digging for treasures

as long as i can remember, i go to Emmaus,

a second-hand shop/organisation 

founded by a priest in France, 

and run as a commune,

set in an old convent 

just outside of Breda.

* 

it's lovely there, as the convent is an old place,

restored a few times,

but it was allowed to retain it's character

{rare in Holland...}

the convent originated a long time ago,

was a lot bigger originally,

but unfortunately a big part was destroyed.

the small outbuildings have survived

and now house the many different sections.

there's a sweet bric-a-brac part,

the electronics-section,

an enormous clothes area,

children's clothes, paraphernalia and toys,

and a caf where they sell cakes

the picture underneath was taken this summer

when i was there with a few of the kids,

looking for treasures,

or just some bits and bobs.

the kids {17 and 10, then}

were having a whale of a time 

on the sea-saw,

and the swings...

the building looks a lot like my dream house, 

as i picture it in my head.

same feel, charm,

with less chairs though 

and a lot less people hanging around...

kitchen happines

pretty swedish illustration

or so it looks

*

love the simplicity of it

the colours

*

used to have a few items 

that look just like 

the coffee jar

*

♥

the stranger on the train

short story, about a fantasy i've been having since the end of November... 

partly real life, partly my imagination gone wild

****************************************

She took the first available seat without a reserved sticker on it, in carriage 6. Most of them had, and Lucy spotted a four-seater with a table in between, plonking the big rucksack under the small table, noticing a figure in the seat near the window. The man, professional looking, slightly annoyed that his state of peace had been curtailed, gave her a pleasant smile, which she answered with one of her own. She sat down after she'd taken her coat off and enjoyed a few moments of calm. The wait for the delayed train had been long, despite standing in the main hall of Kings Cross Station being fun, listening to the conversations by people near her was enjoyable, and the notion that many of the trains on the boards were leaving for Edinburgh, or Aberdeen, filled her with a mild form of excitement. Places that she'd wanted to go to as well. One time. When arranging it wouldn't be the hassle that this trip had proved. 

Lucy checked the display of her phone, to see if anybody had been trying to contact her in the time it had taken her to go from the waiting hall to the seat she was in now but there was nothing. The train slowly juddered itself into motion, and she knew that it would take at least another hour and a quarter before it was going to halt again, so she placed the phone on the table in front of her and intended to make herself as comfortable as possible. The man next to her had taken his laptop out and waited for the wireless internet connection to be established. The young woman in the seat near the window on the other side of the isle was listening to music; tinny rhythms drifted through the air, and she tapped her fingers on the window sill. 

The seats opposite weren't taken, despite the claim made by the bits of paper on the headrest. 
"I'll do you a deal," she suddenly heard the man next to her say, "I'll take that chair over there in a bit if nobody else does. I'll give it ten more minutes."
His smile was winning, and she nodded.
"Can't see why not."
They carried on in silence for a while, in which nobody but an elderly woman wandered along, looking for the coffee carriage, and Lucy let the sound of the voice that had just spoken to her bounce around her head. It was a nice voice, with an accent that she hadn't heard much before. Apart form a children's programme that her oldest son used to watch, years and years before. Northern, Yorkshire probably, seen as that's where the train was heading for.

Nine minutes later the man grabbed his laptop, turned it to face the chair opposite  him, grabbed his jacket and scarf, and waited for Lucy to get up and make enough space for him to squeeze through. Another smile adorned his face, but she felt too shy to keep looking his way. She hadn't, apart form staring at London which rolled past the window he was sitting next to, lights coming from office windows, then houses, shops, petrol stations, and slowly there was darkness. She didn't want to make him think that she was trying to work out what he was doing on that laptop. Though she had been curious enough to consider it.