Me on the ferry on the way over
the Vierdaagse, a four day, 40k a day (50 for men) march through the eastern Dutch countryside, is something that my friend Kelly had been on at me to do with her for years. Trust me to choose the one time since the sedcond world war that it got cancelled. I did the first day, got back, and found out that three people died of heat exhaustion. Nightmare!
Doubly a nightmare since Kelly and I have very different standards when it comes to travel. Kelly is totally content to sit in a tent all day, gets panicky if you suggest she goes out unless she has planned the route, pretty much to the exacty place we will get gas, and cares what she looks like. I don't care what I look like, like getting lost, and turn into a fractious toddler if I have to sit still for more than ten minutes.
Kelly was reluctant to go into town because she only had scruffy clothes, and worried about me every time I went on my own. And she threatened to disown me if I went swimming fully clothed in the canal, after her boyfriend and I decided that we had to do something and that we would dry out pretty quickly. She sat on the side of the canal trying to similtaneously blackmail us with photos of us squelching about in our trousers and, at teh same time, pretend she didn't know us. Tough one to manage! This trip was an object lessopn that if you go travelling with someone, you have to lay groundrules. If I go to Vierdaagse again, I am telling Kelly in advance that if it's cancelled I am going to go exploring, even if I have to go home, and she isn't alowed to worry about me until I feel guilty and come home!
