December 14 was a memorable day. Olli turned 30 then and obviously that is an excellent occasion to throw a party and invite old and older friends. This party was scheduled for 28 December and consequently I rose early for the long train journey to lovely Hude, in Germany. Although having slept only 3 hours, I didn't really dare to take the risk to sleep as a train journey between Dordrecht and Hude consists of 5 changes. Luckily there were no long waits at platforms involved, especially since it was rather cold.
The only tricky bit was arriving. Reason for that being that my mobile is sick (it thinks it's ok to switch off randomly) and that I had no credit on my phone either. This combination is asking for disaster. On the other hand, I had told Olli about my approximate arrival in Bremen and so he and Jill had worked out which train should carry me to Hude. So, upon arrival at Hude station they were already waiting.
The rest of the afternoon was spent preparing for the party later during the evening. Olli had rented some sort of restaurant/canteen-like location off the main road. This venue was being equipped with drinks, food and music. As quite a few people had to travel two to three hours, a separate area was reserved to sleep or pass out. People were asked to bring sleeping bags and Olli's mum provided towels. A lack of matrasses however did result in two ex-Peace Studies students discussing war strategies aimed at the occupation of the only airbed.
Before the party we had spaghetti at Olli's whilst Olli's mum was still busy cooking soup for everyone. After dinner it was time to pick Anna up from Hude station and wait for people to arrive. There was not much waiting to do as everyone arrived relatively early, probably due to the distance. During dinner I caught up with Anika, Anna, Jill and Benny. As the amount of food decreased the consumnation of alcohol increased resulting in people collapsing between 4 am and 7 am. The earlier predicted war over said airbed turned out to be unnecessary: I shared the matras with Jill after having liberated it from occupation by an intruder. The intruder went back to the party, I went to bed to wake up around 11 am. Olli's parents had arrived with breakfast and were having coffee with Olli himself and Jill. The early afternoon was spent clearing up and at 2:30 pm it was time for goodbye. Big hugs for Anika and Benny. Anika wants to organise a reunion in 2010. Perhaps that is a good idea. It is good to see people from time to time and exchange news and stories. With Olli, Anna and Jill I left for Bremen airport to pick up Maggie. The plane being exactly on time Anna and I ran into Maggie just in front of the airport. The last left-overs from the party were picked up and we drove back to Olli's house for tea, showers and dinner. Dinner consisted of soup as there was still a lot left over and good German bread. I have to admit, the Germans do know how to bake bread. They also know how to make maltwine which we had later on our evening walk through Hude in a lovely very German inn-type restaurant. Walking through Hude I realised that although I always had Britain down as the place to be for Christmas and everything related to Christmas, probably this was an incorrect assumption. Although big in Britain, Germany is the Country of Christmas. After our walk everyone was ready to get some sleep, especially as that had been in short supply the previous night. A girls and a boys room was created with the four girls all sleeping beside each other on a matrass and an airbed. Woken up by Olli the next morning we were informed that the world was white once more. Reactions were mixed between excitement and worried groans. Due to the snow the train to Bremen was delayed and my previously high level of satisfaction with German public transport, which it has to be said was largely based on prejudices rather than experience, was shattered. Not only the train from Hude to Bremen departed five minutes later than scheduled, the train I took after breakfast from Bremen to Osnabrück arrived 10 minutes late at the platform. My then three-minute transfer time at Osnabrück became half an hour. Surprisingly trains in the Netherlands were running though, if with delays as well. Still, snow is a serious challenge for Dutch trains and so I think I might say that I was very lucky indeed to arrive by train back at Dordrect station at 6:15 pm.
The only tricky bit was arriving. Reason for that being that my mobile is sick (it thinks it's ok to switch off randomly) and that I had no credit on my phone either. This combination is asking for disaster. On the other hand, I had told Olli about my approximate arrival in Bremen and so he and Jill had worked out which train should carry me to Hude. So, upon arrival at Hude station they were already waiting.
The rest of the afternoon was spent preparing for the party later during the evening. Olli had rented some sort of restaurant/canteen-like location off the main road. This venue was being equipped with drinks, food and music. As quite a few people had to travel two to three hours, a separate area was reserved to sleep or pass out. People were asked to bring sleeping bags and Olli's mum provided towels. A lack of matrasses however did result in two ex-Peace Studies students discussing war strategies aimed at the occupation of the only airbed.
Before the party we had spaghetti at Olli's whilst Olli's mum was still busy cooking soup for everyone. After dinner it was time to pick Anna up from Hude station and wait for people to arrive. There was not much waiting to do as everyone arrived relatively early, probably due to the distance. During dinner I caught up with Anika, Anna, Jill and Benny. As the amount of food decreased the consumnation of alcohol increased resulting in people collapsing between 4 am and 7 am. The earlier predicted war over said airbed turned out to be unnecessary: I shared the matras with Jill after having liberated it from occupation by an intruder. The intruder went back to the party, I went to bed to wake up around 11 am. Olli's parents had arrived with breakfast and were having coffee with Olli himself and Jill. The early afternoon was spent clearing up and at 2:30 pm it was time for goodbye. Big hugs for Anika and Benny. Anika wants to organise a reunion in 2010. Perhaps that is a good idea. It is good to see people from time to time and exchange news and stories. With Olli, Anna and Jill I left for Bremen airport to pick up Maggie. The plane being exactly on time Anna and I ran into Maggie just in front of the airport. The last left-overs from the party were picked up and we drove back to Olli's house for tea, showers and dinner. Dinner consisted of soup as there was still a lot left over and good German bread. I have to admit, the Germans do know how to bake bread. They also know how to make maltwine which we had later on our evening walk through Hude in a lovely very German inn-type restaurant. Walking through Hude I realised that although I always had Britain down as the place to be for Christmas and everything related to Christmas, probably this was an incorrect assumption. Although big in Britain, Germany is the Country of Christmas. After our walk everyone was ready to get some sleep, especially as that had been in short supply the previous night. A girls and a boys room was created with the four girls all sleeping beside each other on a matrass and an airbed. Woken up by Olli the next morning we were informed that the world was white once more. Reactions were mixed between excitement and worried groans. Due to the snow the train to Bremen was delayed and my previously high level of satisfaction with German public transport, which it has to be said was largely based on prejudices rather than experience, was shattered. Not only the train from Hude to Bremen departed five minutes later than scheduled, the train I took after breakfast from Bremen to Osnabrück arrived 10 minutes late at the platform. My then three-minute transfer time at Osnabrück became half an hour. Surprisingly trains in the Netherlands were running though, if with delays as well. Still, snow is a serious challenge for Dutch trains and so I think I might say that I was very lucky indeed to arrive by train back at Dordrect station at 6:15 pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment