11th until 14th of Sep 2024 Sat Sep 14 2024, 11:39:48 pm CET The second half of the work-week and the beginning of the weekend was just a continuation of the madness. On Wednesday we did the farewell dinner with family for K., Thursday we had a more intimate evening with J. and K. together. It was really a nice evening. Then on Friday evening we had friends M. and W. over with daughter M. after, what turned out, an absolute crazy Friday. But oh so beautiful in the end. Let's start with Friday, yesterday thus. In the morning I was just quickly going to drop off J. and K. at the train station. They were going to take the train to Amsterdam for their flight from Schiphol airport. The train station is not even 20 minutes away but when we arrived there it simply said "cancelled" next to the departure at 10:01. K. rightly said "OK, and now?" Indeed, what happens now? The very strange thing is that I woke up at 05:00 that morning thinking/dreaming to myself, I can not forget the electric charging card for my car if I have to drive to Amsterdam. I even put it next to my mobile phone to be sure that I wouldn't forget it. Normally, for such a short drive I never bring it. For what ever reason, I brought it now... So back to the morning at 09:45 in the train station Noorderkempen It seemed like a good idea..., the last train station in Belgium before you reach The Netherlands. A huge investment to promote people travelling and using a more environmental friendly option. Anyway, good idea... if it would work. First, the tickets (for youth and students) are not that cheap to start. Then the train only ride once an hour and now it was not even riding. How is that even possible, for f#### sake! OK, leave that for another post...long story short, I just said, "well, I'll drive you guys then". So, we embarked on an 1 hour 45 minutes drive to Schiphol in the morning traffic! I was able to attend 2 most important calls driving there. We said our goodbyes, hugged farewell and they were gone all of a sudden. I can not say that it didn't feel special. The chaotic atmosphere at the airport disappeared even just for a moment when we finally waved farewell. Lost in my head, I started driving back with only 23% left on the battery. I had to charge on the way thus. Where I live I was not even concerned, for sure not in the Netherlands with charging stations everywhere. Absolutely correct, after not even 10 minutes of driving, I followed the driving directions?suggestions to the next charging station. I had another call coming up and I just decided to have a croissant with coffee during the call. Why not enjoy and make the best of the situation? I must say, it was one of the best calls I have ever attended, a demo for colleagues in Switzerland with the specialist in Sweden (who lives in in Sofia). Absolutely fantastic! One of the perks with my job. Magic! 4 hours in the car, 4 calls, coffee, croissant, goodbyes, sun , rain and a lot of contemplating I was back at around 14:00 with the biggest smile. The magic continued into today. But firs the Friday evening, with our dinner with friends. It was a nice evening with a lot of talks and laughs again with dear friends. H. and I ended before going to bed completely exhausted after a week that used up all our energy by doing the dishes together. We woke up this morning, and in normal order H. first and then I struggled to get out of the bed a bit later. After the intimate breakfast we decided to just go out for a little excursion to Schoten. We walked along the shopping street and then to enjoy the local park for a short walk. It was a very short walk as our focus was more set on a nice lunch. The evening was great, we sporadically are following J's and K's updates from Cyprus. It seems like a really interesting destination from what we can see. Now, completely exhausted, we will go to bed and see what tomorrow brings... Did you know that..? I try to find an interesting historical event that occurred on this day. Sat 14 Sep 2024, 7:57:35 pm CET Did you know that today 919 is when the battle of Islandbridge Read more about it on Wikipedia., High King Niall Glúndub is killed while leading an Irish coalition against the Vikings of Uí Ímair, led by King Sitric Cáech. Navigate back!
