It’s always hard to say goodbye, especially when you hardly see these friends, but there is always a next time to look forward to.
Karin and Maarten once again were amazing hosts and we had a wonderful Concert, and days exploring den Haag and Scheveningin.
The Concert was a great success, and now the time had come to leave.
As I mentioned before, all the trains running on the day of departure had been cancelled countrywide, so it was off to the bus station for Karin and I. She is so kind and always makes sure I get safely on my way.
We arrived at the station and there was a bus sitting there. Not mine.
We went to stand in the queue – no sitting facilities – so it wasn’t comfortable.
Then the info came up on her phone that my bus was running an hour late.
OK for me as I had 6 hours to wait for my flight, but there were other passengers who had only gauged there journey to fit in with the original timings.
During the next hour, the bus arrival time changed about 5 times on the computerised system and it eventually arrived 50 minutes late !!
By that time several of us had arranged that if it was any later we would get an uber ! It is amazing who one meets at times like this, and these folks had been doing Park Runs – a very popular worldwide happening right now. They had chosen this area because the runs began with Z !
Anyway on we all piled and you could sense the agitation as the bus got nearer Schipol airport and even then the roadworks delayed the arrival time even more.
I love looking out of windows and I was happy to see a real windmill on the way, although I was too late for the tulips !!
As we alighted we all shouted ‘Farewell’ and ‘Hope you get your flight’ – I will never know, though, bless them !!
Karin had packed me some sandwiches, so I went up onto the viewing deck to eat them, only to be joined by the local crows.
It is fascinating to watch the planes coming and going, though, and the time went by very quickly.
Ours was the last flight to leave for Birmingham that day, and it was packed, but it still got us home safely.
A quick trip on the overhead rail transfer from Birmingham airport to the train station and my daughter was there to pick me up and – home at last through a lovely English Summer evening country lane.
