mentioned and I set so very pleased, Toshko flanking my right side. With time I become picky with whom I share the table at places I frequent, poor company rubs down on you relatively easy, even the wrong neighbouring crowd may prove a heavy toll. Valentina, who I see for the very first time but who air the confidence I so well know, with Oliver and Tosko (my weakest link) have been perfect. There are only very, very few other people I have known who would instantly make me feel as relaxed, as comfortable with the establishment and with them and with our Macedonian origins. With these three I have enjoyed a short hour or so over a glass of mineral water but that is almost irrelevant. The fluid is what matters. My favourite table companions is one thing but the spotless-cum-pleasurable one for any and every occasion - that is quite another story. -You are a beautiful pair, look after each other very carefully. It has not been for a very, very long time that I have met two who so easily radiate a joy of life like you. My daughter Irina can for sure be a blossom at any one place - whether the White House Dining Room or Silversant or The Ritz. She often takes too much on herself (especially when supporting me) worries a tiny trifle more (an occasional glance here and there, a quick shade in her deep blue-green eyes) than needed, which becomes visible for me when the table grows a bit, to five-or-six pax, no matter how neatly interwoven the individuals may be. But then she spills her effervescent charms all over without a trace of excess and very gracefully. Her garlands and waterfalls of anecdotes, jokes, stories in her impeccable Greek, American-English, Dutch, French and a score of Balkan languages and dialects are a pleasure to listen to but then she is all and visibly, trustfully attentive ear for your own message she will and you know it keep it forever no matter you both know will not meet ever again. An engineer in agronomy, a SixSigma master BlackBelt with Seagate she is a natural. (No photo: she has become so touchy with my selection of her pictures I dare not publish if her mother does not say "This is great" but she is not around now.) Another who can qualify is my friend Sonja Janishlieva-Pisevska cause she is personally charming, consumes and delivers a subtle joke, churns some French and English, has celestial smile, noble manners talent to dance, is very elegant and keeps extensively pleasurable company with quality wines and can easily, with natural authority, solve absolutely anything springing or developing on or by the table. Like my daughter, Sonja herself has this ability to instantly command the eyes of all the maitres'd and they know these ladies have no qualms paying their subtle gestures. Well, than, that is it. A perfect table is a very rare commodity nowadays and this was such. Purely Macedonian by composition right in the heart of the Aalsmeerse social life. It was just over 4 PM, the sun was floating warmly over the west skyline and they were soon gone to catch a 6 PM flight to Belgrade. May be I should try to find pics from the earlier two Valentinas. Small world. I walked, step after an easy step, from Silversant to Watercirkel in Groeneland. Took me incredible 45 minutes. Had a shower and decided to tell you about this very relaxing afternoon...

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