Before he'd left England at the beginning of the year to come back he'd been in touch with a friend he'd not seen for almost two years. It had been good to see him again - totally unexpected he'd come to see him before his return to Israel. He told his friend that if he found the time, summer or whatever, he was very welcome to come and visit.

He'd only received a couple of letters from him while he'd been on the kibbutz, but the latest one that came told of his impending arrival - a three week holiday in the middle of December.
He was really surprised and also happy. 'At last,' he thought, 'someone from England will be able to see how I've been living for these past few years.' He'd make sure they'd have a good time and was really looking forward to it.

His replacement at work arrived in his final month. After a week had passed he and his co-worker decided that the new guy didn't seem the right person - not enough enthusiasm or interest for the work. Someone else arrived a week later, and it was immediately obvious that this one would be ideal - he took to things slowly but caught on well enough.