‘Stay here. I’m going to find the loo,’ I said, hoping to distract her.
Anna fidgeted in her chair. ‘Don’t be long. Now you’ve said that it’s a case of Palov’s bladder, remember?’
14
Twenty minutes later we hurried along to platform 22 where a sleek red train with a pointy nose was waiting for us. A Frecciarossa. A Red Arrow.
This was to be our last train and I for one was secretly very relieved. This one would take us to Venice, which was terribly exciting in itself. Except yet again, we would have no time to explore the place. We had been so focussed on the actual journey that we had forgotten about the rest of it. We had foolishly given ourselves no time to explore and see the different things each place had to offer. We had just worried about catching trains.
I would come back perhaps next spring and spend a week or so in Venice or Paris, I decided. Because the determination was growing in me that I would be braver; I would not allow my life to be confined to one small town and the same few streets and shops, not when the world was out there, waiting to be explored. Maybe I would make the opportunity to talk to Jack about just that – the possibilities. The best places to go. Was this a genuine reason to engage with him, or a pathetic excuse?
The train pulled out of Milan on time and made its way slowly past numerous unattractive apartment blocks and other railway tracks. There was a skein of electric overhead cables, concrete pillars and towers. And then as we left the outskirts of Milan the train picked up speed and whizzed at two hundred kilometres an hour past broad fields and under motorway bridges. We all snoozed for a while.
We stopped briefly at a couple of places including Verona, forever linked toRomeo and Juliet, and Padova, where it was raining. Then we pressed on towards Venice, Santa Maria, arriving once more exactly on time. It was just after five in the afternoon and the whole thing had been very impressive indeed.
‘One last push, girls,’ Anna said as we got our luggage down from the train. I noticed she took hold of Harriet’s case without a thought and after a bit of toing and froing when Harriet insisted she was perfectly okay and not an invalid, we made our way out of the main doors and out into the late afternoon sunshine.
Beyond a shallow flight of broad stone steps, a staggering view of the Grand Canal met us, with glorious buildings soaring up into the blue sky which were like something out of a Renaissance painting. There were boats of all sizes everywhere. Some werevaporetti, water buses full of people; there was a police launch followed by a yellow water ambulance. We stopped, awe-struck for a few moments, hardly able to believe what we were seeing.
‘Well, will you look at that,’ I said.
‘It’s almost a shock, isn’t it?’ Harriet agreed. ‘I just wish we had the time to look around instead of rushing off somewhere else.’
‘I have been thinking the same thing. Next time,’ I said, squeezing her arm.
‘Yes, next time,’ she agreed, and she smiled at me. ‘Perhaps next time I won’t be such a crocky old woman.’
‘You’re not,’ I said. ‘Perhaps you just needed a different type of holiday. One with more rest and relaxation. And maybe we should have included some time for ourselves rather than be dictated to by train timetables.’
‘A week in a spa like I suggested?’
‘That sort of thing. Anyway, we are here now, and very soon we will be on the boat and you won’t be trudging around anywhere other than to the bar, the restaurant and your cabin.’
‘Bliss,’ Harriet said. ‘Now then, all we need to do is find Evelyn. She said she would be here to meet us. I wonder how we are going to find her.’
We went down the steps towards the canal, loving the bustle of people and boats all around, not to mention the beautiful view down the Grand Canal, which unfolded in front of us.
Suddenly Harriet turned at the sound of a voice.
‘Cooee! Cooee!’
There at the edge of the canal was a very smart, glossy water taxi, like something out of a Hollywood film, and standing in the back was an elderly lady dressed in a striped sweater, dark trousers, huge film-star-worthy sunglasses and a large brimmed straw hat. She was waving and smiling and after a second, Harriet hurried towards her and I followed.
‘Evelyn!’
‘Ahoy there, shipmates!’ Evelyn called back, ‘I’m your ride to the ship. Isn’t this lovely. I was just going to use thevaporetto, but a friend of mine insisted I use it. He said we should arrive in style.’
She wasn’t what I had expected at all, and Anna, who had been busy taking photographs and selfies on her mobile phone, turned with wide eyes.
‘Oh my goodness, is that Evelyn? And that boat is a Riva,’ she murmured. ‘It costs a fortune. Evelyn must know some impressive people.’
‘Didn’t I tell you? Evelyn knows everyone,’ Harriet called triumphantly over her shoulder as she hurried forwards. ‘She’s a force of nature.’
A couple of very dashing young crew members helped Harriet into the beautiful speedboat and she and Evelyn hugged, obviously delighted to see each other again.
Anna and I followed, standing on the quayside until the young people took our cases on board and then held out hands to help us, welcoming us and begging us to be careful.
‘Benvenuta a bordo. Per favore, prenditi cura di te, signora.’
