Radio Comedy

I just saw on the Unofficial offical website that "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue" will be back again from next week, with Jack Dee in the chair. When Humph died I wasn't too sure about the series continuing, he set the tone for the show, and I did feel that tradition could not really be continued. For the first series after his death there were three chairmen, I liked the way Stephen Fry did the job, he had the toughest challenge, being the first. Rob Brydon did well too, but I guess Jack Dee has the same kind of deadpan attitude Humph had. The series wasn't quite the same as it was, but it has life in it yet.

My News Quiz has been back too. The cast has changed completely since I first started listening, back in the days when Alan Coren, Richard Ingrams and Ian Hislop were the regulars. Now Sandy Toksvig rules, and you get the voices of Jeremy Hardy, Andy Hamilton and Fred MaCauley. And they do make me laugh.

There are so many good comedians and comedy shows to listen to these days. And there is such a lot of history there too. It might easily become an addiction.

I do love radio comedy!

Almost Breakfast Time

On my way to work today I noticed the lettering over the new shop in the PC. And I could just peek inside, it looks almost finished, so I guess it's nearly opening time. Wonder what it will look like, and whether it will have the atmosphere of its New York counterpart. I'll have to go and have a look around soon.

The Spirit of Winter

A day out today, walking in the Oostvaardersplassen. The forecast said dry, a little foggy in the morning, and cold. Well, two out of three ain't bad, they say. I was with good friends, it was dry all day, it was cold, but throughout the day we never could see for more than about 50 metres. It was a lovely day, with a real sense of winter, a feeling of Sinterklaas, hot chocolate and speculaas, and a slightly mysterious atmosphere.



It was a lovely walk, and we got to see a Bittern, and Egret, Bearded Tits and a few more birds. The park was full of toadstools and funghi, mosses and lichens. It was quite obvious that winter has set in outside the city a little earlier than inside the city. The trees looked bare and there was little colour left. It was all very beautiful though, another side to the country.

Autumn and Dusk

I like this time of year, because it is a time of change. The light changes, it is no longer light when you go to bed, or when you get up. Soon I will be cycling to and from work in the dark again. It is getting dark now, and over the roofs across the street I could see the pinkish light that always reminds me of the far south. It's beautiful.

Coming back from my shopping this morning, I also noticed the colour of the leaves. The trees are slowly changing from green to red, brown and yellow, and soon they will be bare again. The streets are covered with leaves in various colours.

It is getting colder too, especially in this house, which is not very well insulated, and where I don't often have the heating on. No time to eat salads and drink juice, but a good time for stews, Turkish coffees, hot chocolates and Beerenburg. A good time to curl up on the sofa, under a sleeping bag, with a hot drink and some chocolate.

It is getting on for Sinterklaas, that time of year, when you see the Speculaas in the shops again, and all the other sweet things associated with the old Bishops birthday celebrations. And I guess soon we will get the first Christmas decorations in the shopping centres.

This is also the time of year, when you are more likely to get wet. I need to bring my weatherproof gear whenever I go in to work, or cycle somewhere else. And I need to go up to the attic once in a while to make sure no water is seeping in through the windows and the roof. Sleeping upstairs mean you sometimes get woken by the sound of rain on the roof.

For a while life will be based much more inside the house, which is the cosiness of the season. For now that is fine, but I know that in a little while I will start looking forward to the light and the openness of spring. That I will start missing the sunshine and the light, the warmth. That I will look forward to the time when I don't need to wear three pairs of socks and three sweaters when I'm in the house, but can just wear a t-shirt, and can go back to bare feet in sandals. I'll be waiting for the next season of change again pretty soon.

Myn Sjirurch

Every once in a while, when I have a cold, when it is cold, when I'm not feeling too well, or when I cannot sleep, I look for a natural, medicinal cure. My miracle drink is called Beerenburg. There is a Dutch singer, or I should say a Frysian singer, who shares my opinion and who has written a song to celebrate the medicinal properties of the drink. the song is called "De Bearenburch is myn Sjirurch", or the Beerenburg is my doctor. It confirms that this herbal drink can cure all ills. The only side-effect might be a slight headache.

Not too long ago I found out there is a Beerenburg Museum in Friesland, in Leeuwarden. It is just a tiny museum, a little small for something so beneficial, I guess. It tells the story of the drink, reveals something about its ingredients, and, of course, you can have a taste. A group of ladies was there at the time, drinking their health, and they seemed very happy. I was feeling well anyway, so I didn't have a taste that particular afternoon. You need to be particular about these things.

Animals in the City

I was at an urban ecology conference today. It was held in a church in the city centre, and it was organised as a goodbye to Amsterdam's most popular urban ecologist. It was all about his work, and the importance of nature in the city.

There were some interesting talks, on the history of urban ecology, the way ecologists had to fight for a place in urban planning and about the way they are indispensable now. You cannot plan a city of quality if there is no room for nature, and that idea is generally accepted now. The group of urban ecologists in this city have worked hard to achieve this.

Martin was always the most visible of them, the one who turned up on television to show something special happening with the birds or other animals present in the city. I worked with him on one of my projects, where I was appointed "manager birds". We were responsible for making sure the breeding birds would not get in the way of the work, because that would mean the work would be stopped, but we were also given the opportunity to create room for breeding birds, or for any other animal wherever possible.

I enjoyed the work, making space for nature, as the BBC's Springwatch would call it. And it is good to see that now this is common practice here in Amsterdam. It was good to hear and see the stories today, to see men dedicated to the work they do and to hear them talk about it. And it is good to see that nowadays they are taken very seriously. I met some people I used to work with who were always a bit sceptical about the whole idea, but who ended up thinking about the animals and nature in their projects as a matter of course.

The other things about the conference was that one of the speakers decided to do without a big powerpoint presentation, but just used words to convey his message. He talked about ecology and communication, and he managed to get his message across powerfully just using words. They spoke louder than pictures.

Martin made a film about nature in Amsterdam, together with a journalist from the local TV station, and it had his signature to it. A lot of animals, lovely pictures, a love for the city and a good sense of humour. It'll be a success. At the end of the afternoon the mayor came to speak, and he presented Martin with an honour from the Queen, but that didn't seem to make much of an impression. I do think he was pleased though, because just for once he was speechless. For a little while, anyone.

A Girl's Best Friend

Cycling into work, from the corner of my eye, in the PC, I suddenly caught sight of a familiar colour, a special shade of blue. I know that colour, I've seen it before, but far away.

There are some shops that have a special ring to their name, pardon the pun, that somehow trigger the imagination. For me one of those shops is Tiffany. Every time I was in New York I would visit the shop on Fifth Avenue, not necessarily to buy anything but to get a sense of the place. Now it looks like I won't have to travel quite so far anymore to visit a Tiffany shop. And just in time for the holiday season too.

Training on the New Ship

I was away for the weekend for a meeting with colleagues. The other set of colleagues this time, fellow Antarctic guides and expedition leaders. The meeting was held in a small town called Haastrecht because the company's new ship Plancius is over there for the moment, awaiting sea trials, christening and departure to the south. She seems like a good ship, lovely great windows for good views of the ice and the whales. And a great many decks on different levels for watching them in the fresh air.

I got to sleep in one of the bigger luxury cabins, testing out the accommodation. Not a bad place to sleep, the cabin has nice big windows too. And a very comfortable bed. A lot of thought has gone into the design, and all the details that will make life at sea more comfortable. A lot of work still has to be done on the ship, but much has been done already, and it is all happening very fast.

One of the nice things about the weekend was meeting all these people who do the same job under the same circumstances and who share my experiences. We usually are on different ships, and when we are at work there always is something to do. It was good for once to spend a couple of days like this, talking about the work, sharing experiences, and looking forward to the next season.

It wasn't all about talking and sitting around. We had a zodiac out on the water for a practice run on Saturday morning, sitting out there in the quiet Zeeland delta instead of the wild waters of the Antarctic Peninsula. All of the waves there were caused by passing ships.

The greater part of the weekend was spent in first aid training though. A Scotsman came over who works for the BASP, the British Association of Ski Patrollers, so someone who knows what it is like to work in inhospitable, cold environments. He was a good teacher, a great story-teller, and he was good at organising the practical exercises. It was a good mix of the theory and the practical, and I learned a lot. I had great fun playing the victim in one of the practical cases. I spent five minutes hysterically screaming for attention, and I really enjoyed myself. I did end up with a sore throat though...