My first without one. I knew it was going to be tough, but wasn't prepared for how tough.
I've been in, or close and fighting back the, tears a lot today. Family weekend away, which was amazing. But watching the presents was just too tough.
My heart goes outto all who have lost theirs, either taken away or not in contact.
For those who still have one - geneite ervan, elke dag!
(Enjoy your time with them, every day!)
Two weeks ago I posted a picture of the bike stranded at the side of this road. Whilst waiting for the truck I took a couple of other pictures to pass the time. If you look carefully you can just see the mirror in this picture.
Today I went to pick it up! A new battery and a new mass air flow sensor (well a second hand one) and a new battery (seriously, how much!) and I’m back on the road! It took their mechanics half a day to find the fault and fix so I’m glad I didn’t do it :)
I picked it up and took it for a quick blast. Slow twisty roads, fast motorways and very slow neighbourhood roads to get home. I loved almost every second of it. Almost.
At the worst possible time, 4th lane of a 130 kmph / 85mph motorway I noticed some fluff in my helmet. I was about bro open my visor to try and get rid of it when I saw that the fluff was black and yellow. You can imagine the language that went through my head (though not out of my mouth, I wasn’t going to risk that!)
Hazards on, head down so it doesn’t fall on me and get to the hard shoulder ASAP!
Thankfully it was dazed and so when I opened the helmet it just dropped into the grass verge and didn’t fly into my face!
"During my commute this morning I had traffic in a couple of places, but thankfully had music to keep me sane. It was a great album, made me feel new born to hear the songs again, absolute bliss! Not talking space dementia here, but hyper music! I just thought “oh, plug in, baby, and whack the volume up!” I felt sorry for anyone who I disturbed with the music, but for those songs I was a citizen erased! The problem with a loud stereo though is that after a couple of songs your ears feel like they have micro cuts in them! But I didn’t care I was glued to the music like a screenager is glued to a phone, I could feel the dark shines in my soul! It truly left me feeling good! Like we should embrace futurism, building the future together and ensuring that megalomania never takes hold!"
I got a request from my sister in law from a school on Sunday about whether I have anything that is quintessentially English. She let slip that she had an English sister in law when they were talking about a current project for the children and she let slip that she had an English sister in law, and of course I was asked if I could help.
The only thing is what do I have that is quintessentially English? I wear 50s pinup fashion that is more American than English, drive a Swedish car and live in The Netherlands.
I do eat some English food, but is that really going to be seen as quintessential? Would a young child know that a particular brand of tea is English? Or a brand of pickle? Probably not…
I have a library full of books. But, again, that is not much use to a young child.
What I did have at my office is a flag bought for a world food fair that IT out on a few years ago. And a red phone box cookie tin that I got to treat the office with when I lastwent back to the UK.
Put them together and you do get something very English :) I’ll see what the audience think when they see it next week :)
After disappearing for a week summer returned this weekend.
BBQ yesterday, and today a run through the same park as with the group. I didn’t go as nuts as then though. I limited it to a run up the 40m high staircase, running down, back up and down again. The staircase killed my legs and the hill pretty much finished me off, but it still managed 7.5km in my 50 mins.
Colour today, I took some monochrome shots as well, but this is a vista that screams for colours!
The weather has been as good as expected so far this weekend and we have tried to make as much of it as we can whilst trying to deep clean the house.
Tomorrow we are taking the day off, and are going to enjoy the weather before it disappears at the end of the day to be replaced by thunder...
And, of course, what better way is there to enjoy the weather than a BBQ :)
I was back at the hospital today for an emergency checkup on my hands. A ‘bobble’ has appeared on my knuckle and I’m was a little worried about it.
After sending pictures to the hospital they decided that the surgeon should take another look.
So, another set of x-rays and off to see the surgeon. He was actually very happy with what he saw, the bones are rebuilding themselves nicely, the movement I have is better than he expected (I guess the pain of physiotherapy is worth it!) and the scars are looking much further along than expected after the three months it’s been since they were made.
And the bobble? Well, after the trauma that that bone has had during my life it’s to be expected, unfortunately. The bobble is simply deformation of the 2nd metacarpal. The x-ray is quite shocking, it’s three metacarpals looking normal, and one looking like a cork screw.
I do find it sad, that and the scars across the hand, but it could be so much worse so I count myself lucky…
The picture? The orthopedic outpatient center, which like my hand, is currently undergoing some rebuilding work :)
BBQ tools, beer, Coca-Cola and baking soda paste.
After spending the day continuing with the bathroom and downstairs toilet (silicone for the shower is done, window is to be painted and siliconed tomorrow and Monday and the downstairs toilet has had the tiles painted, walls and ceiling to tomorrow and pictures from this blog to be out into frames) it was time for a beer and to start the BBQ. Then I tried on a honey bee (I feel a little guilty) which stung me between my toes (I feel a lot pained) and so the baking soda joined the beer to pack around the sting to try and neutralise it…
Not my greatest picture, but certainly relevant for today!
I was not expecting to get a picture today. This morning I was doing some interesting work figuring out how to use the TFS REST API to automatically do things based on the git pull requests over the last week. It's been seriously fun! A long way to go but I have a roadmap now :)
Then a trip to the DIY store for decorating supplies. That took an age as I have no idea what I'm doing!
And then the decorating. Silicone removed from the shower cubicle, letting it dry out so we can remove the limescale in the morning and re-silione it in the afternoon.
And... Decorating the downstairs toilet. Nothing too major, just paining the tiles more neutral colours and redoing the accents to bring it up to date.
But then! Playing in the garden with my other half and the little man with bubbles and caught this one against the sky...
Today I applied for my first Dutch passport, of course for that you need a picture. Though I don't think they'll like this one :)
Another wonderful, though too hot, day here in Holland (yes, this picture is from Nord Holland so I can say that ;p) and a great sky looking from the train station next to the photo shop.
And the passport, such a simple process. 35 minutes from leaving home to cycle to the town hall, to completing the application (hand over the photo, prove who I am, sign a form and scan my fingerprints) and cycle home. Considering the round trip was 5km for the cycle ride and whilst not slow, I'm not quick either, you can imagine how quick the process it! The UK can learn a lot from it - my last passport application was much more work, took more time to complete and get everything needed for the application and took 2 months to get the actual passport.
I go back next week to pick up this one. And that isn't an express request!
Yes, I'm proud of my first NL passport, and more than impressed with the process sofar!
Running night, and with a lot on my mind and a painful hand that the surgeon wants to see again as it's swelling, I really didn't want to go. But, if you miss one week, the next is easier to miss, and I knew that I'd probably be happy at the end.
It was hard. Very hard. But I kept up with the group, pushed and in the end had a very enjoyable run / cross training.
And in the rest periods managed to get a few good shots. This colour one, I also have the same shot using the monochrome sensor, is bar far my favourite!
After the last post, and with the (literally) painful one I am writing, I thought an upbeat post may be good.
Today I went for my run, only the 2nd find time after an 8 week hiatus (see upcoming post). The weather was great, my running group was great and whilst I ache, it was awesome :)
Hello!
