I was getting ready to go away. Big and others were doing lots of things. Our house was being completely made-over; presently it was a building site, and it would continue to be so in my absence. Outside, the street was undergoing changes too.
I said to every one that I was leaving for a couple of days, that I would surely help again with the works on my return. There were works going on in another house where I had stayed too.
While away, I stayed in a place without internet connection and had to work with two computers, because I could do different things with each of them, and none of them could do all the tasks I needed to do. I could only connect to the internet in libraries. I also did work on paper, printing in libraries too.
I could connect to my one of my addresses with both of my computers, and it was there that most of my work concentrated. The colour of the screen turned red whenever I connected to that address.
At one point the library had to close and I left my tasks for the next day. I returned the next day, connected again with the big computer, but I had to do other tasks too, and people in the library required my attention too. So I had to return for a third day.
The following day I connected again to that address and did good things, but I needed to do things on paper too. People interrupted me too. They needed help.
When I returned home, the works continued in full swing. I started to help as I arrived. There were new people I had not met; presumably they had joined while I was away.
Again from time to time I had to interrupt what I was doing in order to help other people, some times I had to open the computer too. At times, I was also doing my own thing, with the computer, or resting. Some people did not rest, like the GH couple.
In a few days there was going to be an event outside town, towards the East. I had tried to arrange the trip with Koras as I was away, trying to decide whether to go there by bike, or train bringing the bike, or just train then walking. He could not say, he was not sure himself. Now I was back we could think together and decide.
I helped in a few things but I also needed to coordinate with the others, know where things were now. I went to the workshop, where Big and others were working. I wanted to help with the work but I needed lots of guidance. Big seemed to know me, although now he was a different person. At the end of the first day he assured me he would keep in touch. I thought he meant he would come often, or phone me. Then he went to a notebook where he kept the contact details of the people he knew. He wrote down what he knew of me and what I knew of him. Then he asked me if I had his email address. I said no. He was very surprised. He checked that and he saw that his email address was not in his list of things others knew of him. I also was surprised because I remembered having exchanged an email or two. A few hours later I went home and I saw that there had been at least one email between us. Maybe I needed to clarify, tell him that he was right and I had got his address, but now I had this new address of him anyway, so perhaps it was not necessary.
The following day I went to help out and there were completely new people. We worked for a bit and then when all the people were there, we sat down to have a meeting. We talked. I had to introduce myself because only a few of all these people knew me. I asked Big with my eyes what I had to say in my introduction. He said, also without words, “just the basics”. I said my name and that I lived two houses away. There were answers that showed that they had not understood, then I said, “I live on this street”.
I had been working harder than the GH couple this time, but in this meeting they did not seem that interested. While we sat at the table, they were in the same room but sitting on a sofa, they were not in the meeting.
We talked about Koras and his plan to go to that town towards the East. They were discussing transport with cars and weird ideas. I said, “we could even go by bike”. They were amused and did not understand any of that. Perhaps they thought it was too far away for a bike. I said, “look we have even gone as far as the South Coast. And ever since we made our first trip, we have done it regularly” … and then I understood that all this was all about that first trip to the South Coast.