Lowlands | A Zestful Quest

It’s been a bit quiet on here lately: I haven’t written anything since last Thursday when I found out about the recent infestation of Dutch caterpillars in London… I haven’t written much since then because I’m a bit busy getting ready for my visit to the Lowlands. There’s stuff that I need to buy or collect, there’s clothes to be washed, a suitcase waiting to be packed, DVDs to be burnt, lists to be made and thoughts to be considered…

Here’s where I left off:

Friday June 15: Received an email from Kris, I met him a few weeks ago, who invited me for a drink some day next week. Been on the phone with my aunt for about two hours and probably racked up the phone bill big time… Have been chatting with MvdM. for a while. Worked on my dress and sent out some emails that I forgot to reply to.

Saturday June 16: I’ve been to Lakeside and found myself some cool shoes for the wedding, exactly the right color and only for £6,- so I won’t feel guilty for chucking them out, after the wedding. I bought a gift for DvD. as well; an English football shirt, he will love it. In the evening I went over to MvdM., had dinner with him and W. and got totally pissed drinking a box of wine… *yes I’m bad!* I think me and MvdM. had just over a litre each [there’s 3 litres in a box]. I also got my first Dior item, a really beautiful top… It was a gift from W., he works for Dior, sweet isn’t it?!! I took a cab home at 03.30 in the morning; had a wonderful time.

Sunday June 17: Was a day of rest and hangovers, although it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be, it was fine actually… Does that mean I’m getting adjusted to English customs???? Would that be a good thing or a bad thing?

Monday June 18: Called KB. and agreed to meet up on Tuesday. I’ve finally finished the dress which is a bit of a relief to be honest, didn’t think I would ever finish it… It’s ironed and waiting to be packed. Started another one, I took an old dress apart since it was already slowly starting to deteriorate. Turned it into patterns using newspapers [I couldn’t find tissue paper anywhere], placed it on the fabric and went to bed because it was almost 02.00 in the morning.

Tuesday June 19: Went into town to meet up with Kris at lunchtime, had a coffee at the Lounge bar [High Holborn] and lunch around the corner at Pret a Manger. Picked each other’s brain for quite a while: about an hour and a half. Had fun talking shop! I lend him my Actionscripting book. Back home at 16.00, cut the fabric and started to sew things together. Updated my CV and looked for typos, there were a few still so it’s good to put it aside for a while and have another look at it later [as I did].

Wednesday June 20: CH. called me in the morning to make sure about my flight number. They’ll be picking me up from the airport which is cool, it saves me a journey on the train to the other end of town. I’ll have to go to the storage unit to collect my bicycle and see if it’s still fine, might have flat tyres… We’ve been on the phone for nearly an hour. Again send off some emails I forgot about, I seem to be a bit scatterbrained lately. Received a phone call from my best friend IvS. who was a bit bored and wanted to talk to a friend. She was in Edinburgh on her own, children and husband at home [which is about two hours further down the road], and she had a very bad day so needed to vent. We ended up as usual, wetting our pants with laughter.

Thursday June 21: Burnt some DVDs with a variety of content for a variety of people, some I met recently, others I’ve known for years. Just a tiny contribution to spreading the vibe and hype. I will meet up with Amit after my visit to the Lowlands and receive the last bit of content that I still need… So a little bit of give and take, although I end up offering A. lunch and a drink instead… because I have nothing of his liking I believe, well I asked him but he never responded… Finished my CV; I changed some sentences and sent it off to a few people for proof reading. Worked on the dress for a bit.

So today is Friday: and I still have a large to-do-list [eg sending off snail mail, collecting stuff at the pharmacy, reply to emails, leave some comments on some blogs, pack my case, sort out the laundry etc. etc.] so if you will excuse me, I would like to have it all finished by the end of the day, so I’ll have a relaxed day tomorrow!

Oh and I also need to think and decide about taking my Powerbook or not thanks to Stu who sent me an email [that I still have to reply to] asking me:

“How will you survive with out your Power Book? I thought you eat, drink and sleep CPU (in your own words). You’re not going to go cold turkey during your trip are you?”

Yes I told him, I eat, drink and sleep CPU, which made me realise that I actually AM going cold turkey… the instant effect of that was that I have doubts now whether I should take it along or not and whether I should thank Stu for making me have doubts again, or…

I’m off to the pharmacy…

Later alligator!

I have been invited by KvD. to come over and spent Queensday at the usual spots, Vondelpark and Cafe The Soundgarden but it would’ve been a last minute [therefore an expensive] decision. I wasn’t really willing to pay a hundred pounds just to fly over to NL for one day… So to all the Dutch: Happy Queensday! Hope you had a good time and a nice day off and no headache tomorrow morning! emoticons/tongue.gif
I feel a bit drained today since yesterday was way too ‘gezellig’ [=Dutch for pleasant]. I don’t really have a hangover it’s just that I feel like having cotton balls for brains and I can’t seem to concentrate on work. I was invited for lunch by MvdM.; I would deliver the wine and he would prepare lunch. I bought a bottle of Rosé and AS. kindly offered a box of death which contains another 3 litres of either red or white wine, in this case it was a white Chardonnay. I was on MvdM. his door step at 13.15 sharp, with the wine and a gift: some Indonesian Boemboe pastes so he could prepare his partner a nice Indonesian dinner some time.
We sat in the garden all day, the weather was nice, not too hot, perfect! I introduced myself to their cat, letting it sniff my hand first and when I tried to stroke her, she started hissing and hit me with her paw [she didn’t use her nails, lucky me]. After that little introduction, MvdM. told me the cat freaks out at times, growls at people, attacks them, hissing, biting and clawing. I said to him that by the end of the day she would pick up my vibes and come to me.
I ignored her all day and only gave her attention when she asked for it [eye contact and talking to her] and by the end of the day she approached me several times and rubbed against my chair with the back of her head and the rest of her body. MvdM. was surprised to see this, he said it normally takes up to a year… I have done this before with cats of friends and it always works, they are drawn to me somehow and behave in a different unusual way; they would come and sit next to me instead of hiding, let me stroke them instead of clawing etc. As long as I respect their territory things are fine.
I had such a good time the day was over too soon, I stayed till after midnight and I had way too much to drink… The bottle was finished in two hours [just the two of us] and since we’ve been chatting so much we had ‘lunch’ in the afternoon, around 16.30 instead of 14.00. MvdM. had prepared a really nice paella, delicious. By the time we had our lunch the weight of the box of death was already starting to slightly decrease. Around 22.00 W. came home and introduced himself. The three of us were chatting in the kitchen and having a great time. Then just before 01.00 AS. called me to tell me that he couldn’t sleep when I wasn’t there (…)
He asked me if I wanted him to come and pick me up. None of us was really tired and we were in a deep conversation but since MvdM. had to work today it would be a clever idea to head home and let him catch some sleep, even though he didn’t want to. So I asked AS. to come and collect me. I had a great day and we will probably meet up again soon. It was good to be able to speak Dutch all day long; even though AS. and I tend to mix the languages, most of the time it’s English. [AS. is very good at speaking Dutch, just not when we argue]. I was also happy that I didn’t have to carry the heavy box of death again: I reckon it only contained about a liter when I left.
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So today I’m experiencing a bit of a fried brain, I wanted to sleep in but my cell phone kept beeping every ten minutes, when I no longer could stand the annoying beep and finally got up, I found it was a message from MvdM., telling me how crappy he felt at work after saying, ‘thank you for bringing the lovely wine’ first… *lmao*

Category Archives: Lowlands

Meeting Of Minds

Hollandse Gezelligheid [Dutch Pleasantness]