When Sabine woke up the next morning, the sun was shining again. What a wonderful day! She had to buy a ticket for Achill Island, but there was enough time left to do a bit of inline skating, so she took her inliners and went down to the Rhine. She had started skating at the end of last summer and now it was the first time in the new year for her that she went skating again. She loved it. There was nothing that could clear her head off better than that. However, she was still a beginner and found it, for example, very difficult to brake. So she nearly bumped into another skater, a young man of about 30 years, tall and slim, but was just able to pass him. "Sorry", she said. He grinned because he still remembered the time when he started skating.
After a while she went back home, left her skates in her flat and took the next tram to Cologne main station to buy a ticket. Since the weather was still fine, she decided to get off one stop before and walk the last bit. On the way, she bought herself a book about Ireland. It's always good to know something about the country you're going to visit. Shortly after the cathedral which is right beside the station got into her field of vision. Although she had lived in Cologne for nearly four years now, she was still impressed by that sight. She remembered one day she had been here and climbed the tower with the refugee children. She was taking care of children of refugees from Kosovo in her spare time, playing and doing little handicrafts with them, taking them out to various events, etc. But the group would have to face a lot of changes soon. The Albanian families were to be sent home within this year, but of course they were not very happy about it. The adults would have to struggle hard to rebuild their country, and most of the children had spent more time in Germany than in their native country. "I have all my friends in Cologne, I don't know anyone in Kosovo and I don't want to go back!" exclaimed Vjollca, a ten-year-old girl. Besides, the people who stayed would treat the homecomers very badly accusing them for having left them alone during the bad times. But in this case, there was nothing Sabine could do about it.
She entered the station and went immediately to the ticket office. Hey, there was this guy who had been skating along the Rhine again, standing in the row behind her. What a coincidence! He probably also wanted to take a trip to some place. Sabine wondered where he might want to go. She liked to observe people and thinking about what they might do, where they might want to go and what was going on in their minds. Hm, this guy looked rather athletic. Probably he was going to the mountains for skiing. Sabine didn't want to be alone that night, so she decided to join the English conversation group she sometimes went to. They were mostly young people, Germans and English, and met once a week in a pub to chat about anything that came to their minds, but in English. Howewer, she went back home early that night and packed her suitcase for Ireland. She was still wondering if she was doing the right thing. But, well, meeting Rob again was the only way to find out what she was up to with him. There were two possibilities: either they were together again, or she knew for sure he was not in love with her anymore and she would be free for somebody else. Even that would be easier to bear than this uncertainty.
The Thalis, the train to Brussels, was quite crowded. There was this skater again. So it wasn't the mountains he was going to. Probably a short trip to Belgium. In his compartment all the seats were taken, but Sabine managed to find a seat next to a rather young man with dark hair and a moustache. She took the book about Ireland out of her bag and began to read. The man looked at her very interested. "Are you going to Ireland?" he asked. "Yes. What about you? Where is this journey going to take you?" - "I'm going to Ireland, too, To Achill Island, to be precise. It is in the very West...." - "I know", Sabine interrrupted him, "I'm going there, too." - "How interesting! Have you also been invited to the meeting of friends and relatives of Brian O'Donnell, the painter?" - "Not really", Sabine muttered in embarassment. "What means 'not really'?" the man asked curiously. Sabine had already thought of a possible answer. "I'm going to visit the art gallery. I'm interested in art, you know." - "Yes, this art gallery is very famous. I'm an art teacher." - "Really? Are you? What do you think of this one?" Sabine took a picture out of her bag Rob had given her as a parting present, one that he had painted of her. "Hm, I'm impressed. This guy is rather talented. He just needs some education to perfect his skills and maybe to be taught how to sell himself to make money with his talent. Is he your boyfriend?" Sabine took a deep breath, not knowing what to say. "A friend", she answered finally. The man decided not to ask anymore. Probably it was a former relationship.
Sabine closed her eyes to get some sleep as the train went on.