April 1, 2012
-
Amsterdam, Netherlands
“April Fool’s Day and the biggest joke in town is the building I live in” is what I wanted to write on Facebook this morning, as I was having a morning coffee in the Coffee Company Store opposite the building. But I didn’t – I think it’s pretty clear to all involved how I feel about what happened. No need to rub it in. At least not too much.
In the early afternoon, or to be more accurate, in the late morning, I was already on my way to the City Theatre, the former popcorn blockbuster cinema that was completely renovated and turned into an arthouse cinema. I saw Albert Nobbs, the film in which Glenn Close plays an Irish male servant in a Dublin hotel in Victorian times. The film was absolutely brilliant! I loved it, for its story, for its cinematography, for its cast. It was just great. I nearly missed it because it’s now in its last runs in Amsterdam cinemas, so I was glad to have caught it still. The moment when Glenn Close, in real life an elegant lady, dresses up in female clothes after you’ve seen her as a man all film is actually hilarious. Suddenly Glenn Close doesn’t even remotely look credible as a woman. For the trailer, click here.
Later in the afternoon, very much in the present time again, I went to Zuiderbad for one of my four weekly swims. That, as well, went brilliant. I’m pretty sure I swam a personal best if I would actually be timing my sixty laps. The picture is two ducks on top of a car, spotted on Leidsegracht, as I walked back home from seeing Albert Nobbs.
