We had our first guest today, quite by accident. The GF went to the shared terrace for a bit of stretching while I worked and we both waited for dinner to be delivered as we were both finishing too late to cook. There he found a large old man from Sheffield who was very keen to chat. It turned out he was staying in an AirBnb downstairs, a room in someone’s flat, and his mother had recently died.
When our food arrived the GF went to collect it from the door just as the man was coming downstairs. He saw the food and found himself in tears. So I sent the GF after him to invite him in for dinner. Fortunately we’d ordered more than we’d needed so there was just enough, with the addition of some olives and cherries. What there wasn’t enough of was chairs so the GF sat on the floor, or cutlery, so I hastily washed spoons between courses.
It was not what I would call a pleasant meal, as he was not very interesting, but was clearly happy to have some company on a day when he was having a really hard time. He did say that if we were to come to Sheffield he would feed us Yorkshire pudding, which I like. And he told us how he liked to do things without his wife sometimes, but there were no problems there, not at all, it’s just that he wanted to go to the Imperial War Museum which she wasn’t interested in at all, and he’s happy for her to do whatever she wants by herself.
And now he has left and I am back at work – it will be yet another late night. I don’t expect work to lighten till next week.