Two magpies on two wheels (2025)

1) Paul from warmshowers was going out and practising some sort of meditation   Thich Nhat Hanh: 'Father of mindfulness' Buddhist monk dies aged 95 - BBC News

 Selina stayed for two weeks and was attending an embroidery course at Hampton Court.  We chatted nicely .  Watched a film Bridge of Spies 

 Sabrina from Airbnb donated her coffee maker to me . The last week I’ve started using voy to make delightful coffee.  However I have to make several cups because I like it so much . 

  Sabrina ‘s daughter came to stay for 5 days  Studied in the morning . away to Hampton. In the afternoon. 

 Paul arrived at 0130 on Saturday morning . I came home from a meeting at 0930 with a voicemail saying that he was in Staines and his bike and panniers had not arrived .  We look at maps and planned a route to Cornwall. His preferred route is along the Thames to Reading .then down to Exeter . However didn’t mind taking trains for part of the journey.  His bike arrived on Sunday around 1330 . Fairly intact really . And probably given me some confidence in taking a bike abroad .  He worked as a driver for  https://kiwijourneys.co.nz/  and after our chat I now think that end November is best time to visit Nz  We finished with an Indian in Molesey . A good stay .  A bit more about Paul , He lives on a bus in Nelson NZ and does his stretching and mediation in the morning .Vegetarian . It was quite easy to make food , poached eggs on toast , porridge, veg curry , tuna pastas in home made sauce .   

 Sabrina was visiting from Roma because d so he becss as became a grandmother . Her daughter lives in Hampton.  I cycled to Hampton Court to walk her home . She was glad of that . But on arrival she said she was “angry” but what she meant was that she was “hungry “. She was happy with the chicken sandwiches .  Steffano her partner came to stay for the weekend . They will get married Friday June 23rd. She 55, he was 42 . 

Airbnb - from Beijing   Just reflecting on a beautiful experience of hosting my Airbnb guest from Beijing for 30 days. It could have turned out to be a nightmare as Stella was a bit lost on arrival as it was her first visit to Uk , actually her only other visit outside China was two weeks in Thailand and had been in covid lockdown for 3 years on her university campus. Also Stella could not cook but had brought her rice steam cooker with her. But it turned into an opportunity to help someone in need. I offered a bike for her to get to work which was about 2.5 miles away or she could have walked. But we worked out how to use the local buses 411, 261 West Molesey to Teddington , using contactless cards and it takes Oyster. Actually I learnt a lot about public transport routes and costs. So, I decided that the only way that her stay was going to work was that I cooked an evening meal for her. Even on the long weekends that I was away, meals were left in the fridge or freezer so that sh...