It’s been two weeks indoors and with weekend weather too good to waste, I was able to convince Teko to drive us all the way to western Gelderland for a small Saturday outing. It was to a restaurant in the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it town of Rossum, a place neither of us had ever set foot in and which seemed well-regarded enough online to be worth the one-hour drive. Despite some tourist traffic on the highways, which I later found out was happening pretty much all over the country, we got to our destination just in the nick of time for our noon reservation.

As can happen with most things my simple lunch plan went awry, initially at least, due to a waiter who could barely care less, an overly-busy riverside dining area, and Teko looking visibly troubled like he was about to reach his boiling point. Despite better service, moving from the crowded riverside terrace to, as I later found out, a vehicle-busy street-side table wasn’t much of an improvement, causing Teko’s mood to go even more sour, further putting a dampener to our plans for a simple, cozy lunch. Quaint Rossum wasn’t looking too attractive at that point, the pain of countless, similar disagreements over the years beginning to flood my memory. Here we go yet again I thought.
After a sigh of defeat and some circumspection I decided to take a breath, step back, and salvage what I could of the present circumstances, biting my tongue and calmly offering different options as a way to placate his sudden change in demeanor.  Despite the odds I was able to get the situation back on its uncomplicated track, and thankfully all became fine in our little world again.

Predictably, given the limited lunch options, we both ordered the house burgers, complemented with near-perfect fries that all disappeared from our plates just like that – all that drama can really make a person hungry – enough to fortify us for a walk around the area. Turns out that this little riverside town of 2,600 people can afford to have a few well-appointed restaurants, a surprisingly decent hotel, and lots of nature to satisfy most, reasons good enough for Teko and I to seriously consider it an option to move to after Amsterdam. Add another town to our potential retirement list.