Hollaaaand
By admin | June 9, 2008
So the football is finally upon us and this evening Holland play their first match of the group stages against Italy. There is orange bunting and various sizes of footballs hung from every bar. One of the most extensive displays is on Spuistraat outside the tiny Cafe t ‘Spuitje. I watched some of its construction [...]
Topics: Football | No Comments »
BabelFish Wisdom 3
By admin | June 9, 2008
Recent article in Het Parool regarding British support of Holland in the European Championship. Anyone in the UK with a surplus of orange shirts take note!!
Original Dutch:
BabelFish Translation:
Londen: De Engelsen zijn de weg een beetje kwijt. Geen EK kwalificatie betekent geen vlaggen, geen versierde huizen, geen hits, geen kameraderie in de pubs. Het is stil, [...]
Topics: BabelFish Wisdom | No Comments »
Cropped
By admin | June 9, 2008
It has been a long time since I have had my hair cut, so when it happened people noticed and some commented. A friendly barmaid said ‘it looks much better Richard’ (a double edged comment that one) and a friendly barman said ‘did you lose a bet’ (much more likely). Other coments ranged from ‘you [...]
Topics: Bar Talk | No Comments »
Bike Rescue Mission
By admin | June 2, 2008
What do Amsterdammers do when their bakfiets falls in the canal?
For those outside the Netherlands, a bakfiets is special sort of bike with wooden box attached to the front. Used by locals for carrying shopping, taking children to school, moving house etc.
Bike Rescue 1: One Grappling Hook
The first rescue attempt took place last Sunday. Two [...]
Topics: Bikes | No Comments »
Red Lights
By admin | June 2, 2008
Boating on the canals in Amsterdam is not at all like being of member of the Greater Upthemselves Yacht Club. Yes there are some flashy boats, and there are plenty of merchant bankers on corporate outings, but on the whole it is more like being in a huge long watery chill out room at the [...]
Topics: Boating in Amsterdam | No Comments »
BabelFish Wisdom 2
By admin | May 30, 2008
Filling in the form for my entry for Winnie the Poule (Winning the Pool - the football pool organised by a character in my local), I used BabelFish to try and understand the rules.
The one phrase that I thought I understood was this one:
N.B. De organisatie rekent geen fee.
The word ‘fee’ used here is an [...]
Topics: BabelFish Wisdom | No Comments »
Canada
By admin | May 29, 2008
A Canadian friend of mine, reading my reference to Canada, reminded me of the many things that make that country great. I assume that they are in list of priority.
I am passing this on unedited so that British readers will appreciate Canadian spelling of the word coloured (they also pronounce the letter Z [...]
Topics: Appendix & Apologies | No Comments »
Smoking Bans
By admin | May 29, 2008
I was in the Last Waterhole the other night when the full horror of the impending smoking ban in Amsterdam hit home. It is not that I think smoking is good thing. Certainly it can cause disease and premature death, but then life in general does that (though admittedly it is much easier to legislate [...]
Topics: Bar Talk | No Comments »
Out on the Amstel
By admin | May 25, 2008
Probably the most exhilarating experience on the boat was coming upon the Amstel for the first time. The Amstel is the river from which the city draws its name and, according to Wikipedia is itself derived from ‘aeme stele’ which is old Dutch for ‘area abounding with water’. At first you might think that this [...]
Topics: Boating in Amsterdam | No Comments »
Cats
By admin | May 23, 2008
I have never in the whole of my life ever actively sought out the company of cats. I have never bought one, nor have I rescued one. Despite this I can count on two fingers the percentage of my life that I have spent without a cat to support. According to my finger maths that [...]
Topics: Cats | No Comments »
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