Day 20, Saturday, Someren, 21st May.
The gas bottle ran out this morning and we don’t know where to get a new one. The early morning I had hoped for turned into another late morning. It is so easy to sleep here, no other campers and the birds rise later than they do in France.
Yesterday was a lazy one around the caravan, tidying and soaking then boiling chickpeas for hours on end. Martein had come to the caravan to show Bob a bike while I was napping, which he offered to sell him for 25 euro. The bike is old and has been sitting in one of Wilma and Matien’s barns for four years, a nice bike although a bit on the rusty side. I woke to a hot air balloon skimming the grass outside the caravan. It was too late to take a photograph once I had realised that I was not dreaming. What a sight, and what a sound.
This morning the bike looked and sounded older than it had the night before, rustier and clicking. We decided to go and look at the chocolate beauty in the bike shop again. On arrival we were told that the bike could not be fixed, we looked at it and Bob decided to take it out for a test ride anyway as we couldn’t understand what the problem with it was. He wobbled down the street and back as to break you had to peddle backwards which felt a little odd. As he said the bike was fine, Bob did a deal with the guy in the shop and bought the bike for 25 euro and got a new gear cable thrown in, Bargain! Now the proud owners of four bikes, we took two of the bikes out for a ride. I was happy to back on my bike, although now on the chocolate beauty Bob can cycle even faster. Holland, being as flat as a pancake is brilliant to cycle around. The cycle lanes are away from the road and well kept and pootling along is a pleasure. We cycled into Maheeze woods and stopped by a large pond to enjoy a bottle of wine and heard some very odd sounding nature, saw a frog, had a laugh and had a widdle in the woods.
It was a hot day today and Martein said that he wanted to heavens to rain when I found him watering flowers back at the campsite. Last night he showed us a barn full of caravans, a trailer for the horses to pull that he had made and painted with tar and some wood that he is going to make a gazebo from, he never stops. He told us that he sleeps for about 3 hours a night.
We need to move on soon, although staying in one place for a week has felt super. But we need to work and get to Berlin for July and see more of this dutch pancake country.
I made a curry last night and am hoping there is enough gas in one of our bottles to heat it up and make some cous cous for tea. It smells like a good one and should do too having been three days n the making. We didn’t get chance to eat the curry as Wilma and Martein lit a fire for us and we joined them drinking wine and beer while sat around the glowing wood. We looked at the stars, talked about various matters and Bob played Losing My Religion for Martein, one of his favourites. They told us about the woman who owns the Asperges farm where we looked for work. They told us that we were lucky that she never called as she has been in prison for mis-treating workers a few years ago. She never pays them properly, takes their passports and doesn’t let them even go to the shops. Lucky was probably the wrong word.
The night grew into morning, and I grew tired. A Saturday evening well spent with a full tummy of wine, not curry. Oh well, it should taste even better tomorrow, goodnight, x.
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