Coming home to an 8.00 to 20.00 rhythm
Door: the Sergeant narrating for Sarajan C Graanoogst
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Sarajan
24 Mei 2014 | Verenigd Koninkrijk, Cardiff
Hello ladies and gents.
It has been confirmed. This is the last installment I shall write. For those who wish to be able to name me for the remainder of our time together call me … “the Sergeant”.
The journey back from the Netherlands was quite an ordeal and an adventure at the same time. Has Sarajan ever told you about the time that his brother was stuck in London for at least 24 hours due to the eruption of a volcano on Iceland? Well, let’s just say he would get his own taste of the streets of London at night. After a very early departure at about 9 AM from Zuiderzeeweg on the outskirts of Amsterdam which meant waking up at 7 something his journey was rather uneventful up until the coach reached Calais where the nightmare started. There was at least 3 miles of traffic up until the customs check for the trains to Dover. Apparently there had been an accident in one of the tunnels and since there was now only one tunnel to accommodate all traffic the queue quickly expanded. The French were pretty nice about it I suppose. Handing out free food packages and water to all the ones inconvenienced although they had vastly underestimated the amount of inflicted. There was not enough water and there was definitely not enough food. Lucky for him being prepared for bad scenarios is one of Sarajan’s specialties. He was only short on water and quickly improvised by filling his water bottle in the privy. Not very sanitary if you ask me, but very practical. In times of distress a man has to do things he would normally not consider to stay alive (trust me I know). Now this whole nasty business with the tunnel had delayed the coach for nearly three-and-a-half hours and by the time the bus finally got to London the last connection with Cardiff had just left.
What did this mean? Well basically anyone going to Cardiff would have to wait until the earliest bus of the next day which would leave around 9 AM the next day. And since the staff of the station was not so kind to let the stranded travelers stay on the premises and no hostel in the vicinity would allow us a spot in their reception hall and all pubs were closed there was nothing left to do but to await the next morning and check-in time. He told me that he during this time he had become acquainted with his neighbor passenger who was on the way to meet her mom who is currently studying for a Phd at Cardiff University. Yeah, about 24 hours journeying together and spending the nights on the streets of London finding the warmest spots to sit (in April not that many I promise you) gives you plenty of time to talk about a lot of things and play games like memory with a deck of cards (provided the wind doesn’t pick up too much). So it should be quite clear that our dear hero was completely shattered when he arrived at his room in Wales. Wow, this character can take a lot can’t he? I spent a whole evening on the streets of Moscow once and … well let’s not go into details, before his “lordship” reminds me again whose story I’m telling. Let’s just say that my prospects were a lot grimmer than his were.
Anyway, he got back very tired and way behind on his work. And from necessity the “12 hour days” were born, also known as the “days of projects and exams” or in the local slang “revision time” had come. What did this mean? Well basically it meant that our sorry employer would get up around 8.00 every day, spend it mostly on studying at the library with small breaks for eating and resting the eyes a bit, and leave for home at around 20.00 on average. There was one outlier before a big deadline around 22.00 and the library was all locked up when he tried to leave. Can you imagine: Being locked up in a library at night after hours of study. This time I actually feel sorry for the poor lad. Luckily the fire-escape was still available and he could make his escape from that dreadful place.
Now what did our dear hero do in the evenings one might wonder. Can you guess? I’ll give you a hint. It involves pleasant company. Got it? No it’s not fencing. During spring break and most of the first exam week there actually wasn’t any training. So, what else comes to mind? Ok, I’ll just spit it out. He spent most of his time with dear Katie. Personally I’m thinking there is something there, although “his lordship” is very specific on this topic; they’re just friends from opposite sex who spend a lot of time together in the evening. Does he even realize how that sounds? Oh well. Most nights involved movies, sometimes with cooking dinner together, and talking about subjects ranging from the book she plans to write to how their respective days were.
When the exams had finally come and gone and the course work was handed in Sarajan could finally start enjoying the nice weather gracing Cardiff at the moment. What during the “12 hour days” had been sheer torture turned to bliss. Relaxing in the garden or the park during the day and having fun at night. The first night of freedom was celebrated with a nice dinner at la Iguana once again in the company of the lovely Katie. A wide variety of Vegetarian dishes in the style of Latin America made it a great choice. After a lovely dinner and night the following day brought another party. The OR-group (fellow students) decided to throw a barbeque at Matt’s place (I know, strange he never mentioned fellow students, it seems he did not really get acquainted until the final days). After that he had fencing training followed by a night out on the town after some last minute preparations for a trip to Scotland that would start the very next day. It started pretty tame at the “Central bar” although a lot of fellow students were already drunk by the time I got there and had moved on to “Revolucion de Cuba” a great place for dancing and drinking. There was lots of nice swinging music ranging from “Footloose” to “Grease”, “lets twist again”, the Jackson 5 with “Blame it on the Boogie”, and even “Treasure” from a certain Bruno Mars. However by the time the group left that nice club to the next stop on their own planned pub-crawl many were far gone and the night lost its splendor and Sarajan chose the wisest course of action. He made a quiet escape and went to bed.
On the day of departure our protagonist had a lovely time sleeping in at first and having a day filled with board gaming in the afternoon and ending the evening with seeing “Captain America: the Winter Soldier” with … ,you guessed it, Katie right before leaving for Glasgow.
The trip to Scotland however is another tale that will be told by “his laziness” in due time. Seems he has got some time on his hands now and can finally do his own writing.
Well that’s the end of the line for me chaps. Have a good one!
The Sergeant
It has been confirmed. This is the last installment I shall write. For those who wish to be able to name me for the remainder of our time together call me … “the Sergeant”.
The journey back from the Netherlands was quite an ordeal and an adventure at the same time. Has Sarajan ever told you about the time that his brother was stuck in London for at least 24 hours due to the eruption of a volcano on Iceland? Well, let’s just say he would get his own taste of the streets of London at night. After a very early departure at about 9 AM from Zuiderzeeweg on the outskirts of Amsterdam which meant waking up at 7 something his journey was rather uneventful up until the coach reached Calais where the nightmare started. There was at least 3 miles of traffic up until the customs check for the trains to Dover. Apparently there had been an accident in one of the tunnels and since there was now only one tunnel to accommodate all traffic the queue quickly expanded. The French were pretty nice about it I suppose. Handing out free food packages and water to all the ones inconvenienced although they had vastly underestimated the amount of inflicted. There was not enough water and there was definitely not enough food. Lucky for him being prepared for bad scenarios is one of Sarajan’s specialties. He was only short on water and quickly improvised by filling his water bottle in the privy. Not very sanitary if you ask me, but very practical. In times of distress a man has to do things he would normally not consider to stay alive (trust me I know). Now this whole nasty business with the tunnel had delayed the coach for nearly three-and-a-half hours and by the time the bus finally got to London the last connection with Cardiff had just left.
What did this mean? Well basically anyone going to Cardiff would have to wait until the earliest bus of the next day which would leave around 9 AM the next day. And since the staff of the station was not so kind to let the stranded travelers stay on the premises and no hostel in the vicinity would allow us a spot in their reception hall and all pubs were closed there was nothing left to do but to await the next morning and check-in time. He told me that he during this time he had become acquainted with his neighbor passenger who was on the way to meet her mom who is currently studying for a Phd at Cardiff University. Yeah, about 24 hours journeying together and spending the nights on the streets of London finding the warmest spots to sit (in April not that many I promise you) gives you plenty of time to talk about a lot of things and play games like memory with a deck of cards (provided the wind doesn’t pick up too much). So it should be quite clear that our dear hero was completely shattered when he arrived at his room in Wales. Wow, this character can take a lot can’t he? I spent a whole evening on the streets of Moscow once and … well let’s not go into details, before his “lordship” reminds me again whose story I’m telling. Let’s just say that my prospects were a lot grimmer than his were.
Anyway, he got back very tired and way behind on his work. And from necessity the “12 hour days” were born, also known as the “days of projects and exams” or in the local slang “revision time” had come. What did this mean? Well basically it meant that our sorry employer would get up around 8.00 every day, spend it mostly on studying at the library with small breaks for eating and resting the eyes a bit, and leave for home at around 20.00 on average. There was one outlier before a big deadline around 22.00 and the library was all locked up when he tried to leave. Can you imagine: Being locked up in a library at night after hours of study. This time I actually feel sorry for the poor lad. Luckily the fire-escape was still available and he could make his escape from that dreadful place.
Now what did our dear hero do in the evenings one might wonder. Can you guess? I’ll give you a hint. It involves pleasant company. Got it? No it’s not fencing. During spring break and most of the first exam week there actually wasn’t any training. So, what else comes to mind? Ok, I’ll just spit it out. He spent most of his time with dear Katie. Personally I’m thinking there is something there, although “his lordship” is very specific on this topic; they’re just friends from opposite sex who spend a lot of time together in the evening. Does he even realize how that sounds? Oh well. Most nights involved movies, sometimes with cooking dinner together, and talking about subjects ranging from the book she plans to write to how their respective days were.
When the exams had finally come and gone and the course work was handed in Sarajan could finally start enjoying the nice weather gracing Cardiff at the moment. What during the “12 hour days” had been sheer torture turned to bliss. Relaxing in the garden or the park during the day and having fun at night. The first night of freedom was celebrated with a nice dinner at la Iguana once again in the company of the lovely Katie. A wide variety of Vegetarian dishes in the style of Latin America made it a great choice. After a lovely dinner and night the following day brought another party. The OR-group (fellow students) decided to throw a barbeque at Matt’s place (I know, strange he never mentioned fellow students, it seems he did not really get acquainted until the final days). After that he had fencing training followed by a night out on the town after some last minute preparations for a trip to Scotland that would start the very next day. It started pretty tame at the “Central bar” although a lot of fellow students were already drunk by the time I got there and had moved on to “Revolucion de Cuba” a great place for dancing and drinking. There was lots of nice swinging music ranging from “Footloose” to “Grease”, “lets twist again”, the Jackson 5 with “Blame it on the Boogie”, and even “Treasure” from a certain Bruno Mars. However by the time the group left that nice club to the next stop on their own planned pub-crawl many were far gone and the night lost its splendor and Sarajan chose the wisest course of action. He made a quiet escape and went to bed.
On the day of departure our protagonist had a lovely time sleeping in at first and having a day filled with board gaming in the afternoon and ending the evening with seeing “Captain America: the Winter Soldier” with … ,you guessed it, Katie right before leaving for Glasgow.
The trip to Scotland however is another tale that will be told by “his laziness” in due time. Seems he has got some time on his hands now and can finally do his own writing.
Well that’s the end of the line for me chaps. Have a good one!
The Sergeant
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
