Posted in movie, street scene, tagged graffiti, police, Squatting on October 30, 2007 | 2 Comments »
I’m back in Amsterdam, and today is a perfect autumn day. I walked past the Westerkerk under a shower of floating yellow leaves listening to music from the church; something Bach-ish with a trumpet lead followed by a carillon echo.
I was enjoying being back in what has become my hometown when I noticed a rather [...]
Posted in canal, tagged autumn, seasons, Westerkerk on October 14, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
My favourite season is here, and Amsterdam is clothed in a vivid fiery blanket of leaves. The crunch of dried leaves underfoot is very satisfying – and I find it hard to resist the urge to kick them up.
A perfect soft autumn evening with the light playing on the canals is when the city [...]
Posted in bike, tagged bike, pimp my bike on October 12, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
The owner of this bike is clearly dotty!It’s very bright, you certainly wouldn’t lose it in a bike park.
Posted in bike, tagged bike on October 10, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Be careful where and how you park your bike, otherwise some clever prankster might re-arrange it for you. I’ve seen bikes tipped over rails on bridges, but this one is extra tricky!
Posted in Dutch language, tagged Dutch language, puns on October 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
To get the joke you need to know that “sla” means lettuce or salad and it also means “hit”.This exhibit is in the window of the Drogist on Westerstraat along with a long series of Dutch puns brought to life.
One of the other ones there is the “invisible hairnet” which is just the sign [...]
Posted in Politics, tagged Dutch Culture, Dutch identity, Princess Maxima on October 9, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Ruud Lubbers, the former PM of the Netherlands, who resigned from his role at the UN over sex claims, has affirmed that there is a recognisable Dutch identity.
According to Lubbers “some of the qualities for which the Dutch are known include individualism, energy, curiosity and initiative.” I don’t know where he gets that from, but [...]
Posted in charity, tagged auction, charity on October 6, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Graham Stedman, most famous for being the partner of Oprah Winfrey is up for auction on a Dutch charity site . All proceeds will go to children’s charities and the winner will get to meet Stedman and entrance to a conference where he is speaking on diversity.
The congress entrance prices is 827.05 euro, so the [...]
Posted in Art, tagged Art, graffiti on October 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
The chipboard walls put up around building sites have always been a target for graffiti, but lately I’ve noticed more graffiti in the “hip-hop” style. This example on Noorderkerkstraat was built up over a couple of weeks. It’s pretty well done, but it will all come down in a month or so when the main [...]
Posted in wildlife, tagged Art, birds, garden, seasons on October 1, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
This group of colourful bird boxes are on the wall of an apartment building on Goudebloemstraat in the Jordaan.They look great – but don’t seem to appeal to birds, I’ve never seen them in use.
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