Hup Holland

After an invigorating and enjoyable aqua aerobics lesson with Mum, we did the weekly shopping, I snapped a picture in the Albert Hein of a football stadium fashioned from football crates, possibly the next wonder of the world. I don't mind the Dutch obsession with football, or with the colour orange, it's one of my favourite colours in any case, it's a lovely colour, bright, honest and warm. When the boys come over, I know of plenty of friends who can nurture any interest in football they might have that might otherwise get buried by Toby and I.

I managed to get Chantal on the phone Wednesday late, I'm really glad I kept trying as it was indeed the tiredness that was preventing her from ringing me back, not something I'd said or done to upset her. I packed my stuff up and put it in Mum's car, had lunch and walked round to her place - with the arrangement with my mum that she would pick me up a couple of hours later and take me to Mark's place. Just the idea that in the past, I'd turn up at Chantal's place and loose a day there just hanging out, but for now, a couple of hours might be the most she'd have the energy for. I hope this is a phase and it improves again, but who knows? We chatted and she spent time helping me find sites on the web where we would see houses for rent. She has always enjoyed that sort of task and will always do her best to help out. We got through a pot of tea and I tried to distract her from internet searches so we could really just hang out. I think I succeeded pretty much. Just as I thought my mum was about to ring the door, Chantal's Mum and her two girls came through the front door, Gerda and I go back as far as I do with Chantal, we were 15 and 17 when we met nearly 30 years ago. Then my mum appears, so after probably a few decades there we are, both with our mums, kisses and chatter all round. Chantal's daughters are 11 and 15 or 16 now, it seems crazy that Kristie is the same age I was when I met Chantal.
Then as Mum and I left, we bumped into Rob, Chantal's Dad too, how things have changed and stayed the same.
As we drove to Marks I remembered to text him, he'd said 'text me as I might pop out' I thought to myself, so you can put some clothes on more like - one of the perks of living alone and being able to work from home! He texted me back with "shit! I better get dressed!" I know him well :)
I came with a bag of groceries, which wasn't as needed as I thought it might have been but I still managed to cook a nice chorizo pasta and communicate that my stay wouldn't be too much of a burden to him. I am lucky to have a friend in Utrecht where I can stay and complete my recon mission from.
I downloaded Much Ado About Nothing in my bid to introduce him step by step to the Whedonverse (more on that later).