Down by the riverside

Last year, on a tourist vessel on the Oosterschelde, I met Cindy. It was a very special encounter. Cindy was a friendly, funny and intelligent woman.

I must admit that having a brother with Down probably was the only reason for starting a conversation with her. However, just like my brother, Cindy comfortably brought me 'back to basics', back to the things that really matter.

In the 19th Century, John Langdon Down classified what we now know as 'his syndrome' as 'the Mongolian type of Idiot'.

Now I know Mongolians who have behaved stranger than Cindy and my brother:
Genghis Khan's empire ranged from the Yellow Sea to the Black Sea, yet he never thought of building a dental clinic in Varna...
Kublai Khan defeated his uncle Nyan. Because royal blood should not be spilled, he ordered that Nyan's body be rolled in a carpet and thrown about until he died....

Non-Mongolians can also act very strange:
Queen Elizabeth II spends several sessions every month sitting to have her portrait painted. "Now then", she has been known to say as she enters the room, "with or without teeth?"