My Brugge: A Little Normality Returns ....Gilded by the Sun.

Sunday, 6 June 2021

A Little Normality Returns ....Gilded by the Sun.

Awaiting our arrival.
The offending table was within the conservatory on the left.

I can now boast of TWO social engagements since early March 2020! First was lunch in the rain and the cold, on the newly-opened terrace of Bistro de Schilder on Jan Van Eyckplein two or three weeks ago when friends Joachim and Michael were over briefly from Cologne. In spite of numb legs from the cold, it was a delightful two hours plus, protected somewhat under a large umbrella, and really loving the chance for face to face engagement. Then, this last week, to the home of one of the couples involved in the highly entertaining but often difficult Friday evening quiz. Maurice is a barbecue enthusiast with rather important-looking equipment and the expertise to match. SO all eight of the quizzers went plus another couple who might well have been involved in the quiz had be not been too busy with a constant stream of judicial work from London. So, the ten of us arrived and in time-honoured British fashion, the men gathered at one end of the lawn while the women were seated at the long table to sip champagne. The sun was high, the garden, gorgeous, and the group more than ready to savour real, in-person

togetherness! Subsequently, food arrived to a grateful and appreciative assembly and all was well. In fact, much more than well; the past fifteen months faded away somewhat, and the chance to behave normally, even if in superlative surroundings, sunlit to boot, enthused us all. Quite literally, we basked, in heat and sun; in green and shadow, in pauses and laughter; in silence occasionally and in a frequent babble of sound. Our friendships felt like summer.

As we all relaxed in the unaccustomed company, our host ran up the steps into a small conservatory on the side of the house and we heard him fall. He had caught his leg on a low table as he hurried past and somehow, managed to cut his leg. BUT it was an extraordinarily neat slice down several inches of skin covering the shin bone. How that happened from a kind little table with rounded edges, no one knew, though a square of plate glass, edged with metal, covered the top of the table and presumably must have improbably been involved. Eventually, he was dispatched, with a volunteer chauffeuse, to the family huisart who had offered to staple up the slash for healing to begin. And, as if on cue, the leave-taking began. Apart from the obvious accident, it had been a marvellous event, appreciated even more than normal because of the socialising desert before. I have to say that the warm, sunny glow, apres the barbecue, lit up life for ages.

Masquerading as Croc Dundee

And this morning, to the flower markt on ‘t Zand for small plants for three or four small pots. Alas, I tend to get carried away when I stumble upon floral extravagance which is exactly what happened when I saw a giant pot of bright coral gerberas. Heavenly, though the damned pot was too large for my old-lady-bag-on-wheels, my only carrier now that I have no car. Koen, the lovely plant seller fixed me up so that the bag part drooped at the back while the roped-in gerbera rode majestically on the front part. Alas, as I walked, pulling my prize, the actual bag dragged one corner on the ground and would undoubtedly have holed in one on the homeward journey. SO to New Senses nearby, on the corner of ‘t Zand and Smedenstraat owned by Marco and with his sister Anna i/c waiting on! I explained the problem and it turned out that in Portugal, Marco had been an engineer! Every family needs an engineer, frankly, and Marco put everything in working order while I had a coffee and a wonderful Pasta del Nata tartlet. I was quite soon on my way pulling my floral cargo proudly and securely. The fact that I am quite unable to restore the bag in its original position is presently being ignored!