(written on 7 February 2013)

Another picture of me? Taken in about the same location as the one on Saturday, but with the curtains opened now. And what's up with that colourful shirt? "Is that a Paul Smith shirt?" Sean asked me when he saw me tonight. Ehm no. In fact, Paul Smith would probably have charged ten times the price of what this H&M shirt cost. Besides, it's not a new shirt at all. It's five years old at the very least but admittedly I have hardly ever worn it. The reason for that was my weight of course. I had bought the shirt in a slightly optimistic mood at the time but then decided that it was just a bit too tight. It disappeared into my cupboard and only when I was making an inventory of my clothes (size wise) a week or so ago did I decide that I could probably wear the shirt again. I took it out, washed and ironed it... and tonight wore it for the first time! It felt great that it fit now, was actually quite wide. And I must say that I think it looked quite nice.

There was another reason why I wore the shirt tonight specifically. In De Melkweg, one of Amsterdam's most famous music halls, Sean, Mike, Heidi and I went to see a show by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Three South Africans and a Dutch guy (me!) to see a South African band. And the most surprising thing is probably that I was actually the one who organised the tickets! Ladysmith Black Mambazo performed with Paul Simon in a time when apartheid was still the institutionalised form of government in South Africa. I absolutely loved their song Homeless on Simon's Graceland album (and even though it's sung in Zulu I actually can sing along with the lyrics) and I was absolutely thrilled that finally I'd get the chance to see them live tonight. And they did not disappoint in the slightest. The show was just absolutely amazing, and not just for the three South Africans with me and the many more in the audience, but also for this Dutch guy right here. It was awesome and I'd go and see LBM any time when I get the chance. Such an amazing atmosphere! One of the most touching performances was their enchanting version of Shosholoza, and I will leave you with that...

(written on 7 February 2013)

Apart from continued work on the apartment in preparation of Andy and Colin's visit next week (yikes!) I also had time to visit the new EYE film museum on the north bank of the IJ, just behind Central Station. It's one of the places that I'd like to show them. Of course they've both been to Amsterdam before but I'm determined to show them as many as possible new things in the city. A new view of a city they both know. That's the goal, and in order to achieve that I have started compiling a list of things to see and do with them when they are here. The Old Church is on the list, as is the Hermitage Museum and the Tropenmuseum. There are pubs and restaurants on the list that they don't know yet, such as the Bekeerde Suster pub close to where I live, and for entertainment I have EYE in mind. It's a stunning building, and its four auditoriums have great audio and video qualities. 

I got to EYE a bit earlier than needed tonight, and had a drink in the bar, and then went outside on the terrace to overlook the IJ and the city. Then, around the corner, came a huge passenger cruise ship on its way to the North Sea floating gently by. It was an amazing sight! The little ferry in the foreground is the one that took me from the south to the north bank of the IJ, but it's completely dwarfed by this colossal vessel. An unforgettable sight for sure! The film I saw tonight, Hugo 3D, was eqaully unforgettable. A wonderful story set in a Paris train station, partially animated - and very entertaining.

(written on 7 February 2013)

With Andy and Colin's arrival less than two weeks away, preparations to get the house in a good (or at least better) shape are in full swing. One addition that I wanted to have, not just for when they are here but also for Daniel's stay later on in June, is a curtain to separate the living and sleeping areas. I have no problem with the fact that I live in a studio (when I lie in bed I never have the feeling that I'm sleeping in my living room, and when I sit on the couch I never think that I'm sitting in my bedroom) but when I have guests it will good for them - and me - to have some privacy. 

I got everything I needed on Thursday and today was the day to get out the drill, the stepladder and the hoover. My ceiling is relatively high (3 metres) and standing on the stepladder, reaching up with a drill, trying to drill some holes in it, well - it was all a bit wobbly. I was glad when the rail finally was attached to the ceiling and the curtains could go up. When I open them, as they typically will be when I have no guests, you hardly notice them and that is just the way I want it. But when I close them, as they are in the picture above, they actually give the minimum level of privacy needed for guests to feel comfortable here. I'm quite happy with them. I did go back to IKEA in the afternoon (note to Amsterdam public transport: if the weather is very pleasant outside there is no need to set the metro's temperature to MAX) to support the curtain rail in the middle because the curtains were heavier than thought, but all in all I'm quite pleased, although you may not be able to say from Mr Grumpy Face in the picture. 

(written on 21 January 2013)

Off to the office in the morning, just because there was enough work to deal with, but the day went fairly quickly. It's almost per tradition that a lot of colleagues take the day between Ascension Day and the weekend as a holiday, so typically it's one of the quietest days in the office (a former CEO even made it a mandatory holiday but the current one stopped that short-lived tradition again) and today was no exception.

My colleague Ana had a friend fly over from Tel Aviv today. This lady, a rather sharp Actuary in her early 80s who goes by the name of Helga, visited the office briefly around noon, and she left her suitcase in the office as she left to go to Ana's place. Not much later Ana asked me if I could help her get the suitcase to her place. Now, in my life I have transported many things by bike. One or two carpets, a desk chair, and not to forget 45 moving boxes during my move last year, so carrying one suitcase on my sturdy bike Caroline from the office building in Zuid to Ana's house on Keizersgracht really was no trouble. The picture shows Helga's suitcase, complete with authentic El-Al label.

(written on 21 January 2013) 

Prepare, prepare, prepare! That will be the motto for the next couple of weeks, until Andy and Colin will be here on the 30th. And what better way to prepare than to go to IKEA to see what can be added to my studio's interior. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I mostly need a new cupboard and something to fill a rather empty space next to the bed, but there is more that I should get. For example, the curtains that I will need to hang up as a divider in my studio to give my guests at least some privacy. That will not be useful only for my Glaswegian guests but also for Baby Basil (Daniel) who will visit Amsterdam not much later and for a significantly longer time period. 

I did find, and buy curtains (plus the rod and all the utensils needed to hang them) in IKEA as I visited the store in the morning. I also bought new boxes for some of my cupboards, a door mat, and some smaller things and in the early afternoon I decided that one visit to IKEA on Ascension Day just wouldn't be enough. So I returned in the afternoon to buy a carpet and some more smaller things. All in all a great start of my preparations. I was quite pleased. The picture shows the interior of the metro train I took to IKEA in the morning. There's a metro stop just down my street and also one close to IKEA so, apart from going to work when it's raining, it seems as if the metro was built specifically for Enrico-to-IKEA shopping trips. That's a good enough reason as any, I suppose.

(written on 21 January)

TGIW I wrote on Facebook. Thank God It's Wednesday, as a slight variation on the TGIF expression. Tomorrow is Ascension Day in the Netherlands, and while we may be a country with just about the lowest number of public holidays in Europe, this is still one we get. Originally it had been my intention to take Friday off, which would have meant a four day weekend coming up (followed by a three day weekend next week) but there's just a bit too much work to deal with. So I will come in on Friday in an attempt to clear that away. A four day weekend would have been a very welcome thing given how many things I still want to do before Colin and Andy will be here on the 30th, but I'll just have to cope with one day less.

Today however, was just a normal work day, except possibly for the people in the cars shown in the picture. Because of the location of our office, on the 26th floor of an office building just next to the ring motorway, we do get to see many things traffic related. Such as bad traffic jams during rush hour, especially when it's raining. Or accidents. The one shown in the picture above probably wasn't as bad as you'd think from the picture, but still, it was a collision in which some cars ended their careers in a big bang. In no time the emergency services had arrived and the cars and people involved in the crash had been removed from the scene. Amsterdam's ring motorway is of vital importance to the city, definitely in this business part of town, so any incidents are dealt with rather swiftly here. And then the weekend could start.

(written on 21 January)

"So we booked the flights," Andy's email read. It then showed that Colin and him will be in Amsterdam from Wednesday 30 May until Sunday 3 June - and that is just wonderful news. It's wonderful, and also a tad scary. The way my flat looks now is OK... but now good. And I want it to look much better than what it looks now. That means that in between now and Wednesday 30 May (just two weeks away! Yikes!) I will have to put a lot of work and effort into making the place look better. Among the things that will have to get done is a curtain that I will need to hang up between my sleeping area (i.e. bed) and living area (i.e. space for the airbed) so that I can at least offer them a minimal degree of privacy.

I will also need to do something about the lost corner of my studio (actually, one of two lost corners) because the little French cupboard I once borrowed from Günter, and which was moved by bike to my new place, just doesn't look nice in the corner in which it stands. I would love to replace it with a much larger cupboard that will be able to store much more stuff, including my microwave, coffee maker and water boiler. There's also the space next to my bed that looks a bit horrible. A large metal box is in that corner and I use it to put laundry in... but not too often (much more often I wash it straight away) and so that corner looks a bit messy as well. And then there's the issue of a carpet underneath my dinner table (which doubles as computer table) - that's still missing. Maybe good to get that as well? But OK, for tonight I'm just thinking of things to get organised before Andy and Colin's visit. And I will do that while drinking a whisky. Tomorrow the real work will commence. 

(written 16 January 2013)

When Lori asked me recently how to prepare white asparagus (because she had bought some and wasn't sure how to prepare them) I decided that it was time for a Facebook tutorial. So tonight, after work, I prepared white asparagus according to the traditional Limburg recipe and while doing so I took seven pictures (the above is the last in the series) showing any stage between raw asparagus and asparagus ready to eat. Immediately the series provoked some comments on Facebook from others who thought the proper way to prepare white asparagus was with ham. Nope. The way shown in the picture above is the one and only right one. No ham but just chopped up boiled egg and some herbs, together with melted butter. Delicious!

In other news today, I sent a reply mail to Andy saying how great it would be if they would visit Amsterdam at the end of June but that there will be another guest staying here as well at that time... We'll have to see how it will work out but it seems certain that I will have Glaswegian visitors soon so that is great!

(written on 21 May 2013)

As I walked home from work today (it had been raining in the morning and that's when I take a metro to work) I noticed a red leaf lying on the pavement. That's scary. It was a leaf from one of those plants that climb along the side of a building. No idea what they're called but you see those huge plants quite a lot in the south of the city, where I was walking. The thing is, those leaves normally are green. They only turn red in... yikes... autumn. It was the first sign of the changing of the seasons that I saw. And not just one red leaf. No, there were many. The evenings are getting darker earlier and earlier - that is very noticeable - but nature has been holding up, even after a fairly miserable summer. Until today. Sigh. 

The picture is of Keizersgracht, at the intersection with Leidsegracht, one of the most romantic vistas of Amsterdam's ancient canals. Hey hey, it's the weekend!

(written 16 January 2013)

Mother's Day in the Netherlands and in most of Europe and North America today so in the morning I took a train south to visit my mother and with me I had a big bunch of roses - the ones you see in the Hipstamatic picture above. It was a nice day with the family, and of course there was also a lot of delicious food and sweets. Typically visiting my family adds one or two kilograms to my weight in the first couple of days of the week (something I learned since I started recording my weight daily) but just as typical that weight is lost again by the end of the week. A weekend in Limburg delays my weight loss regime with one week, so it's fine really.

In a mail that I had from Andy today he suggested that Colin and he would visit Amsterdam at the end of June. Without a doubt they are welcome to stay with me in Amsterdam any time of the year and for as long as they want... but there is a bit of a clash with the suggested dates, because not only will Andy and Colin be here then... also Daniel (Baby Basil as I've called him in the past on this blog) has asked if he could spend some weeks in Amsterdam this summer. He will be arriving on 21 June and staying till mid July. Now, my studio is a comfortable size for one or two or three people to stay in... but four people, that's probably just a bit too many. I will have to think about how to answer Andy's mail and send a reply tomorrow. With Daniel here as well, I'm not sure a visit from them would be as enjoyable (for all involved) because it would just not be comfortable anymore in my flat. Having said that, and as mentioned above, I'm looking forward to them coming over tremendously and I can't wait for them to see my new place (horrendous as the outside may look) so if those are the only dates then i'm sure we'll make this work.