lowlands festival pics

road: 1, me: 0

hey sportsfans,

well, i bought a bike earlier in the month: an old, traditional dutchie black bike that rides well but has seen better days (which is good because it's less likely to get stolen). it cost me 65 euros and is the best purchase i have made in a long, long time. riding around on a bike is one of my favourite things about living here because it makes me feel like a kid, it's so easy to get anywhere, it's environmentally sound and GOOD FOR ME. (still in amsterdam, btw). juggling shopping on it is not as cool, nor is trying to dodge the lemming tourists stepping onto the path on the weekends.

jane, my flatmate, told me that everyone has an accident in their first two weeks and i almost - ALMOST - made it past that mark.* then on friday night at about 3am, after drinks with jane and some of her friends, a dutchie, a dutch-canadian and a french-irishwoman, i was riding home on my bike and couldnt see clearly (i wish i could say it was raining like it has been here for a week or so, but it wasnt), and trying my best not to ride into the curb by keeping my eyes focused on the person in front on me's back tyre... when suddenly - but in slow motion as these things always happen - i saw my front tyre rolling slowly into his back one and phoooomph... that was it, me all over the road. someone picked me up to which i apparently said "thank you kind sir, and i thought chivalry was long dead" and i kept on riding, shouting... "AND... she's okay!". Thought you'd like that one, Nannos.

So now i have a mammoth bruise on my left wrist and a dead-arm like right shoulder (which has been dead for three days).

weekend before last i went to lowlands festival www.lowlands.nl which was amazing, with nath, sue and ed who all came over from london. we camped in a kick-arse tent and spent two days wandering around this amazingly well set-up festival and saw bands like the raconteurs, massive attack and iggy and the stooges (we think, but we're not sure). nath is going to send me some photies which tell the story far better than i ever could... but the highlights were our side trip to wallabie world, a theme park with incredible rollercoasters, the silent disco (where you get a pair of headphones with two channels on them and dance away), this weird LED meditational aural/visual thing (i cant explain it any better, sorry) and just generally wandering around the site, eating delicious food, drinking reasonable rose and chatting with all the friendly dutchies. everybody was so damn nice, but, inside the tents we couldnt really see the bands because...

the dutchies are the tallest race in europe, did you know that? i am in my element here, im about average height for the first time in my life and to celebrate i bought a pair of brown leather HEELED boots last week. there are a crapload of great second hand stores here too, right near where i live which i am trying to keep out of but browse compulsively anyway.

work has slowed down so i think next week i am going to take a trip east, before it gets too cold. possible destinations include: germany, czech republic, romania, hungary, croatia, slovenia (or is that slovakia? i cant remember). i think im going to do it by train and take a couple of weeks before my next job (one from home) starts up here. but maybe... i dont know. i am having trouble making plans at the moment, i dont really know why... lots i want to do and trying to figure out an order is tricky. but i think when our lease runs out here mid-October is a natural time for me to move on... to CANADA, via England, probably. so i better get truckin, eh?

think that's it for now. i am eating for australia at the moment, have fallen in love with dutch food. this includes, but is not limited to: cheese (all of it), chocolate schleppes, chocolade hagel (chocolate sprinkle sandwiches), egg and cucumber and mayonnaise sandwiches for breakfast (the mayonnaise is SO good), waffles, fruit slices... this is making me hungry, enough, enough already

im reading this back and thinking wow - this sounds all quite amazing - when the reality is, i miss my people - YOU - and miss talking to people who get my jokes and will give me a hug for no reason and want to go for a drink or a coffee or dinner... but im thinking that i will be back maybe in time for christmas now, which isnt that long off, hey?

xxo

* i did kind of hit a guy, who was walking with a large tour group who were also on the path but managed to step off when i rang my bell at them, repeatedly, from a long distance away. not so for this particular fella, who turned around to look about 10 metres out - i had slowed down a bit - and then just froze, like a deer in headlights for the last five metres before jumping into my path again (i was trying to swerve around him). he was alright, was just a gentle tap.

ahoy, sailors

hi everyone,

it's been a while since i've had a chance to write anything, deep into the work project now (dont ask, it's tedious) and have been very busy. Last time I wrote i was at jane's place where i was housesitting with that dreadful cat vyvian, which i think as i said at the time it actually the house i've moved into in amsterdam. BUT... jane's sister and her friend have been here on holiday so i dont actually officially move in till next week sometime. confusing? yes, it is. i am a bit displaced but am used to it by now.

the good news is i kind of got another job on a boat: not a job, exactly, but free accommodation in exchange for a bit of help here and there in the evenings. the boat is a large canal boat called the christina, and last week and this week I have been motoring around the top of holland (this week we are going south). it's amazing... the people we take on these trips are usually cyclists (20 or so), and we drop them off in the morning at a place and then they cycle and we motor up through the canals or the sea to meet them at the next point. it's great for work because i get to sit in the cabin or sun and get my work done with the most incredible views all around me. i have seen the 'real' holland this way, when we stop in the afernoon i normally cycle or walk into town and take a look around, find the public library and email off my work stuff, have got into a nice little routine with it. then at about 5 i go back and help guus, the boat's cook, prepare dinner. he is a great cook and i am learning some delicious dutch recipes. unlike most chefs he is really even tempered and doesnt get cross when i drop things or make a mistake (not like me to be clumsy, i hear you say, haha).

the ship's captain is called toon (tone) and he is a big old hippy, quite eccentric like all good captains and prone to moments of stress but they never last long. all three of us are cancerians (not to be a stinking hippy myself) and we three have a nice little dynamic going on. i think they like having a woman's touch on the boat.

so, that's me for now... will leave you with a few photos i took from a place called antwerp. im really very sorry i havent had a chance to reply to the emails you are sending me, but i really love getting them and will write back personally when i get back to jane's next week.

very, very happy birthday wishes to my mum Judy who is turning 60 this week. i will be thinking of you and hope you have a fantastic party next week!

all my lovin... sending to YOU
xxo