Rain [August 28, 2010]

Back from a short holiday in sunnier climes and I am immediately praying for an Indian summer. This is so depressing.

Mind you, it always rains at the Uitmarkt, the launch of the new cultural season in Amsterdam. It's like a bad joke every year.

This year there as been so much rain the water level in the canals is 17 centimetres higher than normal. So watch out taking your boat under that bridge. You've got less room than you think.

Stylish places to stay [July 30, 2010]

Two rather fab looking places to stay in Amsterdam have caught my eye over the past few days.

The Parool last week carried an item about the only bed and breakfast on IJburg - an amazing-looking wooden house with a very stylish interior. The owners chalk a welcome to new guests on the sidewalk in front.

Drawback here is no website, so you have to book through any old b&b agency.

Then Elsevier magazine picked out a tiny apartment in a clandestine church dating from 1750. Pricey but rather wonderful. 'No where else will you be able to sleep so close to god,' the owners say on the website.

Case in point: the website itself does not have any photos. Bit of a waste. www.ophetaltaar.nl

Polite notice [July 16, 2010]

So this was first said Fuck de poliee and then they corrected it to Fuck the polite. Indeed, awful people. Far too many of them in Amsterdam.

Waiting for Oranje [July 13, 2010]

The Oranje hoards are out in force waiting for their heroes. And Heineken has done very well at getting its message across as well. Never seen so many kids prancing around advertising beer... or a bertje, as the t shirt puts it.

There is a helicopter buzzing around overhead, the odd squawk from a vuvuzela, and a continual ribbon of people walking towards the canals where the team will travel.

A long stretch of the Herengracht is closed off to all but the lucky few who live there, because of fears that people might sit on the roofs of the houseboats... In 1988, many almost sank under the weight of well wishers.

Third time not lucky [July 12, 2010]

One day ago loved and desired, now left out in the rain. The Netherlands fails to win the World Cup and suddenly no one wants you anymore.

Oranje 3, Uruguay 2, we're in the final [July 6, 2010]

There was a kind of odd still over the city before the match kicked off. A few souls were scurrying home, but it was definitely lull before the storm.

And while the match was in progress, it was so, so quiet. The main street at the end of our road had just the occasional car or bus and lost cyclist. In the packed window of the bar opposite, one character in a massive orange afro wig was sitting stock still.

From next door, the shrieks from a teenage girl reverberated around the block. You can follow the game by the sighs and the roars and the celebratory cheers - or the oooh and stunned silence when Uruguay scores.

Then it is all over, and there is a lot of cheering and shouting and blowing of vuvuzelas and it all goes quiet again. For just a few moments. Then suddenly the city is on the move. Everywhere. The bar bursts into life, the afro wig is dancing. The streets are full of cars with hooting horns, like a Turkish wedding. Grown men are on the streets hugging each other.

According to AT5, some 40,000 football fans had packed on to the Museumplein to watch the game on giant screens. They will be back again on Sunday. Will it be Germany or Spain?

Picture lifted from AT5 website, where it had no credit

A lot of shopping [July 2, 2010]

This household has spent a lot lot lot of money during the World Cup. One beesie for 15 euros worth of Albert Heijn groceries - unless the cashier takes a shine to you of course.

The city is very hot today - Friday - and the streets empty. At 4pm all will go silent. And then, hopefully, the roar of victory.

Peony problems? Not this year [June 23, 2010]

This needs recording for prosperity. For the first time since we had the wretched plant, no-one has stolen or broken off our peony flowers. Okay, so there are only two, and one is a bit puny, but this is a first!

Saw the ubiquitous artist Ans Markus in the supermarket today, her shopping basket laden down with nasty euroshopper biscuits and probiotic dairy products, including lots and lots of activia - go get your bowels moving. One might suggest a different diet would help.

Roses [June 4, 2010]

I had to turn round an cycle back on my hunt for a post office when I spotted these amazing pink roses clustered around the door of a very ordinary building.

Great Expatations [June 2, 2010]

Went to the premier of a bizarre little film called Great Expatations - yes the level of pun pretty well says it all. The aim of the film is to enlighten companies and service providers about what expats do and don't like about Amsterdam.

So there they were - a multicultural collection of talking heads and cliches about horrible birthday parties and the tax office being banned from speaking English - all this interspersed with titling, complete with interesting use of English. Read crap grammar.

It was not the most expensive production so hopefully not too much money was wasted - and at least the people who commissioned it were pleased with all they learned.

Here's the AT5 report on the affair, alas without subtitles.

The entire event ended with a borrel at a nearby bar Amsterdam Bright City, which is supposed to be an international meeting place on the Zuidas. Pity its website is only in Dutch.

I came across these weird seeds like a drift of coarse snow close to the Vondelpark on Wednesday. The pavement was covered in a thick layer.

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