We have lived for the past year with the gestation of "Max" never far from our thoughts. Dave and Ria's have kept us up to date with progress on their boat right up to the time that it was launched just a month ago, and now have it proudly on display at the on water boat show in Amsterdam. It was time we became acquainted!
We arrived with time to kill before our appointed meeting time with them all. Sitting quietly waiting for the gates to open, a gentleman in suitably boatish attire approached and asked us if we would like to go into the show. Puzzled, we enquired if he was Hans, Dave and Ria's boatbuilder-friend, but no he was just an exhibitor who had for some reason decided that we would like to use his guest passes, which of course we would, so he ignored our puzzled expressions and happily ushered us through the cordon of security people and into the heart of the show.
This turn of good fortune came on top of the odd circumstance of our arrival in the carpark before anyone had arrived to man it. After making several enquiries as to how or who we should pay, the consensus seemed to be that if no one was there then parking would be free for us for the day.
Perhaps if the sun had shone all day, things could have been more perfect, but I doubt it. A day among friends, among boats, not to mention meeting the beautiful Max (if that is the right word to describe a boy-boat), with food to match and without dipping into one's pocket is about as good as things get.
We had to leave eventually of course, and when we did it was with a contented glow within, that matched the magical sunset which seemed to cap off the day and at the same time fill the world with optimism for the morrow, and a our heads with the thought that perhaps the forecast for miserable weather would be wrong.
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