Bon Voyage Piet

Viv & Rob Kleinjan
Sep 8, 2024
13 min read

Spring has been a busy this year, lots of friends found our house in Central London. We love it. The last ones were Lindsey, Jo and Kate, a very dear friendship from our first post; Warsaw, Poland. Only Jo still lives there! Kate is in the Netherlands and Lindsey lives near Southend-On-Sea, which is an hour from London. We were missing two more ladies, Katie who’s living in Prague and dear Marloes, she passed away last year at the young age of 51 years.

Everyone arrived on Friday and I took them to my favourite wine bar, ‘The Lady of the Grapes’. It was a good start. The next day we went for a walk along the canal. Starting from Hyde Park Gardens, it’s a short walk to Paddington. Here Lindsey pointed on her I watch and said the famous words, "first we walk for at least half an hour before we stop!" It was so funny, she’s so organized. From Paddington we went in the direction of the fancy newly build buildings, probably we should have gone to the left, in the direction of Little Venice, this way worked as well, we only had to cross Edgware road, which is not the prettiest street. With this little d-tour, we came back to the canal and continued until Regents Park. We chatted from the moment we saw each other on Friday until we said goodbye on Sunday. We walked a lot, and my knee was cooperating really well!

We had lovely lunch at a Spanish restaurant in King’s Cross Coal Yard.

In the evening we saw the show Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) at the Criterion Theatre.

It was fabulous, it was performed by Sam Tutty and Dujonna Gift, they were the cast!

You think this can be bit boring but in the contrary, it was brilliant!

The next day we did another long walk. We took the tube to Liverpool Street station and from there we walked over Brick Lane where you can find lots of Indian kebap and the best bakeries in town. The area is renowned for its vibrancy, offering travellers of all types plenty to do. Possessing a fascinating history, the area is today famous for being home to the Brick Lane food market, top-class Bangladeshi and Indian restaurants (and plenty more international cuisine), vintage shops, and colourful street art.

You can find so many local and unique clothing here and you have many chances to eat. Absolutely fun to do!

From there we walked to Columbia street flower market. Rob and I have been there a few times, it’s flowers and flowers and more flowers but on the side there are lovely little shops.

After all these beautiful things it was time for lunch. We ate nearby at a middle eastern restaurant. The name I forgot, but the food I will not forget. It was delicious.

From there we took the bus back to Paddington, but this is not the fastest way of commute in London, so near King’s Cross we decide to take the tube back to Lancaster Gate. Kate had to run for her train back to Oegstgeest. So, she had to go back to King’s Cross / St Pancras international again.

Half of June, weekend of 14-16th of June was Father’s Day in the Netherlands and we decided to pay Piet a visit. On Friday we went to Rotterdam and ate with him in the evening. Saturday was for ourselves and on Sunday Rob picked Piet up in Rotterdam and we had brunch/lunch in Zoeterwoude. Loes also came, this was lovely. The Dutch team had to play against Poland, the very first weekend of the European Championships.

We watched the first half and got so into the match that we completely and totally lost track of time. We quickly packed our bags and run to the bus stop. We just missed the bus and had to wait 25 minutes. As a result we also missed our train and the next train had a delay of a few minutes. Calculating once we were on the train we learned that we only had 25 minutes before the gate closed!!! We had to run, my knee, doesn’t know that verb anymore. Sort of speed walking is what I did. Rob run. There was a long queue at the security but with a friendly face we could skip the queue. I went first, the guy in between us, wasn’t very friendly so it took a long time before Rob worked his way through security. Rob told me to go, one of us on the flight is always better than none. I arrived at the gate 17:43, luckily the gate closed 18:00 and not 17:45 like written on our tickets. Rob had all the time, hahaha. At the gate I texted Elvira that she could go home. She and Callum were taking care of Ayo in London.

The following week Jack arrived at Hyde Park Gardens on Wednesday. We had a nice stroll in Camden. Jack bought a few nice shirts, colourful ones, that’s what he likes.

Jack and Ailsa were taking care of Ayo because we had a city trip to Lisbon. Rob left on a Tuesday, he had Finance Conference Europe in Lisbon and I joined him on a Thursday. I stayed one night in Rob’s hotel and on Friday we changed to a Hilton. I strolled through the streets of Lisbon but already soon after I arrived my knee started to trouble me again.

Friday Rob finished late afternoon and then our weekend of exploring Lisbon started. We did some touristy things and a bit of shopping and I was limping through the city with a lot of pain in my knee. On Friday night we had dinner in a very nice restaurant but we were both tired so decided to go back to the hotel early. We had received an upgrade at this new Hilton to a penthouse room, great view over the city, with in the middle of the room a beautiful bath. We wanted to go to sleep but Rob tried to put the air conditioning on. He could not find it, but found close to the bath a device on the wall with 5 different colour switches, so he thought maybe this is the AC? It turned out that our bath had 5 different colour lighting in the bottom, which looked beautiful. Only problem was we did not get it switched off anymore… We ended the day by calling reception and maintenance and they all came to our room and they tried everything, but also did not succeed in switching it off. The solution in the end was a downgrade to a different room on a lower floor to sleep for this night. Next morning we came back to our room and the bath lights were off. It turned out to have an automatic timer build in….. On Sunday we had lunch with Peter, Caroline, Maxime and Kim. Rob’s sister and her family were in town. Maxime studied there for half a year. On Sunday afternoon Rob left back to London, to Jack, Ailsa and Ayo and I stayed one more night in Lisbon and flew to Vienna the next Monday morning. From Vienna I took the train to Graz, where I took a taxi to Robin’s work where I picked up our car. From there it’s another 2 hours drive before I’m in Don Papa, our home sweet home in the mountains.

Robin came on Monday too, just after me. She left on Thursday back home with Daisy and Ayo. Ayo was going for a sleepover because we were going to Formula One qualifications at Spielberg on Saturday. At Don Papa Daisy turned two!!

Rob arrived on Wednesday in Vienna, I went for my yearly checkup in Vienna. Rob and Ayo arrived right on time in the evening and the long journey started to Don Papa again. I remember it was a lot of travelling that week. Rob drove, and at a certain moment he was cursing that there were so many 100km signs at the highway. Right after one of the 100km signs was a speed camera, and boom…. 26km of speeding is a 60 euros fine in Austria. Two weeks before he drove to Rotterdam to pick up his dad for father’s day and again he was speeding, 12 km this time, speeding fine of 160 euros!!! What a difference with Austria.

Back to Spielberg, what an amazing day we had, again, year in year out we try to go there. It has an incredible atmosphere; the orange army is there to root for Max Verstappen. We found a wonderful spot at the end of the paddock just before the first corner. The sun was shining, people were happy, and we had the time of our lives.

We did some tours through Max’ garage and learned a lot of new things.

Ard and Louise were on their way from Munich to be with us for a few days.

We had made a genius plan with Robin that after the qualifying we would meet halfway between her house and Spielberg. Just before we wanted to leave Spielberg the event manager of Brau Union asked us if we would like to sit at the pit wall during the final qualifying, “hell yeah”, we answered together. This was such an amazing experience, sitting behind all the computers, between the pitlane and the track!

With this feeling we left Spielberg and drove in Robin’s direction. Rob drove and I had to find a place where we could stop and get Ayo back. Believe me if I say that this sounds easier than it is! Long story short, I’ll spare you the cursing from my left side. I sent a live location and Robin did the same. We saw each other on each side of the highway, we could wave to each other, this was not what I wanted…. After half an hour d-tour we found each other and we had Ayo back! At home were already Ard and Louise and their dog Luna. They cooked a lovely meal for us, and it was so great to see them again.

When they were with us, we learned that Piet, Rob’s dad fell off his chair and that he was brought to hospital. There was a daily check up with Caroline, whether it was necessary to get back to Rotterdam.

We had a great time with Ard and Louise. We explored new trails and cute huts with the dogs. The weather was from super warm to a bit cloudy and rainy, but this didn’t spoil our time together. We also played golf together. Ard plays every weekend, we did our very best to not mess up too much. It was fun, also because we had the two dogs on the course with us.

On Thursday they left, we had a gathering at the neighbours, unfortunately the calls from Rotterdam got more and more concerned. We decided to leave too, together with Robin who lives three hours east of us. We picked her up in Klagenfurt and the three of us drove all night long, 12 hours to Rotterdam. Just after midnight Caroline called us with the sad news that their dad, my father-in-law, passed away at the age of 91 years. 9 months earlier we buried his wife, it’s sad that it all went so fast. The last week of his life was tough. He broke his hip, which the doctors didn’t see on an x-ray. They kept him overnight to observe him. The next morning, they made an CT scan and saw that he did actually brake his hip. This was Friday, on Saturday he got the surgery. They gave him local anesthetics, that’s better for elderly people. However, after the surgery he was not himself. He was restless, walked to the bathroom in the middle of the night after the surgery. He took off all the drips he had in his arm, had no idea he had an operation on his hip. On Sunday Jack stayed overnight next to his granddad to explain to him he could not get out of bed and helped him as much as possible. In the Netherlands the healthcare is deteriorating where there were in this case only two nurses for 26 patients, unbelievable.

Friday we sat down with the undertaker, funeral was planned for Thursday 11th of July.

Pieter Maarten Kleinjan was a kind, caring man, who always liked to help others. On a regular base he sent boxes with goodies to the children abroad. When Robin once needed a certain book, opa went to Rotterdam city center and tried every bookstore. He missed his wife Willy tremendously, life wans't fun anymore. We miss him, but are at peace with his passing. It's nice to think they are together again.

ree — Pieter Maarten Kleinjan 17.11.1932. 05.07.2024

On July 6th it’s Anna’s birthday and we didn’t want to spoil this, so we had a great day with the children, doing carting, escape from prison island and laser tagging in Zoetermeer. In the evening, we had game night, the perfect way to finish her 29th birthday day! Although we were sad about Piet's passing, we know life goes on and we must cherish it and count our blessings.

Sunday and all the other days of the week we worked hard in Piet’s house to clear things out. It was good to do it straight away because all the children were there. On Thursday was the funeral (cremation) service. Since Robs mother died 9 months ago we still had the program and decided to copy most of it. It was also at the same location, same funeral company so we gained experience in this. Ceremony was very nice and it felt good as closure. Afterwards we went for a lunch with the whole family and it was great to be together. It was at the Kralingse Plas in Rotterdam. Noa took care of this and it was done brilliantly. Robin drove us all home to Zoeterwoude afterwards, but when we got home she felt really sick (fever of 40,9 C) so we took her to the hospital to check. Conclusion: Covid!

The weekend after the funeral Rob and I were supposed to go to York for the horseraces.

Of course we cancelled but it was now the second year in a row that we could not make it. I had bought everything to look great at the races, including a hat, which is a must wear at these events.

In the mean time on a happier note, Mahdi who’s looking for a job in hospitality saw a nice job for Noa. She called them on a Monday and she was hired two days later. Still a few things needed to be discussed but they wanted her! So, on September 1st she and Mahdi moved to Prague, the capital of Czech Republic, for a new job at Hilton. Her third Hilton job, first Qatar and then Rotterdam and now Prague.

Robin and I still decided to drive back on Saturday to Austria. First night over in Nurnberg and next day to Don Papa. It was start of holiday season so it was very busy on the highway. Robin went with me to Don Papa so I could take care of her while Armin would take Daisy with him to work. In the middle of the week Robin started to feel better so I brough her home, which is still 2 hours and 45 minutes drive but due to a serious accident it ended with taking us twice that time. I spent the night at Robin's and made a few lovely photos of their beautiful home.

A few days later Rob arrived by plane in Klagenfurt. He was getting his final wisdom tooth removed. Two years before he had done the others already so this was the final one. Removal went relatively smooth and the day after he was doing ok, but Wednesday at night his face started to swell, he did not sleep from pain and spend the whole night in the bath, in the shower, watching Netflix, reading, but nothing worked. He took some pictures thinking it would start to get better on Thursday. But it didn’t and Thursdaynight ended up that it was still swelling further and again he did not sleep. These days we also had Daisy at our place since Armin and Robin had a wedding party and we agreed to look after their dog. Friday he called the surgeon and he needed to come back for an extra check up. When he walked in, Rob saw directly that something was wrong from the reaction of the doctor. The doctor wanted to look inside his mouth, but Rob could not really open his mouth anymore. Also he had by then inflammation in the upper part of his chest. The doctor send him immediately to the hospital in Klagenfurt. He ended up for 11 days in the hospital. They draw lines on his face and chest to keep track of the spreading of the infection. It turned out that he had 6 different bacteria in the wound from the wisdomtooth removal. He got via IV 3 times a day 2 different sets of antibiotics. After 6 days when they knew which bacteria he had, he got different antibiotics to get more effective treatment. They flushed/cleaned the wound also 3 times a day to remove the puss. When they flushed it he needed to keep his eyes open and saw big injection needles with flexible long needles to get in the wound to flush it with liquid and at the same time saw the green puss coming out via the vacuum cleaner. He told me that it was so painfull that he would have committed any crime they would accuse him of like in an interrogation. It only lasted 5 minutes max, but he called them the highlights of the day. The real highlight was the milkshakes I brought every day and later when he could open his mouth again the chicken nuggets from McDonalds, since hospital food is not fantastic and as you all know, he is the most difficult eater in the whole world. The other thing that got him through the day were the Olympics. He woke up with it every day and spend the whole day watching everything. His daily rhythm was that at 05:30 his room companion woke up, opened the shutters, switched on the light, then went showering, got dressed while making a lot of noise. Then when all done, he turned on the television with sound and went back to bed to sleep…. At 7am then the nurses came and you needed to get out of bed so the could make his bed. Then he got his IVs and then he got his first flushing, just to make sure he was really awake 😊. The nurses and doctors in the hospital were very friendly and helpful. They even came to his room on his 60thbirthday with a special made cake to sing happy birthday for him. It was not the birthday we had planned for, but we will fix his birthday celebrations later. First he needed to get out of the hospital. When he came finally home, he was exhausted. Regaining strength and starting to trust your body again, takes some time. Eating is still very painfull and while avoiding the pain and eating over the other side of his mouth, after a few days he briefly dislocated his jaw. That also did not help. But looking at the positives, he also lost 5 kg, only remark though is, not in the right places.

While Rob was in the hospital, our local construction company had been reconstructing the backside of Don Papa. They build walls from big natural stones, they got drainage in to keep water away from the backside of the house and they also replaced 3 staircases on the back of the house. It looks really nice and again 1 step further to finish off Don Papa. We are almost done. The middle photo is the gap there's now because we chopped a few trees at the neighbours (with their permission).

Jack and Ailsa had in the same weekend as Robin and Armin a wedding. It was Sully and Meeda's wedding, sully nis jack's best friend from Belgium years. He lived with this wonderful family during his final highschool year. This wedding took about 3 days and will be continued in December in India. The bride and groom looked so beautiful.