Action Woman to the Rescue!

Having lived on a houseboat for years when I first came to the Netherlands I was of course the first person Riny phoned when she dropped her keys in the water yesterday and wanted some advice about 'What now?!'
It's years since I've had my head so far underwater and I can't say I was very keen on going down into the dark place under the gangplank but ach, I had my reputation as tough diving woman to uphold so there was no turning back once I'd said I'd come and help... Our first attempts on Saturday evening only produced an old set of keys some previous owner had dropped and as it was getting dark and my teeth were starting to rattle with the cold we decided to stop after a number of failed dives. But I couldn't stand the thought of the keys being there and me not being able to find them so next day when the light was better I had a second attempt. Without mask and fins this time as I couldn't see anything in the dark under the boat anyway and it was easier to pull myself down by the iron pole we'd stuck in the bottom at the place where the keys had fallen. And this time I found them at my first attempt! Along with a pair of scissors. I was a lot calmer than the evening before and was able to feel my way more methodically around the pole without panicking about having enough air. A good exercise in Search and Recovery.

Guided Tour in Utrecht

On Saturday a small group of people I know from the Archers Messageboard came to Utrecht. I shepherded them around some of my favourite bits of the town. The pictures are taken in the gardens behind the Dom.




Later we went on a canal boat trip and I learnt various things I didn't know before. For instance that Princess Irene lived in that wonderful white house on the corner of Lepelenburg when she was a student, and that the high security prison across from the hash boat is now a detention centre for drug addicts.

Het karretje van Henk

Zwolle

On the way to Groningen stopped off at Riny's recently acquired houseboat in Zwolle.
This painting is one someone made after being inspired by her hair.

Harley Weekend Groningen

Beter een halve ei dan een lege kip...

And definitely better not to remove the suspect floating egg from the pan with a fork and try to bring it to the bin outside via the hall and then to let it fall on the rug. Pouring the runnier bits into the compost bin and then putting the whole rug into the washing machine set at cold removed all traces. I was afraid washing it any hotter would just give me a rug with poached instead of raw egg on it.

A Recurring Blog Theme...

The Big Remainder Book Extravaganza is in Utrecht again and the thought of all these books being sold for so little money yet again proved irresistable.
I actually had a lot more in my wheeliebasket but put some of the more ridiculous 'bargains' back before I got as far as the check-out. 10 books and a selection of booklights/other gift things.

Orhan Pamuk Reading

Last night went to a reading/interview with the Turkish Nobel prize winner Orhan Pamuk. Fairly strict security precautions, no bags or jackets allowed into the hall. He was interviewed by Bas Heijne who started the evening by saying that much as he was delighted to be sitting where he was, he would have preferred to have been sitting in the audience and seeing Michael Zeeman doing the interview. (Note for non-Dutch readers, Zeeman died very recently.) Pamuk added that he'd been shocked by Zeeman's death and that he'd met him many times in the past and thought of him as one of the most intelligent men he had ever met.
Anyway, Orhan Pamuk didn't really need anyone else on stage. He was clearly used to running his own promotional show. After the short introductory remarks he jumped up from the table where he and his 'interviewer' were sitting saying something about how he was here to tell us about his latest book and would read a short extract in Turkish 'to give us some of the feeling of the book'. Which he did. There were a few scattered Turkish nationals in the mainly Dutch audience but the majority of us didn't understand a word of it of course. Luckily he kept it short. This was followed by a slightly longer reading of the same bit in the Dutch translation. Afterwards he went on to tell some more about the book (The Museum of Innocence) in English. Which is about infatuation and the passing of Time. A professor in love with a shop girl. The trivia of the years he spent feeding his obsession with her. Watching tv in the company of her family in the years from 1976 to 1984, when there was only one tv station in Turkey. Main thing that came out of this evening for me is a desire to visit Istanbul towards the end of next year, when the real museum, which is currently being set up with all the 'objects' from the book, is realised. I've always had a vague plan to go there one day since the day in early 1984 when I was in a bus station in Athens and could just as easily have bought a ticket to Istanbul as to wherever it was in France I did actually go to that time.