(written on 7 May 2013)

And then there was sun. And there was blue sky. There was my usual breakfast and my stroll through town, but soon enough there was also the metro ride to the beach at Poblenou. And then there was the beach and doing nothing but reading, and lying in the sun, and swimming a bit. The sea is amazing! It’s fairly wild and the waves are high, but it’s not scary. Moreover, the water temperature this late in the summer is just wonderful.

The picture was taken in the evening, as I strolled through the old Gothic area of the city. Years ago I took a picture of myself against an old door in a narrow street…

… that was in 2006. Since then I gained a lot of weight, until Jan this year. And then I started losing weight. A lot of weight. So that the picture I took tonight shows me, six years older, but actually slimmer and leaner than I’ve been in a long time. Having lost so much weight this year still feels absolutely awesome. Not only do I look better than I’ve looked in years (at least in my humble opinion), I also feel so much better. Seeing myself in today’s picture, against that same door as where I stood six years ago, made me feel super about what I’ve achieved weight wise this year.

(written on 7 May 2013)

Barcelona! How wonderful it is to wake up this city! It’s my plan to do virtually nothing this week (apologies in advance for boring blog posts) except (roughly in this order) have breakfast in my favourite tapas place on Passeig de Gràcia, stroll through town in the morning, head to Poblenou in the early afternoon for some lazy hours on the beach, somehow work my way back to the hotel in order to freshen up and relax a bit more, and in the early evening head out again for some delicious food and then some drinks in my local gay bar just around the corner from my hotel. And that, repeated six times until it’s time to go home.

When I left the hotel this morning I noticed however that I might have to adjust my plans just a bit. The sky was indeed blue but it wasn’t the bright blue that comes from a lack of clouds… but rather the grey blue that comes from an abundance of clouds. I had seen the weather forecast for this week of course so it wasn’t a complete surprise, but I can’t say I was beside my self with joy that the weather forecasters were right about today. I walked to my breakfast place and had a wonderful breakfast anyway. The stroll through town already got interrupted as soon as I reached Plaça de Catalunya because there, on the corner with the Passeig de Gràcia, in a former bank building was an astonishingly beautiful Apple Store. I browsed all three floors of the store, thinking about the money I had gotten back from the energy company… and then still deciding against impulse buying. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d visit this shop at more occasions over the next days.

When I got to my favourite coffee and lunch place, Cafe Schilling on Carrer de Ferran, I noticed that its shutters were down. That wasn’t an entire surprise either. Much like the rest of Spain, Schilling closes down for the month of August and it reopens on 1 September. At least, that was what I was counting on. Looking inside through some of the shutters made my heart sink though. The place was an absolute mess and I wouldn’t be surprised if Schilling had closed its doors for good. That would almost be a crime against humanity (almost) because it really is a delightful bar… 

There was no point going to the beach today because, even though the sky did clear up just a bit in the afternoon, it did stay quite grey and quite chilly as well. Too bad! I will have to keep my fingers crossed that tomorrow there will be beach weather. In the evening I walked down to Plaça de Catalunya for some food but once there an enormous rain shower completely soaked the city and me. It was warm and the rain was refreshing in a way, but just not what I had wanted to see in Barcelona this time. Let’s hope for better weather tomorrow.

(written on 7 May 2013)

After having spent some time last night contemplating cancelling my Barcelona trip because I thought Daniel had behaved quite erratically last night and I wasn’t sure if I could trust him with the apartment anymore… I decided early in the morning that I needed to have faith that all would be fine. It’s not just that I have enough confidence still that he will be responsible with my studio, it’s also that I’d been looking forward to Barcelona so much that I just wasn’t prepared to give it up so easily.

So at the end of the last day in the office this week, I packed my back and headed to the airport. It was fairly cold in Amsterdam, at least for the time of the year, but a smooth flight to Barcelona later and I was greeted by Mediterranean heat at the airport. I took a bus to the city centre and from Plaça de Catalunya I walked the handful of blocks north west to my hotel, which is my usual hotel for when I stay in this city, Que Tal, on the corner of Bruc and Mallorca. I could walk there blindfolded. I checked in and noticed that they had made some major changes to the interior on the ground floor such as moving the reception desk to what used to be lounge area. Never mind! It’s great to be back in Barcelona, to feel real summer heat and to get shown the room where I have stayed so many times in the past. Wonderful! Relieved I put down my luggage and lied down on the bed – sweaty face and all – and took the above picture.

On the flight to Barcelona I tried to watch Madonna’s film W.E. about the life of King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. Not only did that film turn out to be an absolute monstrosity full of historical inaccuracies and an illogical, overly complicated and dull double story line… I also couldn’t hear much of it through my ancient headphones. That will be a mission for my Barcelona trip then! Find new headphones! That… and the beach. And nothing else.

(written on 7 May 2013)

The Kid and his friend spent the day in Amsterdam while I was at work, but because I will be off to Barcelona tomorrow evening, being in the office this very short work week is not bad at all. Besides, I’m sure office life is actually quieter than spending a day with the two kids. In the evening they spent hours trying to decide if to go out, then what to wear, then what to drink at home before going out, then where to go… I don’t understand this. In my younger days there were about five minutes between deciding that I wanted to go out and actually going out, but kids these days seem to have turned that into an art form all by itself. My mirror, unemployed for most of the past two months, suddenly is getting used again as if there is no tomorrow.

Then, when Daniel and Kayleigh finally left the apartment at around 11, both already quite tipsy and with Kayleigh not feeling very well because of a cold, Daniel did something exceptionally selfish and stupid. I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say that it was extremely unkind towards hid friend Kayleigh… and I won’t be surprised if she will hold this against him for a long time to come. Kids these days. I went to bed, lying awake for a long time, wondering how clever it was from me to trust Daniel with the apartment for the upcoming week while I will be in Catalonia…

The picture shows the Rijksmuseum building which has been closed for around ten years now while it’s undergoing major refurbishment. It will reopen some time next year, but today the new logo was already unveiled. You see it here on the front of the building. Not only is it rather bland and not very exciting, it’s also misspelled! Many Dutch people anglicise their use of Dutch words by splitting those words into smaller parts and putting a space in between the words. “Parttime” is one word in Dutch, but often Dutch people now write “part time”. “Spoorbrug” (railway bridge) will get turned into “spoor brug”. It’s an annoying habit and now the Rijksmuseum has done it as well. Quite maddeningly they now write their name as “Rijks Museum” which is quite ri di cu lous. 

(written on 6 May 2013)

I had barely gotten to the office when I announced to my colleagues that I would have to leave for about half an hour again. And off I went, down to the train station and on to the first train towards the airport. A quick walk to Arrivals 4, the arrivals lounge of the low budget flights, and searching for- “Enrico!” Daniel said. There he was again, the Kid as I’ve been calling him on Facebook. He had decided a couple of weeks ago that he still wanted to spend some time in Amsterdam, after his month here back in June. And I had agreed to that. This time, he arrived with a friend of his, so this morning not only did I shake hands with the Kid but also with Kayleigh, one of his friends from Essex. After very briefly chatting with them and handing them the keys to the apartment, I let them find their own way to Amsterdam and I returned to the office.

In the evening I invited them to a meal and some drinks in De Bekeerde Suster, the pub very close to where I live that serves great food, and of course that’s where the pictures started again as well. Daniel wants to have many pictures taken of him – alone or with friends – and after they are taken he will nag you incessantly until they’re processed and posted on Facebook. Tonight was no exception. The picture shows Kayleigh and him on the bridge over Kloveniersburgwal, with the Waag building in the background. The meal was nice and it was great to see them in town. I returned home as they continued in town.

(written on 6 May 2013)

I returned to Amsterdam today but not before spending a bit of time in Sittard’s town centre. I have this recurring dream, one that’s probably quite recognisable for a lot of people. The dream, in one of its many variations, will put me back at the college where I got my teacher’s degree – around twenty years ago. Sometimes I will dream that I am actually around 25 years old again, but sometimes it’s also just 45 year old me, being back in the buildings, and the classroom situation that I was in twenty years ago. In my dream, typically I will still have to do some exams, or write some essays, the last remaining things to do before I completely qualify… but somehow these tasks are completely impossible. I can’t make myself those essays… I can’t do the presentations… the exams are just impossible. I know that I need them, but I can’t do them, or (even worse) I can’t make myself do them even though I know that I could actually get everything done quite easily. The dream always makes me wake up with my heart beating in my throat. And then I calm down, realising that the anxiety I just felt was all just because, in my dream, I had gone back in time – but only in my dream.

This afternoon, in Sittard, I went back in time quite physically as well. The building where I studied are still there, five former adjacent monasteries in the heart of Sittard, but the college moved out and after years of renovation the buildings were turned into luxury apartments and a hotel. Today, some of the buildings were open to the public, so there I was, back in the days that I was trained to become a teacher, but very much in 2012. It was strange to see those parts that had been renovated. Sometimes very difficult even to remember what the buildings looked like, so drastic had their transformation been. But every now and then I recognised things, and it was as if I was 23 again – half my current age. A trip down memory lane, of a time where I still lived with my parents, but with a separate access to the house they lived in. A time when I slowly but surely made my first friends in life. A time when I was trying to figure out – in all secrecy – what to do with my homosexuality, ultimately leading to my coming out in 1992. By then I had already left these buildings but maybe that was what made today’s visit so impressive. I went through quite some emotional turmoil here.

The picture shows a part of the buildings that had obviously not been renovated yet. It’s the former canteen which sometimes doubles as auditorium. It was that last diploma ceremony that I stood on the little “stage” you can still see to the right (the two steps) to receive praise and a gift from my former physics teacher (a book by a Dutch physicist) while for the first time in my life (and in these buildings) I was wearing a T-shirt with a gay theme. Proud. Memories.

(written on 6 May 2013)

Now doesn’t that look idyllic? This isn’t Amsterdam but the name of this place is almost spelled the same. It’s Amstenrade, and it’s not even close to Amsterdam – at least not on the scale of this tiny country. I took a train to Limburg this morning to visit my family there. It had been a while and with Daniel staying with me in the next couple of weeks, as well as with my holiday to Barcelona coming up very very soon (i.e. Wednesday), I figured that this would be a good time to visit.

The weather was still nice so in the afternoon I cycled from my parents’ place, Munstergeleen, to a city about 10 miles southeast; Heerlen. Now, Heerlen is a bit of a strange place in Limburg. It became a big place at the time when the coal mines in Limburg were operational and it even has Roman background because it was the crossroads of some major Roman roads. Coriovallum, as it was called then, disappeared and in modern day Heerlen there’s not much to remind you of it. Most people in Limburg would agree with me (I think) that modern day Heerlen has a rather provincial (dare I say drab) feel to it. Unlike Maastricht or Sittard, with their charming town centres, Heerlen mostly has architecture from the mid 20th century.

The other association I have with Heerlen is that I spent quite some time there when I was in a relationship with someone who lived in a student house there. I won’t go into that here, but let’s just say that the entire experience hasn’t endeared Heerlen more to me in any way.

In the evening, after I’d cycled back to Munstergeleen, we visited my sister and her kids, and as always that was a very pleasant way to spend an evening in Limburg. The picture was taken on the way back to Munstergeleen.

(written on 6 May 2013)

Now, this picture – yes, I can remember why I took this picture! Once again the male students in their student house down the street went through their ritual of singing a drunken song and then carrying one of theirs on their hands towards the intersection just in front of the house, and then running towards Dam Square and on, to a destination that I’m not sure about. In the meantime I try to snap some pictures whenever I hear the guys starting to sing. Some fun shots, that’s all.

Some exciting news from Glasgow because Andy said in an email that it would “of course be fine” if I would spend New Year’s Eve with Colin and him in Glasgow this year. December is still a long time to go but flights in that time of the year, already inflated, can go up quickly, so that’s when I start planning early in the year. It will be my fourth time in Glasgow at New Year’s and it’s always very nice to spend that night with my friends there. It’s not just that I really don’t want to be in Amsterdam that night (the fireworks drive me crazy) but it’s even better to have a very nice destination to go to.

Also very nice news from my energy company. The annual overview showed that I had used significantly less energy than what I’d been paying on a monthly basis so I will getting back what I didn’t use. And that’s 928 euros! I looked it up on the internet and looked at the amount in astonishment. Could that be right? I did some quick calculations to confirm that it was indeed a credible amount to get paid back… and it was. As a nice side effect, my monthly payments are decreased by more than 80 euros – some extra money per month as well for the upcoming year.

(written on 6 May 2013)

The picture is of the street light in front of my apartment. It was taken with my Nikon D200 SLR which is rather unusual because I hardly ever take that camera out of the cupboard anymore. It’s got dust on the CCD which makes editing most of the pictures I take with it a rather cumbersome affair. Now, I hear you ask, why did you take a blurry picture of a street light? The answer, more than eight months after taking this picture, completely eludes me. Sorry, today’s blog post will get ranked as one of the worst in the history of this blog.

(written on 6 May 2013)

OK, admittedly, it may seem a bit creepy to take a picture of one of the neighbours on the other side of the canal from my apartment. But rest assured, I’m not stalking him, he’s definitely not my type, it’s just that Günter came over for food and wine tonight and I was in a bit of a rush to take a picture just before he got here. Then I saw the shirtless guy in the window, an indication that summer is not quite over yet, and I snapped this shot. That’s all.

The real naked news today was of course about Prince Harry who had allowed himself to get photographed by complete strangers, whilst being rather majestically naked. I had to laugh when I heard about the story, and drool a bit when I saw the pictures. I mean, Prince Harry! OK, so if I’d had the chance to marry William, then I would have looked super cool on the bank notes, but at least with Harry you’re pretty much ensured of an adventurous life! That’s a dilemma…