We’d set the alarm early, since I was taking Rob in to the bus station. Somehow it worked, + I was able to crawl out of bed at 7, + stagger over to Rob’s place to wake him up. Much to my surprise, he was already up, + just about completing the last of his packing. Time for a swift cup of tea, then off into town, despite a last-minute panic about a mislaid camera. Got him there in good time, + said goodbye. We’d already exchanged addresses, + promised to make contact again whenever we were both back in England.
On the way back, I checked out the local cinemas, + again there was nothing on that we wanted to see that we hadn’t already seen – a right pain. I was back respectably early, + was surprised to discover that Val was already at work. I was determined to have some breakfast before joining her, but by putting on the hot plate as well as the fan heater, in conjunction with Eddie’s hot-plate next door, I managed to blow a fuse. However, got a new one from Eddie (it was strange, like a small light-bulb) + fixed that, finished brekkie, + got out picking. Val + I struggled on all day, grabbed a quick meal of some soup, then headed into town, stopping off on the way to get some shopping. There was supposed to be a play on in town, but the theatre was dark + closed. So we tried the college, which also had a play on, but that was in German, so we gave that a miss, + decided to come home, simply stopping off at the local store to buy some coke, chocolate, + a magazine. Got home just in time to revive a dying fire, read for a while, then crashed into bed – we were both exhausted.
We’ve both missed Rob already. Just to have another person around was good, to break the sameness of living just with each other 24 hours a day. And when you add to that the fact that Rob is such fun – likes playing games, getting drunk, getting stoned, with a terrific sense of humour, then he really is quite a loss. Ah well, that’s the story of life – people come, people go.
The picture demonstrates Rob doing something way betond my powers of balance, nerve, etc.
But the trouble with relationships, even relatively fleeting travelling ones, is that they come to an end. But we would not have missed knowing Rob, and sharing these few weeks, for the world. Strongest memory is of Rob eating a chunk of cheese before bed in the hope that this would give him vivid dreams.
Apart from mourning Rob, another example of me managing to miss work while Val soldiered on. Not that I seemed to have noticed anything amiss with this at the time.
Leave a Reply