The German Girl came to stay this weekend and she is,of course, as is the way with these things, delightfully likeable.

Also, turns out she comes from the next town to where I was born and lived. I used to work in her home town. What a strange coincidence.

I took an instant liking to her when she proved herself to be a born solution-finder. She twigged early (without me saying anything) how sappy I am about Landlord and was doing some friendly stirring (on my behalf, it seems) by proposing he take me through more of South America. I protested, saying my cycling was not match for his - so she suggested I buy a trailer, load it with all my worldly possessions and he tow it - that should slow him up a bit. She also pointed out that I cycle in normal shoes while he has SPD clips (that fix the shoe to the pedal) which makes a difference to cycling efficiency, too. I have SPD clips down on my birthday wish list. I shall be dropping bigger hints to Landlord this December.

When landlord disappeared to the loo, she asked me how we'd met and I explained about me being his lodger and we'd known each other 3 months before he set off for Asia and how much I had missed him while away. She remarked I had obviously totally fallen for him. She asked how long we'd been together and remarked "na du hast dich ja total in ihn verliebt" (well you've really fallen for him)

Landlord came back and she embarrassed him by reminding him he had said (in Asia) that he wasn't cut out for relationships and gets bored after three months or so. He visibly squirmed so I said "oh I know about that. He told me the same thing, but it didn't put me off". I think she was hinting that I was outlasting all expectations and he should take note of this and so should I. (In a seperate incident, he told me his mother phoned Sunday morning and told him "try to hang onto this one" )

I haven't spent time in the company of Germans in a long while and I am reminded how Germans seem more able to observe some good manners that Brits do not. For example, on Saturday we went to Brighton beach and stopped for coffee. I did not have anything at all and so (obviously) Ramadan came up. She did not bat an eyelid at this and instead of the usual prying questions I get from Britons followed by their unsolicited opinion on how religion causes wars or maybe a series of interesting facts about Islam they may have garnered from last Tuesday's Daily Mail, she spoke of the things they do at her school (she's a teacher) to celebrate the end of Ramadan. They ask kids to bring in local foods and they share them with the whole class and can talk about Ramadan and Eid customs. I was not asked to explain myself, not asked to justify anything and I was impressed. She noted that it must be hard to practice a faith in such isolation and I confessed I avoided the mosque and yes, I found it quite a struggle. That was nice. A lot (not all) Brits seem less able to be so polite and gracious about it.

Anyway, upshot is, she seemd so nice that we've invited her to stay in 2 weeks' time (when she comes back from her sailing holiday in Greece and will have a day in UK before flying back to Germany).

So the weekend was a success. That we could speak German to each other helped enormously, and that we came from the same area was such an added bonus.

Gorgeous Landlord and I were invited to dinner with friends at the weekend. She texted me to say there would be another couple there so it'd be dinner party of six. This was fine. I like meeting new people.

Landlord suggested we cycle over. They live about 12 miles away, a bit out in the styx. I have to admit I was rather excited to be cycling home at night in those dark dark country lanes so of course I agreed. We set off in good time and arrived right on time. In fact as we were looking to see which house it is, a bloody great 4x4 pulls up - JUST the kind of vehicle that Landlord and I sneer at. This is a generalisation but they seem to be driven by people who aren't actually thinking about what they are doing: driving a car that is inconveniently big for most things and expensively wasteful in petrol, it's like someone is sticking two fingers up to anyone who wants to breathe clean air and for what? You buy a car too big to park, is expensive to run, wasteful, a danger to children and bigger than british roads are designed to take (compare british safety barriers along the central reservation to the American ones - compare the injuries sustained by a child hit by a car compared to a 4x4 - especially the ones with bull bars. BULL BARS! I ask you)!

They took one look at us on our bicycles and asked us where we'd cycled from. We told them we'd come 12 miles up the road and they confessed they'd driven 2 minutes round the corner. We both exchanged polite laughter while Landlord and I thought (Really? what remarkable confirmation of or 'thoughtless' stereotype)

When we were shown inthe kitchen to meet the couple who'd invited us I noticed that the other couple had brought a box of Bendicks minty chocolates. "oh dear" I thought to myself, as I handed over a box of handmade truffles I'd made that afternoon (including ones flavoured with cointreau, whiskey, praline and marzipan).

over dinner, topics included Landlord's travelling and cycling, the FourbyFourMan piped up that he enjoys mountain biking and also any hobby that involves petro-carbons. (I was sat far from Landlord but I could sense his hackles rise at tis remark) and then FourbyFourMan observes "you [landlord] and I are so alike - a match made in Heaven"

After briefly thinking (how remarkably unobservant of you) I joked "well you can't have him" to which Landlord said "stay out of this, Cookie" and leaned closer to FourbyFourMan - I don't think 4x4 was expecting this as suddenly he went into full backtrack mode. The rest of the table just watched him flounder and getting flustered, which was amusing in a cruel sort of way.

To my surprise, Landlord made absolute no remark on FourbyFourMan's choice of vehicle, choice of hobbie (or the fact that despite saying how much he enjoyed anything that involved putting carbon into the atmosphere, it was his WIFE who was on the soft drinks to drive him home the 2 minutes up the road)

Landlord and I were asked what we'd got up to this weekend so we spoke of our mushroom collecting, that we were making a new batch of tempeh (fermented soybeans - the host is vegetarian so we offered him some to try) and making the truffles yada yada yada.

After dinner we ate the truffles I had brought and the Bendicks remained unopened and at midnight we said our thank yous and goodbyes and cycled off home in the dark. It was an exhilirating ride and I loved it - so glad we'd opted to cycle and not drive - ven if we did get stuck on the major junction at Shoreham Airport - our puny bikes not big enough to trigger the lights to go green. After about 6 rounds of green lights for everyone except us we decided to just go for it at the safest point. I'm a cyclist who never goes through a red light but this time, I had no choice.

It wasn't until we got home that we realised just how unbearably smug we must have come across. I ask you - cycling an hour to get there, bringing homemade truffles, mushroom collecting - making our own fermented soybean food for goodness' sake! could we have been any worse?

Gorgeous Landlord had been asked to come watch football down the pub but when no one confirmed the kick-off time with him. (He's a bloke - I thought that sort of information was pre-programmed onto the Y chromosome) he said he'll assumed they're to meet at eight. He pushed his bottom lip out and said "no one loves me"

me: "No one? Really? Are you sure? No one at all?"

Then his arms came round me and he murmured into my ear: ok, well maybe one person.

And that is as close as I get... for now.