Lovely moments through the Community Centre.

[Robin4]

Over the years I have come to enjoy being a part of the Community Centre, contributors have come and gone but all of them have added to my life in some way.

A couple of weeks ago in response to a post of mine here another long time regular, Maggie @Maggie-and-Norm0  casually said she and Norm would be in our part of the world for a day stopover as part of a cruise they are taking part on.

I suggested it would be lovely if we could meet up for a few hours while they were here in Adelaide which both Maggie and Norm agreed to.

So, yesterday morning, under a particularly leaden sky (the worst we have had for the year) I cleaned most of the unnecessary clutter out of the car and headed down to the cruise terminal to pick them up for the day.......

It's always a bit of a leap into the unknown meeting someone new for the first time, and Maggie said Norm was the quieter of the two. You worry about uncomfortable silences, but I soon discovered she is just like me, and could talk the legs off a cast iron pot, and Norm was  not left behind and was so interesting, oh the relief and we had a lovely day together. 

The awful weather drastically changed my plans for them but I showed them a bit of our city and local area, Ade and Maggie got on wonderfully and Norm and I had to fight over who was going to pay the lunch bill. He would not hear of me doing it so in the end we agreed to split it.

A bit more sightseeing before heading back to their ship, hugs all round and both Ade and I had a wonderful day. It would have been lovely to have had them longer and the weather had been a bit more cooperative but I guess you can't have everything.

Thanks Community Centre for giving us a day we will take forward with us into the future, and we will keep in touch with our new found friends!

Cheers........Rob.

[Guy991]

@Robin4 

Amazing 👏

[Alex]

Hello @Robin4! 👋

Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful meetup that you and Maggie had! It's truly wonderful to see how the Community not only helps people answer their questions and improve their hosting skills, but also fosters genuine connections, just like in this case.🤗

@Robin4 What places did you show them for sightseeing? Are you perhaps planning to meet up again, maybe this time in Florida?

@Maggie-and-Norm0 , was this your first visit to Adelaide? What’s your next stop on this cruise?

Best, 

Alex

[Robin4]

@Alex 

I have made a number of friends through the Community Centre Alex, fairly recently  Laurelle and Alex from Huskisson in NSW  @Laurelle3 who I can't wait to get together with again. They are a lovely welcoming couple. The last year has prevented us catching up but hopefully we will soon.

We have had Sandra and John from Arizona and Lee from South Dakota stay here who we still keep in contact with.

But not so much via the Community Centre  but as part of Airbnb we have had Emeric, Carole and Eric from France, of course our now adopted Son and Daughter who first stayed here in 2017 as Airbnb guests, Chris and Laura from Helsinki in Finland who come here every year now .....

And we have made a number of Chinese friends.

In 2018 we had Yi and Zhu from Shanghai stay here for a week. One evening Yi was sitting in our garden and I went over and had a chat with him. He suddenly said to me, "I wish I could grow something!"

He lived on the 18th floor of an apartment block with no access to a garden so, I took him into the potting shed and for the next hour he was in 7th heaven preparing and potting plants we would eventually transfer into the garden. We went back to the outdoor setting and as twilight had set in his partner Zhu came up the path, joined with us and she said....."While we are here we want to see Koala"!

She had no sooner said it and this guttural growl came from one of the trees behind, and there on one of the tree limbs was.....a Koala! .........

To start with I am sure they thought it was a plastic set-up and I was bluetoothing it with my phone, but all of a sudden it jumped from one branch to another and they both squealed with delight.

So they both got their wish, he got to grow something,  and she got to see a Koala.

4 months later I got a request from them, they wanted to return with some close friends and get married in our garden. Plans were put in place but, unfortunately Covid  intervened and the trip had to be cancelled.

Each year on the anniversary of an overseas guest stay I send my guests a hand written newsy card wishing them well and telling them what is going on in our lives......

So I do have quite a circle I stay in touch with Alex.

Saturday was lovely though, Maggie and Norm are such warm friendly people they have thrown out the welcome mat for us but Ade's mobility issues means she is no longer capable of overseas travel. It's hard enough for her just getting interstate to see the kids.

But as I left them back at their ship I said, "Well let's just say.....Never say never"!

Cheers........Rob.

[Dave-and-Deb0]

This is so awesome @Robin4 

I certainly look forward to meeting you someday as we go a long way back.  I think we would need more than a few hours, though.