Well it was like this....

A lot has happened since i last made a post on this site, and so i will not even consider the idea of writing about it all.

About a month ago i was back in Belfast and had a very splendid time, i also managed to do most of the things i wanted to and a few that i didn't [mostly breaking things]. One of the main [after to see lovely people] reasons i went back was to Belfast was to see if i could get a job lined up for when i come home in june..... and to this joy is found, and i will comence work in twenty two over seven a week after i get back from the dam. This was a real God send as i wasnt sure how easy it would be to get many interviews squeezed into one week and as it turned out i only really got two, but i had my updated portfolio for uni full of stuff from the last 5 months and it went very well so im looking forward to that.

A few weeks after i had book that trip home i discovered that i would be required to give an interview at UUB for the masters course only a week after i was going to be back, so anyway i left my portfolio with them and agreed to do the yoke over Skype, with a video link...... which was pretty good craic to be fair though maybe a little unsatisfactory.... you find yourself wanting to point at things!

On returning to the Dam we soon found ourselves in the crazyness of queens day..... and before anyone steps in with a howler its not "Our Queen"!! [too be said with a very posh Edinburgh ascent] this is Holland..... they dont care about Elizabeth.... and she dosnt give them a tax free day...... but Beatrix does.
But basically the day in entails a severe amount of beer and alot of people smelling bad and in boats with very large speakers booming hardcore techno...... hmmm sounds great really???

It was quite amazing though to see thousands and thousands of people on the normaly very quiet and reserved streets and canals...



Afew days later i had a quite glorious experience which was my first top flight football match in a stadium, well to be honest my first in the flesh football match ever really apart from maybe Saintfield united... Ajax v sc Heerenveen in the play offs for the last champions league spot....
was good craic and very cool to be in a big stadium with 50,000 people giving it stacks....


....... and then there was the balloning....... with work we went hot air balloning and ended up with grass and champagne on our heads ....... hmmmm a sybolic tradition i believe, the story was in dutch ........ something about barons and escaping to Versaille.....

there was quite alot of other stuff too like hoisting a rediculously heavy washing machine up and into a fourth story window..... actually that one was worth telling.....




As you may or may not know washing machines are full of concrete.... anyone who has had the pleasure of moving one will know this in the very core of his inner most being.... branded across his vision forever more..... a friend of mine from work, an Italian character was moving and it would seem wanted to take the washing machine with him.... so we did....

The coming down part was fine.... all dutch houses have a hook above the top floor window to which you can attach a pulley and a large rope with which you can lower away..... so we lowered away.... with two of us on the rope it was hairy to say the least but do-able.... so we got her down and while still on the rope swung over into the back of the van.....


So round at the new place, which was an extra storey high the stuff was fired up and the washing machine was left to last.... bad plan to begin with, always best doing the mad stuff first... anyway we divised a plan that would allow three characters pulling on the rope and one recieving the fine goods at the window..... the character [roy] was to direct the washing machine as we pulled until it was safely clear of the cars as it would swing out and hit one as soon as it was of the ground... we began to haul and all was well.... though roy had not yet made it up the stair or even appeared at the window.... but we hauled on..... and as we hauled cries from below were heard from a weakening Italian claiming that his power was gone.... this mixed with the already worrying feeling i harboured in my own heart regarding the heavily building lactic acid sapping the life from my already tired arms..... we were about 2m from the window by this point and Roy popped his head out... crapped himself.... and set too....

At the other end of the rope men were dying left right and centre... especially Italian ones and the cries of the dying were heard by a passing American who EVENTUALLY gave a hand..... but we had her up and Roy was hauling her in.....

But the point of the scenario is that washing machines were not made to be put in fourth storey windows...... especially not on one of the main tourist streets leading down to Nieuwmarkt...... we appeared in atleast 87 tourists Amsterdam snaps as token Amsterdamers moving house.

The lads [Pen & Merve] were here over the weekend which was very good craic and relaxed, is always interesting when people come to visit because you always see the city in a new way as you show people the city you live in you always discover new places..... and it would seem possibly the best coffee Merve has ever had.... now that is something!


I have made a web gallery with some more photo's.

So heading back to Belfast tomorrow, for 10 days....

Its been about 2 months since i was back... it will be very nice to be back.

Hopefully during the time im back, i will; Find a job for June when i come back, get my very damp and unhappy but yet very lovely car fixed and stowed in a nice dry garage [thankyou!], book a long over due car test for some time in the summer, meet up with a lot of friends i havn't seen in a good while, and most importantly, eat and talk and laugh until the early hours....

Ive been having enjoying some pretty flippin decent weather recently [which means really not being beaten violently with ice, its still very cold!] and so needless to say over a thousand photographs have been taken in the last two weeks!

Here's some new photos on the photoblog

In response Mr Knox's post...

aye... its good to see belfast starting to shake its 'road bloc' ambience off and moving forward, but one thing that really holds it back is the way it looks to other cities.... it is constantly wanting to be like dublin, or glasgow or anywhere.... That will not make the unique and inspired city we need, but sometimes any progress is progress! but that mentality will need to morph, and grow into something else as it gets to its feet... because great as those cities are there not belfast, belfast is a great place and has its own culture, which should be encouraged... 

Places like victoria square no harm to them, can be found in every city over 400,000 in the uk..... they all have the same shops and add barely anything to the place... 

And sadly from what ive seen of the master plan of the titanic quarter a massive opportunity was missed... but thats got more to do with money than anything else. Its a great spot, but just because of we have little choice dosn't mean we should accept any crap that comes along...  

When you go to places like Krakow and dublin and berlin, you know where you are... it they have very strong identities and really make feel like you are in a place where they like themselves! and maybe thats what belfast still lacks... the love of its self. It maybe still thinks that everyones else can do it better... the sooner northern ireland gets back to the innovative and inspired place it once was the better... it is a nation of people who can think for themselves. A culture that when it believes in itself has shook the world... in technology... in literature... in art... in sport ... in everything, when we can summon enough belief in our place... this 1.5 million nation is an amazing place. I love it! but i want to see it go in its own identity and its own thought... and see individuals start to take control of there own future... the time for waiting has past and the future lies in our own hands... the work has been done to free us, and now we must make the move ourselves.  

There is no doubt that that the troubles have had an institutionalizing effect on Northern Ireland... but the time to move has come... and we must... this time comes and goes again.

Fear and loathing.....

Its with slight sadness and concern that i look about today at the state of some aspects of our society....

About a month ago, i was back in Belfast for a very short visit home.... i was in the airport preparing to leave and going through security.... which was fine.... to a point. I only had hand luggage and so had one small backpack well packed... and a camera bag....

It went through and they asked to open it...... ok yeah sure open away..... and then they proceeded to dismantle it and place everything in a tray while 'swabbing it'..... to i believe check for traces of explosives...... so fine its abit annoying as i was very tight for time but ok..... the point at which it became flippin pesky and caused me grievous annoyance was when they appeared back with the try and dumped it before me to replace in its various positions.... now with a bag which is well packed this can be quite peeving, and to make matters worse the 'security' woman was now taking a stand against my hair gel.... a small tub of texturizing substance, which though half finished and only about 50ml in its original state..... it still caused great offense to the general safety and well being of the world...... a long and awakard existence then incurred with long silences as she tried to take the thing off me, and i asked her why..... and she said because ....."thats what we are here for, to take things off you" [those may not be her exact words but... you know...].... it would seem that i would require a small plastic bag to put it in..... [i knew all this before hand as do you]..... these things cost a £1 and i had no
pounds on me as i was going to a place where they don't like them..... so she had to take it from me.....

Why! What good on earth will it do to have my goods in a plastic bag? Its not the hair gel that i care about its why they want me to put my stuff in a bag that will do absolutely no good what so ever should i actually be carrying a small tube of Semtex or a home chemistry set.... so why? The only thing it does is that it reminds me ever time i fly anywhere, that one time somewhere, with something, someone tried to blow something up.
That is the only reason..... its not in the name of safety, its in the name of fear and fear only! A 'constant' reminder of the supposed 'constant' threat of attack......

It really would make you question the truth in it all.... what really goes on. Its bizarre even in my short lifetime there has been huge change in the UK and Ireland.... trust has become discouraged, the societies have become more and more segregated and fractured.... and parents lie awake at night for fear of their children's safety..... has the place really got that dangerous? is it really as imminent as we are told? Schools have been fortified and surrounded with high fences, the city is covered in CCTV cameras, they scan your underpants when your taking a flight, they have chips in your passport, they can still say anything on TV and some parts of society will believe it.... because its TV...... and they cant lie..... can they? oh no...... someone would stop them! yeah right!!!
Its all fun and games until some stops you from living in the name of safety..... its mad how vulnerable the western world has become in the last ten years..... and with the current economic climate of Europe and America who knows where it will end up...... i think often people forget it was only 15 years ago since the last full scale war in Europe..... and it was only 50 years since the one before that, and 20 years before that, and all through history.......

The stable, comfortable, unbreakable, safe and peaceful state that we now live in, has never been the norm for very long...... theres been 36 conflicts in Europe alone in the 20th century. It concerns me greatly the distrust and fear that is dividing communities of varying ethnic background it Europe today, every where you look nationalism and national identity is being pushed, while multinational integration is being feared.... just look at the change of the portrayal of the Islamic world in films over the last 30 years.... the stereotype has moved from the jolly fat man eating food constantly with 30 half naked belly dancers around him, to the extremist who wants to kill anyone and everyone in the west...... do you believe either of those?
Fear is being poured into our daily lives, and if we choose to accept or believe it we will become very dangerous people..... the sort of people who justify wars[though maybe don't take part, but don't disagree with it].....

I don't think people realize the danger of fear, and of coropate fear..... and some how look at the events of the 20th century and say..... phuuufff .....that will never happen again! Its fear that enabled the governments to attack Iraq, to start the 45 minutes thing which someone died over, and its fear that causes the sort of hatred and anger that allows the events of the 20th century in Europe..... it starts with fear.....

... the mad man out in the street killing people is only a mad man if no one believes in his cause, then he becomes a solider....

We always have a choice, but some how we rarely make it, to stand up, to question, and to trust instead of fear......

please feel free to comment, disagree, add to, denounce, challenge, contradict, eat a sandwich or discuss!

Artic conditions + Rain + Coffee + Bicycle + Magnum + food + Girl + Boy = Happy times

For about a month it was warm and sunny and times were good, the flowers were blooming and lambs were flocking the streets.....

But then we tried to get a tax code and the environment fought back with vicious intent... throwing first shards of ice upon our cold and wearisome faces as we battled to to survive against the high winds and slight hills of the canal bridges.....










and then someone left the lid off and the place dropped to ridiculous temperatures.... but the thing that really threw the cat in my face was that it hadn't snowed since i arrived and then it dumped its wet self upon us in a few days.... but not a button of the stuff actually lay..... it froooze us, beat us, slapped us, wet us, threw itself in our face but yet..... BUT YET! it did not lie!

But this was by no means doom upon the land for it was indeed a mere backdrop to a great long weekend..... so it was pretty good craic bombing around on the bicycle with Elaine on the back [sitting rather uncomfortably but warmly on the rack] down the narrow streets of the Dam and dodging various items such as cars, trams and other assorted large objects as i got beaten with ice and snow storms which were coming on and off like a 2 year old with a light switch... it was great fun despite how it sounds! Though it was required to visit a lot of establishments along the way for warm beverages.




















One of the best things that we braved the climatic beatings for was a Magnum exhibition at the stedelijk museum, it was really good highly recommended if you ever hear of it anywhere, Magnum is a pretty amazing group, its basically a photographic cooperative, which is owned by its members, set up by a bunch of amazing photographers in the 40's.... but it is astounding how many of the worlds most influential photographs were taken by such a small bunch of people, and totally changed the world of photography, people who understood the power of photography.


It was extremely inspiring but at the same time decidedly sobering, there ethos is to tell the story of the real world.... and that they do. Robert Cappa, one of the founding members is famously quoted "If your photographs arn't good enough, your not close enough", he landed on in the first wave of omaha beach on D-day, armed with only a couple of cameras.... thats pretty close.... in the end he got too
close in Indo-china, when he was covering the war there when he stood on a landmine.

The exhibition really does show the single minded determination of the photographers to tell the world what the world is really like.... war, and desolation in all of its rawness.... in some ways you may leave the exhibition feeling heavy, and many people have ask the question of how necessary it is to take photographs like these, do we need to see them? ....i suppose it is up to the viewer, ignorance is bliss, but somehow you cannot choose ignorance...

The photographs are not all so confrontational only a few... most of the photographers have spent their careers study aspects of life, in different places.... with amazing insights into the human... it really is an amazing example of the power of photography as a modern media...

I was amazing to experience something like that, absolute dedication and emersement of people...

Strong coffees were required afterwards!

After so food and afew more coffees we headed down to the Paridiso for DJ Shadow and Cut chemist... which was great and very cool. Was very good to relax for a few days and talk alot... and wander alot , eat alot and generally have a really great time...

We headed down to the coast one day which was interesting, and on easter sunday we had the crossroads [church] experience... which was ... eh also interesting!

Raw fish and stoops in delft....

No trip anywhere is quite complete without at least one testing of some local cuisine! So when rudy [crazy Italian from work] and I headed down to Rotterdam via delft on the way... some cuisine was enjoyed.... starting with some raw fish sprinkled with raw onion, it dosnt some that appetizing and its even less appetizing when you see the guy continuously gutting and laying them out...... it seem you dangle them above you and bit bits of them..... hmmm well thats what everyone else was doing anyway..... and then to finish off a fresh, hot massive stroopwaffel.... oh yeah! after wandering around the Delft TU libary for a while taking picture of unsuspecting students and building we head on down to rotters.....

The bigness of Rotterdam was quite a shock after being so long in the tiny low streets of Amsterdam..... everything is about 5 times higher.... and 50 times longer! was cool though to be in a modern city..... as Rotterdam was flatten during the war, its one that has started from scratch quite recently.


more photos... My Photoblog

Cow wafer on mows field...... hmmmm

Koekoek op Maaiveld...... does in fact translate directly as ..... Cow wafer on mows field....

It seems that its quite normal to write that on a drawing of an underground carpark!

the Normalness

Only a few weeks ago i was talking about how normal everything in Amsterdam was becoming, with only two months this place seemed almost as normal as Belfast..... and then traveling back home to belfast it was the strange one!
But it was great to be back and the weirdness soon dissipated within a couple of days. it was cool meeting up with friends and family who had been reduced to skype and email people for the last two months.... and be able to communicate again with greater expression....... and of course meet the new lad, young Winston who arrived since i departed in december...

It is in some ways quite reassuring to go 'home' and be back with everyone and remember how much connection you have with a place.... i love being in Amsterdam, its a really great place.... but its because of the place... the place will never make the connection that people do and so i think i would have to be here a long time before i would start to feel any real connection with Amsterdam other than place..... but to be here now and be in this moment is great and it is extremely enjoyable! Maybe something that will very much shape my view of the place i go back to.....

photos on facebook

[i think you need be on facebook to be able to see them, sorry too anyone who has not partaken in such in that particular venture]

and

My photoblog

An all too quick vist Home....

It was always going to be short visit.... but i wasn't quite prepared for how fast it went!

But it was probably the most compacted weekend life has bestowed upon me! Not a whole of sleep was had.....

Arriving on thursday night and away again on tuesday morning..... i didn't really plan to much [which was viewed with mixed feelings by some! but worked out great in the end!] so although compact it was; it was also fairly relaxed... ...dinner at Mr & Mrs mojos, sampling the great mojos fine delicacies on thursday night and running round in the crazy wind and rain of belfast lough at sea park on friday afternoon and much required warming coffee....... and dinner with jenny and the boys [noah+jonah]... be kind and rewind and a pint of guinness...... planes flying over first of the day.... saturday morning at the market with coffee and burgers happily recovering from sleep deprivation.... more coffee at Sheila's and good chat.... a shave at mojo's and then the tail end of the rugby..... a Noah Winston Simon party with all the family in the warmth of Jenny and Joel's homely kitchen...... and some extremely realistic violence [abit of Sarcasm there... i think] with Rambo in the jungle to finish the night! .... great fry and a spontaneous collection of people in the morning.... leaving the city behind to rolling hills and restful place of Saintfield..... with lunch, extra helpings of great discussions, good to be with the lads again [pen+merve].... walking the back roads in the failing light with franco and steaming into Belfast again to Holy Grounds..... more coffee and laughter and unprovoked attack upon a small slice of cake..... and a pint in the pub with friends... .....monday brings the start of the goodbyes and cup in in the tea rooms.... in the relaxed peace of Saintfield once more... jonah and the 'happy cake' [not the sort you get in Amsterdam!] and a good night.... ....... a bus to Belfast and a final cup of tea and a very short drive to the airport..... and a final goodbye.....and suddenly Im back in my parallel world.....

A Sense of permanence....

In reference to the question Mr Nixon posted...... a quote that for me sums up in some ways the concept of 'home'..... though i do believe to the quote below i must add more emphasis on people... because it is only people who can really hold 'home'.

“Home can be about architecture or place in geography; or it can be about the sense of permanence we come to know through habit: an article of clothing repeatedly worn, a favorite turn of phase, a melody of which we are fond, or the many visits to see a friend. Home is about the familiar, about gravity, about falling back into the self after being dispersed and overextended in the world.”

This quote informed the title for my final year dissertation.... which after much deliberation i have finally given its own space on the world wide web! A few people had expressed interest in reading the mad rant which is basically and extended blog entry expressing my dismay as a young man looking ahead to my future.....i must at this point place a large disclaimer or something of that sort and say.... this is an extremly single minded response... and even when i read now it now one year on i look back and wonder......but never the less, feel free to have a read, its not very long.... if you do, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts!

Barcalona.....well bosenlomer!

So we moved over to this joint a few weeks ago.... our third dwelling since arriving in Amsterdam! Its been an interesting experience...


When you move to a new city you expect a to experience a different culture but it is quite bizarre when within that city you move to a new area... theres a another totally different culture!


Bosenlommer [a suburb of the Dam] is a majority Islamic community, which can be interesting for a couple of Irish guys who could very easily pass for being Jewish! [we have been asked that question alot!]. Its completely different here in Bosenlommer... as i mentioned before in the last post about curtains and stuff... every window in central Amsterdam is thoroughly unobscured... here everything is very closed and private... a very different [but nice] atmosphere.....



One of the great things about moving out of Centrum means that you experience a much bigger city....the 25min cycle down to work everyday....you pass though so many areas.... past some many diverse people.... so much going on..... so much aready happening [and its only 8:30].... by the time you get into work all you need is a double espresso and your ready for to the Architecten!

Curtains and other assorted items....

One of the most interesting part of life in Amsterdam is the non-existance of curtains....well thats not strictly true to say that they don't exist but its more people do have them but do not use them!

One of my favorite things about this place is that as you walk along any street in central Amsterdam at night ...you get little micro-second insights into peoples lives... to their homes....to them! just for a second... as you pass and look it to someone else's world... the lack of curtains give the place a very warm and open feel.... people don't hide their lives away... certainly not in the physical sense anyway.

As you pass you get a glorified view of what is the most personal expression of personality... home.... and that view is perfect and quite unreal.... you dont have time to see the flaws or the blemishes.... just beauty.......

It is a stark contrast to the northern Irish norm of 'beautiful' net curtains and blinds! Though i have to confess, though now our curtains stand like true dutch curtains [pushed to the wall at all times] when we lived down on Entrepokdok in a ground floor apartment we kept the curtain semi-closed most of the time....though it did have a little to do with the fact that we were living in someone else's house, while she bombed off to Milano, and were pretty sure if we put ourselves on public display people would consider us to impostors and notify the relevant authorities... maybe too we were just getting used to the idea!

Newness....of Noah Winston Simon!

The eagerly awaited damp parcel of joy has arrived......!

Look out Jonah shared limelight from here on.....try not to beat him up....its not nice!

Welcome to our mist.......i wonder who you will become, and where you will go, and who you will met, and what you will do, and who will remember you, and what you will change, and who you will love.......... look forward to becoming your mmuncle Micah........




He was born yesterday..... hhmmmm

Sunday 3rd Febuary..... weighing in at 8lbs 2oz's but not bad for only nine months!

What am I doing in the Netherlands....?

Was just reading a bit about Ireland, and found it to be quite surprising......

Though i think if Norn Iron was to be included[United] in this, 4th in the global index of peace would not be so easily achived.....

.......Ireland is among the richest, most developed and peaceful countries on earth, having the fifth highest Gross Domestic Product per capita, second highest Gross Domestic Product (Purchasing Power Parity) per capita and having the fifth highest Human Development Index rank. The country also boasts the highest quality of life in the world, ranking first in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Quality-of-life index. Ireland was ranked fourth on the Global Peace Index. The state also has high rankings for its education system, political freedom and civil rights, press freedom and economic freedom; as a result it was ranked fourth from the bottom on the Failed States Index, being one of the few "sustainable" states in the world.

What am i doing here in the Netherlands......20th in the World peace charts......you wana see them on new years eve....

But the strange thing is seventy years ago basically all of the things mentioned above would have been at the total oposite extreme......poor, violent, eating too much potatoes and generally quite unhappy with our neigbours....well just Britain really......

And something that i think many people do not realise.... but the irish flag first propery adopted after the easter rising....green, white and gold.......... The green is representative of the catholic community while the orange represents the prodestant or Community. The white in the centre represents the peace between the two groups...... hhmmm you dont much more Cross comunity than that! Funny how things change.

Het Werken!

So its been a month since i arrived in this city.... a good month. Its strange how quickly a place becomes normal and the place you once lived slips into the memory for a while.... its quiet crazy how quickly it happens!


And so today[Monday] i finally finished my work on a project that i've been working on almost since i arrived at Dok; which was building a 3D computer model of a massive apartment blocks. It has been quite a serious jump in scale moving here to this office, not just in terms of the projects but also in working in a sixty strong office... it has a completely different dynamic and atmosphere to places i've worked in previously.

I suppose a big office can afford to work differently... one of the best bits of the day is the amazing lunch's cooked by a chief in house! some seriously glorious food... and abundance of kaas [cheese].


We were meant to be heading off one day last week for a hot-air ballooning trip after lunch but it would seem hot-air ballooning in january is quite susceptible to weather difficulties! so we didn't get going but even on the average day there always something going on... the other day i working away listening to the 'bodem loss piet' [thats the frenetical dutch for bottomless pit! sounds like someone just saying bottomless pit with a dodgy accent really] of music which is shared over the network when one of our bosses came round with a glass of Port and some fine chocolate! and then again on monday a large projection of a count down appeared on the wall at the climax of which we all stopped work and had champagne and food! [One of the partners has been awarded the role of what is basically, state architect! which is pretty much as high as you an go!].... but one of the most interesting things is it is soooo relaxed... no worries about whether they arrive 10min late or early or whatever.... people don't stop when the bell rings! We also every week take a longer lunch one day and someone gives a presentation on an interesting project their working on and then people interject and discuss it.....


It i think creates a great atmosphere for creativity and a really dynamic working environment... i enjoy working here greatly! Hopefully there will be a few more trips during the time i am here! A few months ago the whole office steamed of to germany to a massive disused coal mine for the weekend all expenses paid!! [Its a museum and a gallery i think, as well as being huge and a UNECO world heritage site]. So hopefully we end up seeing a few sites as well as a taste of good architecture!

>Photoblog additions...




its very poor quality but gives a bit more of the bigger picture....

Been doing a bit of running recently...

hhmmmmm.....

It been a strange two day lets just say.....

.... i mean it all started yesturday morning... well actually no....

......It all started as soon as we arrived in the Dam, as you may have read in a previous post that i was happily ensconced i think were the words in an apartment on the canal, and that the landlady was acting a little strange....

It was a cold and dark morning leaving the place... we bumped in to the lady herself and she said a few disconcerting things like... "you im affraid cannot, maybe stay for all of the month" and "I have people coming, you move by the 20th?"..... some would say that these are disconcerting words... but others would not panic and say... the 2oth is a long way away and we'll have something by then and it'l be fine.... hhhmmmm.... it was agreed we would talk further when we got back.


Well after a good days work and pint at the pub with our new colleagues, we young sirs returned to the abode of choice and entered by the front door, we were let in by the the lady herself as she 'shares' the hall.... well we had some discussion in which at one point when roy asked when would you like us to be away? the answer was.... "ehhh in a few days?"... woowh!
anyway to cut a bizarre and long story short she said that her friend down the road had an apartment we could have and we went down and met her.... and it is at this point that sadly the story takes a turn toward the more tragic.

We found the place, 200 yards futher down, an Italian book shop and entered.... met by a rather charismatic woman of about 50 or so we sat down at the table in the middle of the now closed shop... the woman sat down and we began to unravel the story, it would seem that the landlady was suffering from Alzheimer's diease and that she was loosing her memory.

The Italian book shop lady proceed to explain that this had happen before, that she [Landlady] was totally confused at even what we were doing in the apartment and unaware that she had agreed to us staying there! She went on to say.... "... I am going to Milano tomorrow and you can stay in my house....!" she then took us to her house a little further up Entrepotdok [on which everything is on, the italian book shop, the first apartment and her apartment and Dok Architecten] we entered and she showed us around.... perfect strangers.... she handed us a key and we left and went back down to apartment number one.... confused, amazed, perplexed, bewildered and unable to pronouce the name of the person who's house key was now in our pocket.....

We returned and had a few words with the land lady saying we were leaving tomorrow and went into the apartment.... the day had been a strange mix, of confussion and in the midst.... extreme kindness, kindness to be honest that left me baffled, a total stranger who would had you a key of her house and go on holiday without a shadow of concern, leaving all of her stuff.

After work today we went across town to see an apartment of a Scottish character and which we will hopefully be 'happily ensconced' in soon, and return home via 'proprietario italiano del negozio del libro' house and said hello, helped put her bags in her friends car and leave for the airport, as she drove off we moved our belonging in.... and now sit upon her sofas drinking tea from her cups and write upon blogs about the bizarrity of the life and time of Roy and Micah in the dam.....

and so end there, though the story will continue.... maybe when proprietario italiano del negozio del libro returns home in 10 days......

Glorious....

I found this on you tube, you may remember the drum/piano edit which mojo posted a while back, which was a work of pure genius, this is by the same guy and is superbly put together! I love it...people expressing ideas in public whether or not you like them. Enjoy.....

Chistmas tree burning party!!

We were just wandering around the streets of the dam today, looking in shop windows for some sort of cooking device, after several hours with no results we came upon a square just in front of the Heineken brewery with a large gathering of people [200 or so] and a massive flaming abundance of flame [fire]! So after checking it out it seems that here everyone bombs down to the square with their christmas tree in hand and they pile them up and throw them on a big fire and hand out free muled wine.... glorious!

Though extreme peevement was felt when i was found NOT to be carrying a camera.... wont happen again!

at the table...