Batavia Replica

Nan flew back to Manila today.  However, as her flight wasn't scheduled to take off till about 21.00, AW and I decided that we should at least show her a bit more of the country.  I was actually all for simply heading off directly to the airport and letting her wait there, but AW wanted to be a bit more hospitable, even while we both knew it was all going to 'fall on deaf ears'.  So ... off we went to Lelystad, in the province of North Holland, so that she could see a real VOC ship (it actually sails and is used for special occasions).  AW likes this kind of thing and so do I, and so we didn't mind at all (although we did notice it and how could we not) when Nan walked around with us for only about 10 minutes then opted to sit in the shade somewhere with her phone and just wait till we ourselves were done exploring.  We had both seen the ship before but were curious as to how it looked now.  After walking all over it, we had a Vietnamese lunch in the shopping centre nearby, then drove to Schiphol from the north.  It was a very brief leave-taking and I didn't want to give myself the chance to say anything unnecessary, but I also do not like pretending and smiling when I don't feel like it.  It's just a 'park and unload then leave' area so we had a good reason not to hang around.  Nan said 'sorry' to me and I just shook my head and wished her a safe trip.  We left her on the kerb and she was lighting a cigarette as we drove away.

This morning, after I was sure she was done packing, before getting dressed, I took the sheets off her bed and put them in the washing machine, and while that was busy, I cleaned the entire upstairs floor, vacuuming and dusting and returning things to where they were before she arrived.  I folded her bed and straightened up the furniture.  This took more than half an hour but was well worth the effort.  Then the washing was done and I hung it all to dry, knowing it would all be ready for ironing by the time we got back.  Finally, I took a shower.  When we returned later in the evening, sure enough, all I had to do was fold the stuff and put it away.  All that done and she hadn't even taken off yet, but I was glad I had done it because I knew I wasn't going to be in any cleaning mood afterwards.

31 days with Nan.  No regrets, we invited her and hoped she would enjoy herself, but, well, as John Lennon said, 'Life is what happens while we are busy making other plans.'  We just hope she gets back in one piece.