Geef Mij Maar Amsterdam

Today I had to ask Herman to give me the name of a typical Dutch song which would evoke folky images of windmills and clogs. Herman sought advice from Valerie and they came up with "Geef Mij Maar Amsterdam" by Johnny Jordaan. Now I've never heard of him or of the song and don't have a clue what the words mean, but it definitely sounds like a Dutch sing-song of the type one might see on a sunday evening TV special or being sung in a beer tent.

However, I've just downloaded the (dutch) lyrics and it seems to be making some sort of comparison of Amsterdam wih Paris. I hope its not overzealously nationalistic!

chaotic

The last few days have seen me maxed out and well and truly 'nose to the grindstone' and I've not really had time for anything so luxurious as a chance to update rashbre central. I've been involved in preparations for something which has consumed vast amounts of time.

So Sunday, Monday and Tuesday have seen me taking an almost obsessional interest in getting everything ready, so that I can resume normality for the next few days.

If going to bed after 1 am can be called normal.

Lancaster Telecaster

A 520 mile round trip to Lancaster today, starting early this morning with only minor traffic holdups. We listened to the iPod on shuffle and only skipped about four or five tracks. Then the unveiling of John's new Aerodyne Telecaster, which is shiny black and looks great. Telecaster but with a slightly revamped look and some different electronics.

It sounds terrific with a ringing sustain and an amazing tonal range. We plugged amp, mixer and Pod together and tried out a few effects. Fantastic.

z

I need sleep.

mirabelle

Drove to Park Lane and met David (surprisingly) in the stairway to Trader Vic's, whilst we were trying to locate the others.

Then we found Dave and joined the others in Zeta, where we had some colourful drinks. David was over from New York and has just started a new job, so this was a good chance to get an update.

Later we called Mirabelle and managed to get a table, so we moved on to Curzon Street, which has Marco Pierre White's cuisine presented in Art Deco surroundings.

The bar leads to a sleek dining room where we had a discreet corner table, interesting food and enjoyable wine. I experienced the (somewhat monstrous) blinis and Gareth volunteered to try their famous pig’s trotter with morels, pomme purée and sauce Périgueux.

We kept going until around midnight, saw David back to his hotel and then began the long hike home.

Thursday Thirteen (V8.0)

13 new year things (V8.0) about rashbre

1. Now that the new year is really up and running I'm suddenly very busy;
2 Saturday I must make a round trip to Lancaster;
3. I have a 30cm pile of domestic paperwork to sift through. Hopefully most of it can be binned;
4. The answerphone is completely full and needs to be emptied. Messages are switching to 1571 now;
5. I've been sent several video inserts to review before I visit Barcelona;
6. I've emptied all of the throat lozenges and similar from my laptop case, since my bug 2-3 weeks ago;
7. I think the heater in my car has stopped working although all the lights come on;
8. My car is only 2000 miles from its next service; maybe I can hold out until then and get everything done together;
9. Last time I wrote this list 'the pool was shimmering'. Tonight I'm at home looking out on a cold night;
10. I watched Lost for the second time ever thinking it was the last ever episode but it was only the end of a series and they are all looking down a shaft;
11. Radio Four said that 23 January is the lowest morale day of the year for Brits. Something to do with lengths of nights, time since New Year Resolutions and time since last pay cheque;
12. I am conscious that most people write long Thursday Thirteens and mine are all relatively short;
13. I will want to see John's new Aerodyne Telecaster on Saturday.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. Leanne's Thirteen!
2. Ivory Frog's Thirteen!
3. Running 2k's Thirteen!
4. Uisce's Thirteen
5. Chickadee's Thirteen!
6. Judy's Thirteen!
7. Raehan's Thirteen!

X. (leave your link in comments, I'll add you here!)


Get Leanne's Thursday Thirteen code here!



The purpose is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! Why not do this too? Then leave me a link as a comment or trackback and I will update my entry a link to yours, and you can continue the chain!

Tag: Thursday Thirteen

drink

Spent today with a visitor from Germany and then an evening with a friend in a nearby pub, for a quiet drink. Someone I know well, but who had some big news from their life.

swoon

Co-incidentally, I posted a picture of my Powerbook a couple of days ago. Today's brief visit to Apple shows their shiny MacBook Pro with new chippery and claimed to be 4 times as fast.

Now, I have a PC laptop for work and use my Mac for fun stuff like blogging, photography, video editing and music. I am always amazed how the Mac 'just works' and can outrun my other PC super-dooper hyperthreaded Pentium squigabyte special hardware assisted tower system.

So this new Mac environment is very interesting but I don't want to compromise the incredible reliability and effortless performance I get from my current Mac. Time to study the reviews.

Tag: apple, powerbook, intel

Bustling Brussels

An 04:30 start to catch an early flight to Brussels. It doesn't matter how early I leave the UK, the earliest I ever get to anywhere seems to be about 10:00 - what with the time zone change for mainland Europe.

A busy day and then adjourning to a central hotel close to the Belgian Stock Exchange before an evening stroll for eight of us to a nearby trendy and bustling bar and restaurant.

fondue time

The house is back to a "card and decoration free" state and the piles of suitcases have been filed away. A routine trip to the supermarket today and then a fresh pack (hand luggage) for my brief trip to Brussels, Belgium early tomorrow.

Tonight we are enjoying a fondue with some German wine and a reasonably chilled evening before full normal service resumes tomorrow.

I even found some time to pluck a few strings on the guitar this afternoon.

blogging resumes

Having taken a couple of weeks away from the blog, it flicked throught my mind about whether I'd restart and if I did, whether I'd fill the gap period with what happened.

When I started this, I decided that a year would be a minimum period, so here I go again. And I've backfilled a few posts from my recent trip to the USA- they can only cover random points and don't have a lot of clever hyperlinks. Next week I'm in Brussels, so it keeps a travel theme for a few more days.


Meantime, its house recovery time as well as time to vote for the bloggies!

twelfth night

Outdoor lights down. Tree, lights and decorations removed. Decorations packed in boxes, ready to lose before next year. Hmm, and what about resolutions?