Requiem
We didn’t all make it to the end.
So let’s raise a toast to the 650 convertible, the Bora, the T25, and a Caddy which didn’t even make it to Dover. The Saab sisters who were responsible for most of the smog in Rome on the penultimate day and never forget the Jags.
BUT THE SPLITTIE MADE IT!
37.2 le matin
Ok it’s really hot now, yesterday we hung out at the hotel and had some dinner in Frascati, then I came back and drank with some Americans who had wine and found me hilarious. “Are you a professional stand-up?” they asked as I literally felt my ego grow… Then we talked about religion and they found me less hilarious and I said some things they regretted.
This morning those with functioning cars are heading home – but Team 38 have another day before heading off to meet Suzy somewhere north of Rome so we spend the morning standing outside the villa chatting to Marko, Erin and Kayla (who also have extra time here) and it feels like the end of a wedding weekend as folk come up to say bye, we exchange socially difficult hugs and we wave at them driving away.
We’ve probably spent most time with the Z4 (Daryl and his son Harry) and the Megane (Melissa and her dad) and have decided that Daryl is either one of the funniest people I’ve met in a while, or on a spectrum. Possibly both. When it[s time for them to go Daryl just walks past us, slows, looks over his shoulder and says “Well, let’s not make this anymore awkward than it already is” and with no further ado gets into his car and drives away.
It’s the perfect exit.
Melissa and her dad are next, Erin gives them both a hug and as they drive away she calls out “Bye Bryan” and, as soon as they’re out of earshot Millie and I turn to each other
“Brian! He’s called Brian!!!” we say in unison.
Erin’s horrified “You’ve been talking to them every day, there’s a sheet in the car WITH EVERYONE’S NAME ON IT.”
“Yeah. We. kept meaning to check but then would only remember when we weren’t in the car. You can spend a lot of time with someone without using their name, you know.”
“But you are writing this in arrears,” Erin continues, “all these posts are being written long AFTER you got home, so you’ve been calling him Melissa’s dad from day 3 *in these posts* purely so you could tell this story?”
“In the posts used his name in the first couple of days, because I think I knew it then, but I stopped using it at the point in “story time” when I think I forgot it. Young people call it committing to the bit.”
“It feels like a lot of work for quite a weak story.” a version of Erin says, which I find very flattering.
Took some pictures too, and nipped into Rome in the evening.
(Well done for getting this far. You’ve got one more day left.)
