Calm Waters

Sailing Event Aug 06 071
Originally uploaded by Lucy Griffith.

Okay, so after all that moaning I thought I'd post in a more serene frame of mind.

The photo was taken during my first sailing experience, at Aalsmeer Sailing School, where I went on Thursday with a group of people from work for a couple of hours on the water.

The sun shone for us and the water was like glass so it was an extremely chilled-out evening. We didn't have too much wind in the sails, so it wasn't exactly a white-knuckle experience, but it was great being out on our little boat ('The Red Devil'). Our little group (an all-girl crew ) included an instructor, Saskia, who explained the basics. Not sure I quite grasped all the concepts, but I gather it's something to do with sail flappiness... or something like that....

Moan, Moan, Moan....

Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, then a bit more rain.
Every time I get on my bike I get soaked. Due to my recent nasty trouser accident I was forced to buy some new 'ultra sexy' rain trousers to go with my 'oh so flattering' rain jacket, so now I look like a nerdy drenched rat every time I leave the house.

Because of this spectacularly soggy weather, and because it's monday, and because my metro just stopped inexplicably in the middle of the tracks for half an hour, I feel that I have the right to have a moan. So if you don't fancy hearing me whinge I suggest you stop reading now!

Life in Holland is usually extremely pleasant, but sometimes those 'little things' start to grind. This is usually related to the famous 'relaxed' Dutch approach to customer service. Like waiting TWO HOURS to have a pizza delivered. Yes, really. Then there's the customary half hour wait in the supermarket queue (because they only have two tills open at peak times)only to have one of those 'TILL CLOSED' boards shoved in your face, forcing me and half the population of Amsterdam into ONE VERY LONG queue. And the fact that you can't really buy anything remotely useful in a supermarket. On top of that I'm forced to buy a children's metro ticket for my bike, even though it gains no pleasure in being taken out for the day. While I'm on a roll... They close all the shops on a Monday morning. The DIY places are closed on the day when everyone does DIY - Sunday. However, builders are allowed to operate their drills on a daily basis outside my bedroom window at 6.20am. You can't buy a carton of milk in my neighbourhood on a Sunday. Estate agents only let you view apartments during hours when all the people who can afford to buy one aren't available (ie. Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm).... etc. etc. etc..

Okay, I feel much better to have got that off my chest. I'm off for a bike ride along the canals to remember why it's so lovely living here!

Boat Trip

It's been ages since I blogged. Since I last wrote we've had a month-long heatwave where Amsterdam basked in the sun and since then a return to the more commonplace grey drizzly weather. Back in the scorching July days we took a trip out on our friends' (Ton and Alice) boat around the lovely Amsterdam canals, taking in the City from a different angle. We sailed out to the North where there was a safe spot to tie up the boat and jump off the side for a cooling dip. When I say 'safe' I mean that the likelihood of meeting a rusting bike (or perhaps the odd corpse?) was more minimal than in the City centre.