Tag Archives: Storage

Mental Detour

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The weather has been pants for a few days now: I’ve had thunderstorms and vertical rain. I don’t really mind because I don’t have to go anywhere and have been extremely busy sorting out chores that have been on the to-do-list for ages already. I finally started to mend some dresses and skirts and I finally finished my chocolate satin dress. I don’t know what happened but last week one thing led to another and all of a sudden I was sick and tired of the mess that has been lying around for some time now waiting for me to fix it or finish it. Oh… I remember what caused it: be prepared to dive into my warped mind…

Last Friday I received a wonderful surprise in the post all the way from New York, the package from Ismoyo that I’d won a while ago. Thank you, it’s totally sweet! So I wanted to take some pictures, I always take pictures of everything and that’s what it all started: me wanting to take pictures. I have a small desk near the window where my sewing machine sits and it’s the best spot to take pictures since the light conditions are always perfect. But the desk was piled up with dresses that needed fixing. So basically I ended up cleaning up the mess. Halfway I decided to sort out my CD collection too, all the archive CDs that is.

And before I knew it I was throwing out stacks of old CDs that my Mac refused to read and burning Gigs to DVD, reorganising years of archiving. Then I got all hyper and realised that I only have two LaCie Porsches that I really needed to sort out because I don’t have the extra backup space anymore. Well I do basically but it needs a lot of reorganising. So while working on websites for clients I suddenly realised that if one of those Porsches would crash I would have a serious problem: I don’t have the extra backup available, the second Porsche became home to my music collection instead.

What happened next is that I started my online research for internal and external HDs to see if I could afford one. I asked Christiaan for advice since I had a slight idea what I wanted but wasn’t sure if that was the best option but he confirmed my feeling *thank you!*. So I decided to buy an extra 500Gig internal HD since that is the cheapest way for now and I do need to invest in this if I don’t want to get myself into trouble. Over the weekend I ended up wasting time waiting for others to help me so I lost a few hours there but have been catching up these last few days.

Why the detour you wonder? Because I need to get rid of clutter: all the clutter around me on desks, the clutter on my Mac which used to be organised but most of all the clutter in my head. I’m probably over-criticising myself again because some from the past told me I was the most organised person they’d ever met and I guess I can see why. But you see, I can’t design new projects if I don’t have a neat place to work: neat place clean of clutter means no clutter but room in my head… So I decided to throw out and declutter starting with the pile of clothes waiting to be mended.

And since I finally have a clean window desk I finally took some pictures. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to get back to decluttering so I can start some web design soon!

I’ve finished my chocolate satin dress, more mending to be done…

Lovely surprise in the post all the way from NY

Cute Japanese generosity I received from Ismoyo, thank you so much! :)

The Move [part II]

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I’m back from a hectic trip to the Lowlands which was absolutely draining and I’m still recovering from all the stress and lack of sleep. Friday AS. and I left at 07.45 to go and pick up the van, we had to be there at 08.00. About half an hour later we were on our way to the tunnel where we arrived way too early [10:50]. That wasn’t an issue because we could take an earlier train since the ticket was a so called ‘Flexi Plus’ ticket which gives you priority check-in on the next available train…

People just pitch up normally and see if there is a spot available and since the train is hardly ever fully booked it’s quite easy to get a spot. We took the first train which would leave at 10.39 which seems like a long time to wait but they start loading the train 15 minutes before departure and everything is slightly rushed in a way. The system is brilliant and within 15 minutes from loading point the train will leave exactly on time and it only takes about 35 minutes to get to the other end.

We arrived in Calais – France at 12.10 and had to go to Antwerpen via Brugge and Gent, from there Breda, Utrecht, Amsterdam which would’ve taken about 4.5 hours at the most, if we would’ve been earlier that is. I’d totally forgotten that it was Friday afternoon, so first of all it was Friday-before-the-weekend rush hour and secondly there was way too much truck traffic on a four-lane road which goes all the way from Calais to Antwerpen. While their speed limit is mostly between 80 and 110 k/h there is no point in overtaking one another on a busy road.

But they did… and each time they did, it would cause cars to queue up in the left lane, because it takes them about 15 minutes to overtake. I’m sorry but I’m missing the point of doing that and holding up all other traffic. If there would’ve been a third lane, yes, go for it… but this doesn’t make sense to me. By the time we were near Gent we were stuck in solid traffic jams all the way to the North of Antwerpen and again between Breda and Utrecht. So we arrived at the storage in Amsterdam 1.5 hours later than planned at 19.30.

AS. and I started to load the van straight away, later joined by TH. and CH., the job was done in 1.5 hours. We went to CH.’s place to unwind and have dinner: a lovely meal of smoked eel and salmon, salmon potato salad, shrimps, fresh bread and of course herring: I only had six of them that evening *hehe*. The next day CH. and I went shopping for all the stuff that I can’t get in the UK. CH. bought me a really cool gift: a Moleskine City notebook [I collect cool notebooks], something I’ve had an eye on for ages but it’s quite expensive.

View Korte Prinsengracht, in the distance the Westertoren

View Herengracht taken from Brouwersgracht

It was a lovely day to go for a stroll around the city and this time I didn’t leave without taking some pictures for a special someone. I had to go to my favourite shop to get some tiny things there: de Hema… I’ve never had such great service as to this day and I wasn’t the only one who noticed, then again at the Xenos where I had to look for some cooking equipment I got the same excellent service. Thank you people for making my day when I was in a rush to get all the things that I needed, you’ve been fantastic: I left both places with a huge grin on my face!

A typical Dutch street organ

My favourite shop, they might come to the UK *yay!*

CH. and I had a drink at a coffee place next to the famous Flower Market enjoying the view and making fun of tourists. While we walked back home [we had walked around for five hours], we passed a church where they’d organised an antique market so we went in to have a look. Some of the stuff, that was for sale for ridiculous prices, is still to be found in my mums cupboards… I think I will go over some day and ask her if I could have some pieces, not to sell but to use it, she still has some Chinese crockery: rice bowls, spoons. All collecting dust…

The Flower Market: flowers [and bulbs] for special tourist prices: waaaaaaaay to expensive!

Having a hot chocolate and a ham/cheese tostie

We went out for a meal that evening at the Northern Star, a typical Amsterdam cafe which serves Dutch pub grub. The next morning we left at 08:15 and drove all the way to the Belgium border in one go where we took a 10 minutes break and hit the road again to Calais where we took the 12:50 train. We arrived at the storage in the UK at exactly 15.30 and got help from DB. and LB. JM.’s two sons. All was done an hour and a half later. Unfortunately when we went to fill up the tank, AS. dented/scratched the brand new van when he hit a low wall that was impossible to see.

Typical Amsterdam cafe

Typical Amsterdam cafe, I don’t drink cat piss beer but this was nice *hehe*

It will cost him the deposit, however the storage guy said it was his second van that was damaged by that same wall so he’s going to have a word with the owner of the petrol station. It’s been a hectic three days and I’m busy again working on a freelance assignment involving Flash at the mo that needs to be done by the end of this week so I won’t have much time to post on here. I’ll be busy over the weekend sorting out boxes and throwing out stuff that I no longer need. I need some structure in this chaos! How’s yours?

Parallel to Dubbeleworststeeg [Double Sausage Alley: don’t you just love Dutch names? *hehe*]

The Royal Palace with Atlas carrying the Globe

Driekoningenstraat

The only street in Amsterdam where the lights have crowns…