Hugh's farewell

It's the end of an era! Hugh has left us. One might assume that the end of this era had come when we broke up, but that wasn't the case. It's sometimes odd to see how friendships can still blossom after the relationship has crumbled. Having a relationship builds a lot of familiarity, and that often stays, sometimes for many years. So Hugh's office was still so close I could hear him type, and we still went on all sorts of adventures together. Friday was his last day in the office. No more reassuring sounds from across the corridor! I'll miss them.

It not only was his last day in the office. but also the last day in his apartment. Monday he would drive north, but on Friday he had to vacate in order to make space for the cleaners. So where would he go? Somewhere familiar: my place. A bit odd to move in together in such configuration, but hey, one of our lab technicians actually bought a house with his ex, where they are living happily ever after, so here in Plymouth they're used to something.

On Friday we had Hugh's goodbye drinks. It was nice! First some pints in the pub, and then off to a restaurant for dinner, and for a small speech and some presents presented by Hugh's closest collaborator. He hadn't expected anything of the kind! Naive chap.

Will takes the piss: here Hugh, who had to do a lot of pulverizing for his research, gets a pestle & mortar and a sample of dust...

After the restaurant we went to another pub, and another, and after that I went home, but Hugh went to another and another and who knows what else. I heard the key in the keyhole at around 3AM. A good goodbye! And then we had a calm and responsible weekend, in which he vacated his office too (snif!), I booked my train to York in order to find a place, and did several other useful things. We also went for our last run together for a while. And on Monday morning it was goodbye!

 Domestic bliss: we made a nice apple crumble together. I did the apple, he did the crumble!

Last run together

I'm sad now. And of course, in a month's time, I'll be moving up north too, and we will meet again, but it will be different. Living in the same town and having offices 2 meters away form each other is something different from being a 2.5 hrs train journey away from each other. And I'll need some of my weekends to build up a life in York. And sometimes go back to the Netherlands, or elsewhere. We'll see how things evolve.

I wish Hugh all the best in Liverpool, and I look forward to do some exploration of the midlands together! There's much to see: Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, the peak district, the Lake district... I hope we'll have much fun to look forward to!

 And there he goes! In his blue car...