Fast guests

Let’s see how long it takes for Margot to pop up! It took about 4 minutes. A friend mentioned on Facebook he would take holidays in Cornwall, and about one minute later another friend had mentioned the guy should go and visit me, and then only minutes later I had posted I fully agreed with that. And it would happen!

Their visit here would largely coincide with my absence, but there was overlap, and that resulted in me seeing a car being hesitantly parked in my street. And it was them! Mark, a guy who had been a PhD student in Amsterdam at the same time as me, and Karel, his boyfriend.

Karel, me and Mark

They had gone lost somewhere between Exeter and Plymouth, so they were a bit later than planned, and they were hungry. So we decided to immediately go into town for lunch. Unfortunately it started raining, and the rain got heavier, so I cut my touristic walk through Plymouth short, and we darted into the nearest pub for lunch. Fortunately it was a cosy one. And there we were nicely sheltered, and stumbled across a good lunch as well. And we had time to catch up.

I had left the country only two months after they had moved to Amsterdam. I’d helped paint the house. A lot had happened since then. Later I had visited again, when yet another friend had defended her PhD thesis, and I had spent the night at their place.

The rainy view from the ferris Wheel onto the Citadel

After lunch we tried town again, but the rain was relentless, so we had to seek shelter in all sorts of venues, such as the Ferris Wheel on the Hoe, and a pub. Life is hard. The men wanted to get to Dartmoor that very evening to spend a scenic night there, and, weather permitting, go for a stroll there the next day. So way too soon they left again! It had been a quick visit, but it had been great to seen them again. Maybe I'll see them again fairly soon in Amsterdam! And I hope the rest of their holiday is great, and preferably a little less wet...