February 17, 2012
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Amsterdam, Netherlands
In the morning, after my shower, I walked over to my scales to weigh myself. It’s a routine I’ve picked up again from years ago when I would do that every day as well. For years in between however, I hardly ever stood on my scales anymore, convinced as I was that they hated me and that they were continuously trying to insult me. And to be fair, I typically forgot as well, ever so conveniently.
As part of my new routine of eating more moderate portions, no more snacks, exercising (as in swimming) more, I also decided recently to start weighing myself regularly again. This morning, as I tried to do that, the scales actually broke. It was the ultimate insult. I tried to check if it were the batteries that were playing up, but when the scales still didn’t work with new batteries I just put them with the rubbish. I will get new scales soon, but it will have to be ones that are much nicer to me… like by consistently showing about 5 kilograms less than what I actually weigh. That would be nice.
After work I went to the pool (oh yes) and then returned home for a quiet evening at home. The picture shows Oudezijds Achterburgwal as seen from the bridge in front of the house. In the distance you can see the Red Light District. The news today was dominated by reports about the second son of Queen Beatrix who was involved in an accident in the Austrian ski resort of Lech. He had gone skiing off-piste and quite likely he had caused an avalanche (avalanche threat had been set to high by the authorities) and he got buried by it for twenty minutes. The news reported all night that there really wasn’t much news to report. Neither the Government, nor the Royal Family, nor the hospital where the prince was taken, released any statements. To be honest, it was driving me crazy a bit. This prince had done something immensely stupid. This prince removed himself from the line of succession because he married without Parliament’s consent, and so his accident in no way had an impact on either Monarchy or State. This prince hates to be in the public eye, is very private and lives in London. And now the media only report about him. It was a bit too much.
