Penh friends

The well-trodden route from Phnom Penh to Bishop’s Stortford. My good friend Megan, who I met in Cambodia, is now living in London with her boyfriend. She suggested we cycle and ‘meet in the middle’ between London and Cambridge. I said it was still likely to be a fair schlep for us both, yet we remained undeterred and Bishop’s Stortford was selected as the halfway point.

The cycle ride took far longer than it should have done. South Cambs and North Herts are ridiculously quaint and idyllic if that sort of thing pushes your buttons, but they ain’t half hilly. As I entered Hertfordshire a few miles north of Bishop’s Stortford, I was informed by a road sign that I was now in ‘the County of Opportunity’. Therefore Meggles and I took the opportunity to drink cider all afternoon in a pub garden and talk for hours about life, love, Phnom Penh, and everything in between. It was totally magnificent to see her.

I took the train back to Cambridge, as the legs may not have made it, plus I was several ciders in. This was my first experience of public transport since I arrived in the UK in March. Wearing a mask is a bit uncomfortable but is hardly something that impinges on our democratic rights.