It was around 18:00 as I headed towards my room or couch for the night and after struggling up another hill, I was rolling down the other side passing the prison and trying to decided if I should take the upcoming left turn or keep going. Both this thought and my progress down the hill were overtaken as I expect you would be in a super man film.

It was neither a bird, a plane or superman, it was Deborah on a child’s bike, with no helmet, exceeding the car speed limit and surprising me in the process.

The decision I was supposed to be making was fuddled and I took the turn, it was another 15min before I returned to the spot and took the correct road and found myself at my destination. Ingolf had yet to arrive from work, but Ute and Deborah “grease lightning” were there as were her grandparents.

They were quite unsure of this Scotsman who had arrived in the kitchen and it took them sometime to warm to me. The grandfather was a little touchy about “who was here first”. Bautzen is in an area where the borders have shifted over time between Germany, Poland and The Czech Republic. I was talking about borders and people movements and how they change, though I think he thought that I saw a narrower perspective involving the last war.

He quite rudely directed questions to Ute about me in German when I was there in the room and I suspect he found me blunt when I told him he could ask me directly. “Oh so you speak some German or some form of German” he said. I paused before answering, not from lack of understanding but I was enjoying the image of repeatedly battering him over the head with the Tupperware that was on the table. He did speak to me in English but it was so ropey he gave up and resorted to German.

He turned out to be rather interesting and I enjoyed listening to his interpretation of how the area had been settled the peoples and so on. The grandmother eventually relaxed too and I was pleased to have relaxed their social barriers which had been rather formidable when I arrived and in the end we had a very pleasant evening together.

Ingolf and Ute were fabulous hosts, very accommodating to the extend that I spent another night. I spent quite some time with Ingolf talking about technical stuff, sour dough bread and making jam, he is both creative and productive. I spent most of the day organising the myriad of things that need done while your on the road, stuff with the flat, route, accommodation etc.

I briefly ventured into town braving the drizzle in my shorts and t-shirt. There is plenty of history in Bautzen and I suspect Ill be back again to discover more of it, perhaps a guided walk with Ingolfs father when there is no Tupperware around to bludgeon him with.