Posted in Art on June 24, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Everyone knew what was it was about, I didn’t until I spotted a sign with the artist’s name. Then I overheard someone saying that “they’d come by boat” indicating Prinsengracht. So I settled in to wait with the crowd – all of us clicking away with cameras at the blank screen.
Lots of boats came through [...]
Posted in Art on June 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
On the way to work I noticed a new bridge under construction across Leliegracht. Only it can’t really be a bridge since it sits between two other bridges, no more than about 25 metres away on each side. I think there must be some artwork or display on the way.
I don’t envy the guys who [...]
Posted in book on June 21, 2007 | 1 Comment »
This is the story of Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese man who, as a boy walked out of Sudan into Ethiopia and later into Kenya. He came to the US as a young man where he found that life still wasn’t easy, that he still couldn’t get the qualifications that matched his ability, and that [...]
Posted in Business, tagged banking, Brand, ABN Amro on June 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
The Barclays logo, an eagle, is under attack. There is a merger in process between Barclays bank, based in the UK and ABN Amro based in the Netherlands. According to the Times;
Barclays is poised to drop its 317-year-old eagle logo in response to concerns from ABN Amro, its Dutch merger partner, that the [...]
Posted in online, tagged banking, email, fraud on June 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Have you ever seen one of these emails?
DEAR/Sir,Madam:It is obvious that this notification will come to you as a Suprise but please find time to read it carefully while We congratulate you over your success in the following official publication of results of the E-mail electronic online Sweepstakes organized by the SPONSOR BINGO LOTERIJ INTER.,in [...]
Posted in Dutch Culture, tagged graduation, schoolbag on June 19, 2007 | 2 Comments »
The flag and schoolbag hung outside a house indicate that a child in the house has passed their exams. You see it around this time of the year, which is when school finishes, and occasionally later in the year when university finishes.
I’ve seen a few of these around the local area, congratulations to all [...]
Posted in gardens, tagged open garden weekend, open tuinen dagen on June 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
This weekend is the Amsterdam Open Garden Weekend, and it’s a rare chance to get a look at the secret world of Amsterdam’s gardens. When you walk around Amsterdam as a tourist you see the front part of the house which is directly on the street, what you don’t see is the gardens at the [...]
Posted in Politics, tagged burqa, Islam on June 15, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Once again traditional Muslim headress has been making headlines in the Netherland, this time it’s the Niqab that’s under discussion.
A student at Groningen University has chosen to wear the Niqab, apparently she began wearing it some time ago, but it only became an issue around exam time, when the university raised the issue of confirming [...]
Posted in bike on June 15, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Another highly decorated bike, with a technicolour frame, bottle tops on the spokes and flowers – lots of flowers.
It was outside my neighbours house.
It’s one way to stop your bike being nicked I guess.
Posted in online, tagged blogging, technorati on June 11, 2007 | 2 Comments »
or How to score on Technorati Authority Ranking
I started this version of this blog on 1 June, so it’s new, it had zero authority with Technorati, I expected it to take time. But I’ve shot up to 94 in the space of 10 days. Pretty amazing for a personal blog I thought.
Then I took [...]
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