Goody's existential angst

Lovina is a series of villages on a stretch of black sand beach where a few resorts have sprung up. Goody dropped us off at one of these resorts and went of to see his family in Singaraja. I was pleased that he had somewhere proper to stay that night. Goody is having some personal issues. He is a nice guy and a very good driver, so from that respect we have been very lucky. We weren’t sure how to deal with his bouts of existential angst however. We’d be motoring along merrily, soaking in the fabulous views, and interesting street life when Goody would build up to one of his speeches that went something like this:

Goody (serious expression, one hand going up): Jo, David, I sorry.
Us: Eh? Why?
Goody: I sorry. I serious.
Us (baffled): What do you mean?
Goody: I sorry. I tired. My back. I serious. Your holiday no good.
Us: No, our holiday is great! You are doing a good job. We are happy.
Goody: My back. I serious. What should I do?
Us (wondering where this was going. Was it a scam to fleece us for doctor’s fees?): Um. Have a massage? A hot bath? Do some stretching exercises?
Goody: I serious. I play chess. I win. Lately I don’t win. Why? I sorry. I serious.

We had several such conversations with Goody and it was very difficult to follow his thread. We think he was trying to tell us that he was suffering from depression and was apologizing for not being the all-singing all-dancing, entertaining driver. We actually liked that he was quiet. We didn’t want another Zachariah or Mohammed or (worse) Ping. He obviously wanted to talk about his depression, but we weren’t much use. Poor Goody. Usually once we’d had one of our little chats, he’d brighten up a bit. It’s as if he needed to get it out once a day. When he started with the “I sorry…” bit, it did occur to us that he might be apologizing for something he was about to do like drive us over a cliff or something.