I used to go along with that old expression ‘No man is an Island’, but I was wrong, we are all ‘Islands’ we are all unique, and in our own way special to other people.
If I had never hosted, I would have missed out on two of the nicest moments I have had in my life!
Agatha (I will hide her real name) comes from a country town in New South Wales. She booked to come and stay with us to attend a wedding close by for one of her young swimming pupils. Agatha informed me that she was regarded as one of Australia’s top junior swimming coaches…wow, I looked forward to this. The day of her arrival came, and I sent her a welcoming message and I mentioned that we had in our community a beautiful new public swimming facility with a heated Olympic size infinity pool that she would possibly wish to train in, or keep herself in shape with for the five day duration of her stay.
Around lunch time a mobility impaired taxi van pulled up out the front of our property and this woman emerged to be helped with a walking crutch in her right hand and arm and the driver on her other arm…..she was huge! She was possibly the largest frame woman I had met, and as she walked up the drive I rushed to my computer and increased my public liability insurance! Well not literally but I did within the hour of her arrival.
This looked nothing like the person in the profile photo, (who in actual fact was a young neighbour who had booked for Agatha) I could imagine her involvement ‘emptying’ a swimming pool, not filling it! It seems to be human nature that we are cynical about things we are not comfortable with, and my feeling was the local ‘food to go’ in her town must be one of the most profitable franchises in the country!
It was summer time, temperature around the low to mid 30s and she wanted to lie down so the taxi driver and I got her onto the bed, and he left…great, what am I going to do now, this has disaster written all over it! I am going to need the SES (State Emergency Service) if she falls over! My hosting space is not set up for the mobility impaired!
She kept fairly much to herself for the first couple of days although with the few chats that we had she told me about her swimming successes and how this pupil had absolutely insisted the wedding could not take place without Agatha’s presence…..and I guess I was annoyed! This woman had screwed me…Australia’s top swimming coach, you must be kidding, she was just plain full of it!!
Friday afternoon was hot and I was sitting outside under my rear veranda and Agatha came out the cottage door and made her way over to me. I asked her if she would like a cup of tea and she accepted and ‘towelling’ her face and neck of the beads of perspiration, lowered her frame onto a cushioned seating bench. Adrienne came out and we sat and talked a bit, and Agatha started to cry. She told us how life had become so uncomfortable with her medical condition, how her husband, had abandoned her and how frustrated she had become that she could only coach from a distance with a wheeled walking frame and had ended up all by herself in a small country town.
It was as though she was shedding her weight, lifting a veil of uncomfortableness off her shoulders and after a while we were all laughing and joking and she turned out to be the loveliest company and a very unassuming woman whom life had not been particularly kind to.
Saturday, the day of the wedding, the young groom came to pick her up. He was indeed one of Australia’s best young swimmers who has gone on to Commonwealth and Olympic medals, and he told me how he ‘could not have got there without this woman’s help’. They almost looked comical, she hardly came up to his navel, but he still managed to put his arm over her shoulder.
Agatha was one of my best moments in hosting, and she proves yet another old expression, ‘You never judge a book by its cover’
We have a dog…..big deal, most people on earth have a dog! But dogs are so trusting, so nonjudgement. There used to be a story circulating that said…’Lock your wife and your dog in the family garage for a couple of hours and see who will be pleased to see you when you let them out’!!
I worried how guests would take to our dog (Betts) because she is a shepherd, an Aussie Shepherd, and the duty of a shepherd is to warn the farmer when there is an intruder in the flock! She has the bark from hell, and although she unconditionally loves everyone her bark on seeing strangers come up the driveway can be intimidating, it is almost a high pitched howl.
Once pleasantries are exchanged she gets on with the duty of getting in everyone’s way and begging for a pat and food!
Nick and Hannah from London wished to come and stay with us but, through the message stream they expressed a reservation about the dog. Hannah had a virtual lifelong canine fear!
I said to them that I had a daughter living barely 1 Km way and if there was any chance of an issue I would have the dog stay there for the duration of Nick and Hannah’s stay.
They duly arrived and for some obscure reason Betts just sat at the rear door, just as though it was me coming through the gate into the rear garden. Hannah immediately responded by saying she was so relieved that the dog had not approached her. She showed me a scar on her leg and told the story of how she, as a young child went to take a biscuit away from a dog and the bite it inflicted required considerable surgery including a skin graft. Since that event dogs were not part of Hannah’s life. I was so proud of Betts, she just seemed to sense that Hannah was a ‘no go’ zone and didn’t shy away but, just seemed to ignore Hannah. The second night they were there, we were sitting around our outdoor setting having a drink and a chat and Betts came up and sat alongside Hannah’s chair. Hannah ignored her but Betts just sat and sat. That was it, nothing else happened, no great ‘parting of the waves’! Next morning I noticed Hannah give the dog a piece of bacon rind. In that moment you could see a bond forming. Betts took that bacon rind so delicately and Hannah gave her a fleeting pat on the back, once again no ‘Kathy and Heathcliff’ moment. The week went by and on the fourth night Hannah came out for Betts ritual evening walk in the local park where I throw a tennis ball with a plastic ball thrower and Betts retrieves it. It’s the highlight of Betts day and I think that was possibly the highlight of Hannah’s, being able to throw that ball and have Betts bring it back to her feet.
On the final morning as they were about to leave Hannah had to give Betts a hug goodbye and for three days after their departure each morning Betts would sit outside the cottage door waiting for Hannah to come out.
This was Nicks review...
You can’t invent experiences like these. This is what happens when you are an Airbnb host
Thank you all for tollerating me and allowing me to be a part of the CC over the past few years. My wish is that everyone of you has a cheerful and happy festive season and a wonderful year ahead,
Cheers....Rob
