lonely

 The man with the two sticks is standing under the trees. He is elderly, and has an alert cheerful face. He says hello,  slow down to exchange a few words. 

Walk on to the platform at the castle walls, the place from which the shots are fired when there is a festival. Stand there and look down over the town, he explains all the different streets that he used to live in. He enjoys talking, perhaps he is lonely. He talks of his past, and it is strange, for he is doing the talking. Just agree, and show understanding, and he talks. He speaks of his camping escapades as a youth, when he and his mates got on their bicycles and drove to the Zugspitze. And climbed that mountain too.

He is getting more and more cheerful and sprightly by the moment. In the end, arrive at the parking space by the playground. That is where he has parked his car.

That is where he explains that his wife died four years ago. He is a lonely man, but he says that he really wants to be fit enough to carry his coffin to his own funeral. 

Cross the parking space, he has now long driven away.

Go to visit the rheas, and then carry on with todays ten kilometre walk.