Oom Its's birthday celebration was on Saturday 2nd July - and we were invited. We needed to accompany Jo's mum which involved a combination of tram, train, bus to Amstelveen. Phew. We turned up at 2:30 to see Oma standing on the pavement waiting for us. No pressure!
The trip up went ok. Not much waiting between connections - Dutch public transport really is efficient. If the bus says it will turn up at 3:35 - then if you are there at 3:36 you can wave it goodbye. We arrived in Amstelveen to be greeted by sun and the table set up in the garden. After a few cloudy days it was great to sit in the sun sipping bubbly - wehay. Lizette and Johan turned up followed by Frits's sister Els. Was getting reasonably well settled in but just managed the five minute walk down to the Molen - a poncy as restaurant set in a windmill dating back to the seventeenth century. I have to admit I quite like white shirted waiters and waitresses fawning over me - the meal was pretty damn good - lots of smaller courses served one after the other and plenty of vino. Danielle had her drinking boots on. Even little Viv got a couple of glasses of wine down her, that devil. The trip home was eventful to say the least. We had the great idea (or it least it seemed ike a great idea at the time) of arranging an Uber home for Oma who would be accompanied by Viv and Jo. Danielle, the trooper, offered to accompany me on the public transport option. After a lovely few hours sitting on our chuff eating and drinking, the hard out sprint to the Amstelveen bus station was interesting to say the least. We made it - and arrived at Schipol in time for the train to Den Haag HS - so much in time I thought I could buy a bottle of water - and to then make a long story short, Danielle got the instructions wrong which made us miss the train. Danielle says she has a different version but this is my blog so this is now the officially sanctioned story. waited half an hour for the next train. Arrived at Den Haag too late to catch the last tram home. Got a taxi ride from Lewis Hamilton's cousin -hence arrived back at the Jagersmast prerrty damn late. Well we thought we had the best story . . . nah. Oma apparently was displeased King Richard wasnt sharing the uber cab with her. Danielle was apparently partially missed - but it was pretty much my fault for the whole trip to Den Haag. The taxi driver must have had an interesting time. Basically 12 hours (from leaving to arriving back) to have dinner. Worth it I reckon - experiences like that are priceless . . !
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After going to see Tarzan (us all) and then Mary Poppins (Jo, Danielle and Viv) we were keen to see the musical Beauty and the Beast at the Circus Theatre in Scheveningen. Definitely didn't disappoint . . .
The Circus Theatre was literally 100m from our apartment. We got dressed up - well as much dressed up as we could with our holiday clothes collection. For a Thursday night I was surprised to see a full house. Lots of excited families and kids running around . . . The story starts with a prince who is a bit of a shit - gets turned into a beast by an old witch with an "out" that if someone falls in love with him before his rose loses all his petals, he will turn back into his original form. Belle from the village falls in love with him and he presto. That was a bit of a quick plot summary . . . Music was pretty cool. Great seats. Great night. Tuesday Jo invited her Mum, Desiree, Wouter and Lizette for dinner at the Jagersmast.
After some deliberation and scouting out the local shops we chanced upon a slager which provided ready made meals. Yay. We pre-ordered a kilo and a half of Nasi Goreng and a ton of chicken kebab sticks. Then after a bit of salad preparation by Danielle - klaar . . . ! All so easy.My job was to navigate the parking system and be on duty to welcome our guests at the entrance to the parking garage. No worries - I'm an ex boy-cub. It was such a nice evening. Desiree and Wouter were lovely guests. Desiree was the personal secretary to Prince Claus (husband of Queen Beatrix) and met Wouter when they were at school together in Indonesia. Desiree has been a good friend to Jo's Mum for some time now. A real saint. Wouter was the first person I have met who suffers from a respiratory disease caused by asbestos. Such a sad sight seeing him struggle to get breath into his lungs and in real distress. I have dealt with asbestos before in my job (Eraring and WorkSafe) - its a cruel disease and its good the world has woken up and taken notice. Lizette turned up a bit later and, despite a shower of rain which put paid to our plans to eat outside, its was a great evening. The next day we decided to take the bikes - started with a visit to see Gerry's grave. It is such a peaceful place and good to reflect on Gerry's life - he was a thoroughly nice man. He left us way too early. From there onto the Peace Palace and onto the shops. I had bravely said I would buy some jeans but found it all too daunting and so much choice. So I didn't. Visited Jo's mum on the way back - we bought some tonic to go with the gin we discovered in the kelder - score! |