So. This is it. There is no more to be.
I’m not sure that my former self, while doing work planning, believed I’d travel for the full two months or perhaps that I’d be travelling around bank holidays. I don’t know why. Even my not-so-former self had only planned the first ten days or so of this journey and then reasoned that it could be aborted when enough had been had. In discussions with friends before my departure various compromise scenarios had been aired; the possibilities for having had enough were endless. This is, in a roundabout manner, how I ended up with lessons this afternoon which meant my last day was slightly curtailed but also a gentle reminder that the real world beckons and that this will soon all be over, like the pointy end of an egg in reverse.
In a way. I have had enough, sort of, I think, but I would absolutely gnaw the ticket out of the hands of the person who suggested I do another month and, if necessary, crawl on all fours to the next train. This has been a tremendous amount of fun. My feet hurt. And I want more.
In the morning I got up early and rode the tram to Koningsplein, had my morning coffee, then had a very relaxed stroll trying to remember what time I needed to be home for. Puppet made a new friend, a yellow dinosaur hanging from the bag of a man rather surprised to be asked if his dinosaur would mind being in a photograph with my puppet. After some lapses of concetration, I continued my saunter back to Host’s through the Vondelpark where I had a sandwich on a bench in the park next to a shouty man. I had a cup of coffee, then settled down to do my couple of lessons in the afternoon. The first one was good, the second was cancelled, so with the extra hour and a half I at least had the chance to wander even more.
I got a falafel wrap from a fab veggie place, which was nice but lacking something.
In the evening, after a final trip to the purveyor of coffee, I looked at trains and planned my final journey home. My TGV leaves at 17:16 and absolutely cannot be missed because a) I have a reservation on it and b) there is only one direct TGV to Angoulême from Lille per day, unless you’re prepared to travel on a Ouigo which, to be frank, I am not; who would do that to themselves voluntarily?
There is a train from Amsterdam Centraal at 10:28. This is the totally paranoid option – I’m not sure that amount of contingency is absolutely necessary – but I might take it if I’m up early enough and have nothing better to do. The next train leaves at 11:28 and would with no breaks in the journey get me to Lille at 15:51. This can also afford me an hour for lunch and a station-gawp in Antwerp. The last train into Lille before my TGV departs arrives at 16:51, which might be cutting it a bit fine but should be OK. I’d be leaving Amsterdam on the 12:28 for that.
After much deliberation (the preceding paragraph barely scratches the surface of the anguish) I decided I shall take the 11:28 from Amsterdam Centraal to Antwerp and connect on the next train to Lille Flandres (with a change in Kortrijk). The 12:28 is an option but leaves unsatisfactory wiggle room in the event of a sudden change of plan. The 11:28 from Amsterdam comes with the luxury or arriving in Lille at 15:51 or 16:51, sufficient time either to miss a connection or grab something to eat. Or explore. Or all of those things. As tomorrow deserves a leisurely, stress-free, journey on which I can don my train slippers and read my new book, the 11:28 it is.
I haven’t even packed, yet. I shall have time for that in the morning.
