According to his navigational instruments, Will Hughes covered a bit more than two-thousand kilometers from Reading to Motovun in slightly more than twenty-four hours, which means that he rode his motorcycle at an average speed of about eighty kilometers per hour. Riding some six hours a day, he covered the distance in four days. He left Motovun yesterday morning with roughly the same travel plan. It is late afternoon already, which means that he is about half his way to Reading. Always a bit anxious about his safety, I am following him in my mind’s eye like a hawk. This is as it should be, I hasten to add, for Will is a whole decade my junior.

Addendum (September 20, 2008)

Earlier than I had expected to hear from Will this afternoon, I received his mobile-phone text-message: “Home at last.” Although he had the whole day for the last ride on this trip, he decided to rush it a bit. He was missing his family, of course. “My friend,” he added thoughtfully, “relax your kindly vigilance.” What are friends for than to worry about each other, though? And poor Will had to worry about me worrying about him, too.