Back Home

Well everyone,

I have safely returned home. Man, is it simple here. It just feels like simple ol' Apeldoorn.
Anyway, in the last week in Wimpole, there was quite a ruckus.

David stabbed himself in the head with a pointy branch of a tree.

I was invited to dine at Ffanni's home.

I got a little something from the staff+volunteers and a little something from Philip.

I went back home.

Well, to split these things up, we'll start with the stabbing. (ooh, sounds exciting)
We had to chase LBJ (Little Brown Job (The little annoying lamb which ran about on the parterre and in the gardens. Small story short: premature born, yew died, lives on its own) on the parterre on Wednesday morning and suddenly David knelt down and held a hankerchief on his head, which became red. He apparantly stabbed himself in the head with a tree branch, which was sticking out. It looked worse than it actually was so even though it had bled pretty bad, David was up and running in an hour.

That evening, I dined with Ffanni and her husband Marty. This was truly lovely! Their house was stunning! When we drove up the !DRIVEWAY!, I saw the HUGE house and the GREAT garden... Yup, this is a nice place ^^
Anyway, we ended up talking and discussing lots and lots of things, such as astronomy, religion, airplanes (Marty was a pilot), food and Dutch habits. I did not expect it to be such a great evening! Anyway, Ffanni proposed that if I ever came back, I could sleep at their place. Which is a really nice offer so it makes my threshold for going back lower.

On Thursday (my last day @ work), the staff plus the volunteer gave me a little present. They gave me the Wimpole book with a card which the volunteers had signed, each with a little message... That's real nice!

On Friday, I had my last stroll around and Philip gave me Coldfeet Rock (a sort of powdery liqourice) and after they finished working, Philip and Janet gave me a lift to Royston station. We said our goodbyes and there I stood, ready to go home, a little bit depressed, since it was so great...

And yet the adventure had only begun! I arrived at London's King's Cross and I lifted my heavy suitcase up and down some stairs because the elevator (or should I say lift) decided to break down that very moment. When I entered the SUPERHOT underground, a message was announced... Dear God. Sign problems. No possible alternatives to go to Victoria. I'm not gonna bloody walk that whole distance! But I did not need to. The Circle Line regained service and so I went to Victoria. On the wrong coach. Apparantly, I figured out (while in the wrong one) that the metal pipes have actually been coloured to the colour of the line! Ah. So 2 station further, I left the Metropolian line and went on the Circle line. Which was even hotter. Yay.

Finally after half an hour, I arrived at Victoria, drained and soaking with sweat. I walked through the Main Hall and arrived at the Coach Station. Right, now I only need to wait ... maybe... five hours? So there I waited, at some cafe... And then I checked in with Eurolines. Okay, the bus should arrive 20:30, departing 21:00. Fine.

21:00: No Bus.

21:40 Bus, Not ours, but the bus leaving 22:00

21:50 Our bus. We just have to load everything in...

22:00 I load everything in. Too much luggage! I have to bloody pay the man, however, I had to wait until Belgium...

22:20 Finally going! Next to a Papoea talker who talked about work with some bloke and made calls to another bloke.

4:30 Stopping in Belgium. I had to pay the man 5 euro! Ah well, he explained why, and I'll support him XD So no explaination on the Internets!

Around 5:00, when it became light, the Papoea guy stopped talking. I couldn't sleep anymore so I was annoyed. But I was almost home! We were expected to arrive at 8:00, I expected to arrive at 9:15 or something. I arrived at 8:35. Quite good.

So there you are! My interesting trip home! Like I said last year. If you want to experience something truly awkward? Go with Eurolines! If you want to travel better, go with something else, preferably plane!

Thanks for the support and nice things during this time! I'll let people know if I passed the course or not.

Cheers!!

-Joost signing out.