Meeting the family

I was nervous about meeting all of JC's family. I'd met them all before, of course, but this was the first time I'd be spending an entire weekend with them in close quarters. On Jeet's wise counsel, I'd fortified myself with a box of Guy Lian to bribe a warm welcome for myself. If with no one else, chocolates are an infallible ploy with JC's brother.

But I needn't have worried. On arriving at the hotel I was immediately greeted with four beaming faces and a cacophany of "You must be tired!", "Come in and sit down!", "Good t0 see you again!"
"Have a grape," his Grandma said. I smiled. What a typically idiosyncratic grandparent welcome.

There was a series of cheek-kissing mwah-mwahs, and I was glad I had practised just before my trip to Europe.

We spent the first afternoon exploring Mainz, which is a beautiful town with a pedestrianised 'old town' centre, scattered with historic cathedrals and churches situated in picturesque winding stone-paved lanes.

I was surprised by how economic the food could be. At one point I approached a fruit stall we were passing, "Can I have an apple please?" I asked.
"Minimum one Kilo," I was informed.
"Oh!" A kilo of apples is a lot.
"But 1 kilo for only 1 euro," the shopkeeper said.
"Oh!"
So suddenly we found ourselves laden with a bagful of fruit, which were familiar, and yet not quite. There was something that looked like a hybrid of plum and grape. And another one which looked like half-peach, half-apricot. Yet another was a grape-sized orange. At first we eyed the fruit suspiciously, then bit into them hungrily, looking at each other with surprised delight.