Day 6. Today's yesterday.

So many things happen in a day that it is hard to remember what happened yesterday. That is why I try to write every evening but sometimes I don't manage. Sometimes the walking and finding a place to spend the night and staying warm takes up all my energy.

Today (which in fact is yesterday, because I am writing this a day later) was a long and cold day. Showers, wind, hail, but a good walk anyway and by the end of the day I found a perfect spot to stay. An old shed - very unlike the shed from the day before - in a field, far away from farms and houses, some old wagons and pieces of wood on one side, enough space to put my air mattress on the other side. A roof for the night! Luxury comes in many shapes.
Nothing very much out of the ordinary happened. Little people on the road. But a nice long conversation with Arie. He passed me by, stopped his car and wanted to hear all about my walk. He told me about his travels in Africa and invited me to stay over at his house but it was far too early to call it a day. So I continued.
At some point I saw a road sign with the name 'Tiel' written on it and an arrow pointing in the right direction. I know two people in Tiel. They both walked with me for a day - in real - last year when I walked to the south of France. I took a photo of the sign and thought about the walks I made with them. The things we discussed, the route we walked, the small coincidences happening on the road.

I walked and ate and slept and woke up and walked and when I arrived somewhere by the end of the day and checked my e-mail, I saw there was a message from a friend. It was a message from the day before. He wrote "I thought it would be a good idea to adopt a day in the past ... But in your calendar I saw that today is open as well. I like that even better. Today is still open at the moment. And it is open for you as well, at least until you read this e-mail. I hope you read it at the end of the day. Or not at all. In that case it has been a nice open day. And you know what? Keep it like that. I don't want anything in return."
It was a nice mail. And indeed even nicer a day later. My friend lives in Tiel. I had thought about him the day before. Today.

(Today's story is for Janus van Binsbergen)