Restaurant Blooms

The dinner appointment today, Thursday, with P in Apeldoorn had already been made a couple of months ago and at the last moment all we had to do was reconfirm.  I left work at about 15.40 to make sure I had a headstart before the rush hour began.  As it turned out, an accident had already taken place further along the 3-lane exit road leading to the A15 from the A16 and motorists were being encouraged to detour all the way south to the N3 and enter the A15 from that end.  That took up 20+ minutes, so of course, by the time I was back on track, the rush hour had well and truly begun.  The heat made me drowsy on the A15, a beautiful but boring 65-km. stretch from Rotterdam to the Valburg junction, our version of the deadly Route 66.  I set my CD player to 50 and opened both windows so that the wind would keep me awake, both blast-wise and sound-wise.  Once I'd turned into the A50, as though nothing had 'happened', I was again fully awake.  P and I discussed this later and I can only conclude for now that it is the very flat and uneventful landscape on that section of the A15 that induces sleep.  Several accidents have occurred there and no one can seem to figure out why.  On the other hand, all that flatness is what makes The Neth what it is.  50% of the country is below sea level so the fact that there's any land at all isn't nothing.

What followed was FOUR solid hours of live chat, all through the soup, the main course and dessert.  These blooms were right beside me.  We'd sat outside the first 2.5 hours and then it slowly began to shower, so we moved to the inside.  P has become a very very good friend.  Loads of gossip catch-up, encouraging, sharing and buckets of laughter the whole time.  The restaurant owner knows us very well because we like to eat there.  It's a Michelin-certified (but no stars; stars = stress) nook that is very reasonably priced but has that undefinable atmosphere that makes you cozy.  And because it's Michelin, you know you will get yummm food.  My third classy dinner in two weeks ... *sigh*

The road home couldn't have been more different -- a thunderstorm in the east of the country in the province of Gelderland continuing into East Brabant as I drove home.  The heavy downpour cleaned the car and definitely kept me awake.  By the time I turned into the driveway, though, I realized one thing -- West Brabant was still completely dry ... and hot.