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...

A Week on Texel

I just had a week's holiday on the island of Texel. It is a bit of a risk to go there in the middle of October, but it can be very beautiful too. You can be stuck in your hotel or apartment for the whole week because of the weather, or you can see the most beautiful sights.



Well, I was lucky this time, and for most of the week I got the beautiful sights. Rain was predicted for the weekend, but I only got a few drops once in a while. I spent most of the week cycling round the island, and I'm quite happy I didn't get stuck in my apartment. I rented a place through the internet, I didn't know it beforehand, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Well, it was tiny, a converted attic, consisting of a bed-sitting room and a kitchen. It looked like it had been decorated quite some time ago, and not all aspects had been given enough attention. I was right under the roof, so I could only stand up straight in the middle of the room. I only banged my head a couple of times in a week, so that wasn't too bad. Anyway, the fridge was built into a cupboard, but it opened towards the middle of the attic, so to get into the fridge you needed to be a contortionist. But the apartment had all I needed, there was room to cook, a very good bed, a television set to keep me happy in the evenings. What more does a woman need? Don't answer that one, I had it....

I took my own bike this time, nicely parked in the bicycle shed at night, so it was quite easy to get around. My apartment was just outside Oosterend, in the middle of the island, so all other places were easy to reach. I love the northern part of Texel, the Schorren on the eastern side, the dunes to the very north, and the Slufter on the western side. Whenever I stay up in De Cocksdorp I tend to stay on that side of the island, but from Oosterend it is just as easy to reach the Mokbaai and Paal 9 to the south.

Oosterend is a very nice village, and I've wanted to come and stay here for a while. It is fairly small, not too many shops or restaurants, but with quite an old town centre. There aren't as many tourists here as there are on other parts of the island, which I also like. This was the week of the German autumn break, so there were a lot of Germans everywhere, and at times it was hard to hear Dutch rather than German spoken.



I hadn't been here for a while, but found that not much has changed really. Up in De Cocksdorp I had dinner at De Rog, a small café I've eaten on most of my visits to the island. It used to be more of a pub, now it is more of a restaurant. When I first had dinner there I was a little desperate, arriving in the north at around 8.30in the evening after a long cycle ride against the wind coming straight of the boat. There was no room at any of the other restaurants, or rather they were about to close, and at De Rog they didn't mind making me something to eat at that time of night. I make a point of going back whenever I'm here, and they now have a good variety of food, including vegetarian, very friendly service, and they are reasonably priced. This sounds like an advert, but it is nice to still have places like this, that are good and offer quality and do not become a victim of their own success.



Anyway, I spent a fair amount of time cycling round the edges of the island, and I got to visit the Schorren a few times. That always is a great site for watching waders, just like the Slufter. I walked in De Muy and de Geul, and along the beach near Paal 9. I saw some great Jellyfish there, which had just ended up on the beach with the rising tide. On the whole the weather was pretty good, and I got to see some lovely skies. There was a lot of cloud cover, with many different types of clouds, moving very fast because of the strong winds.



On Friday there was a small storm, and the wind was too strong for cycling, so I just went for a walk. Even that was hard going at times, walking against the wind. Once you had the wind in your back you could move at cycling speed. There is a small walking tour just outside Oosterend, starting from about 50 metres from where I was staying, so I did that tour. It was nice to be literally blown away.

Then it was time to head home again, to put the bike on a train, and in this case aboard a bus too, and to go back to the city. But that is another story.

Shaken

Watching the regional news on Monday night I saw and heard a flash of the unveiling of a placque for a man who had been killed with his family, his wife and two teenage children, in a car crash last November. Just in those few seconds I realised I have known this man, and I didn't know about what happened to him. The item has been haunting me, and I’m not sure why. I knew the man slightly, he was involved in one of my projects and I met him only a few times. He seemed like a nice man, young, lively, driven, ambitious, dedicated.

It is such a weird idea that this man has gone, and that his whole family were killed with him, two generations gone in a second. The other thing that I find hard to understand is that I didn’t even know, and he was killed almost a year ago. Have I been so unobservant, or don’t my colleagues know either? You read or hear these stories of accidents, young people or families getting killed, but now I can put a face to the story. That is on my mind and I can’t seem to shake it.

Cycling and Cycling

I cycled down to Delft this weekend, there and back in two days. I guess it is about 90 kilometres one way, not too much for a trained cyclist, but I wouldn't call myself a trained cyclist exactly. I cycle in the city, and just outside, but I don't usually travel such distances by bike. But the conditions seemed perfect, dry, not too warm, not such strong winds, just the kind of weather you need for cycling.

It isn't a bad route to cycle, and I had done it before, but this time I didn't take quite the same route. Down to Amstelveen first, where I could have a look at the area where my new project should be developed at some point. Then into the green, mainly farmland with the odd bit of nature in between. Lots of small villages to pass through, all with similar new developments along the edges. There isn't all that much variety really.

Not too many bigger towns, just Alphen, but there is a short way through, which is not bad. You do end up on a roundabout called "Care Square", where you find all kinds of medical shops and facilities, an interesting place from an urban planning point of view.

You also go through Zoetermeer, well, you do if you take a wrong turn somewhere. Which I did. By this time I was thirsty and I could do with a break, but I ended up in the suburbs, and there was no cafe, just a lot of streets and houses, all very similar, where you would get lost. I know this is not unique to Zoetermeer, this happens in many towns, but I feel it is dehumanizing.

After Zoetermeer I get onto familiar terrain, passing through Nootdorp, where I have my family history. I cycle past the house where my grandparents lived, even though the area has changed completely. When I used to go down there to visit my grandparents it was all farmland, nowadays it is a builtup area.

Cycling back today I took a different route, cycling past the Starrevaart, a good birding area just east of Den Haag. There always is a lot to see there. Unfortunately, the bird hide that was there was burnt down in June, which makes it a little harder to sit and watch the birds.

Coming back always seems to go faster than cycling down, even though it takes just as long. There was no strong wind, so cycling was quite easy. I got back to Amsterdam at the end of the afternoon, not bad going really.

Clean Air and Traffic Lights

Time for a rant. I am, on the whole, one of the more law-abiding cyclists here in Amsterdam. I indicate when I intend to turn the corner, I give way where I have to, and I stop at red lights. Always. Well, almost, even though I seem to be the only one who does.

Just lately I have taken to going through the red light at the end or the entrance, depending on which way you look at it, of the park. The system of the lights has changed so the air here in Amsterdam can become cleaner, that is cars don't have to wait quite so long at the lights anymore. Trams always get priority anyway, so as a cyclist you sometimes have to wait for a long, long time, while you see the lights changing again and again for the cars and trams. After a while I get fed up, especially if there is very little traffic. I'm all in favour of clean air, but why is it that the kind of traffic that is the least polluting has to stand and wait the longest in this air polluted by those who get to go first. I honestly don't understand.

Getting Wet

Well, they did say the weather was going to be changeable today. I cycled into work through the pouring rain this morning. I stopped in the park to put on my weatherproof trousers, but they turned out, as I already knew, not all weather proof. Not proof against real rain, for example. Shortly afterwards I ended up taking shelter for a few minutes, but I could already feel the water coming through around the knees and some other areas.

Shortly after I reached the office, as I sat at my desk, finding out just how wet I got, I looked out the window and saw blue skies and the sun shining. Then I got a rainbow, a nice shower, another rainbow, and then solid grey skies and another shower. Meanwhile, I was slowly drying up, but it took quite a few hours. I was alright for much of the time, or rather as long as I remained sitting down, but getting up and sitting down again made me realize it takes a long time for jeans to dry.

What I also noticed along the way was the Paradiso Fringe. When did Paradiso get a fringe? I like that idea. When I checked later I saw that there is a fringe festival starting here in Amsterdam tonight.

Surprising Voice

I just finished listening to a radio adaptation of “Busman's honeymoon”, one of a series of adaptations with Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey and Sarah Badel as Harriet Vane. I love the stories, and I enjoy listening to the radio dramatizations. I’ve listened to them all more than once, so I was surprised, catching just the last part of the credits properly to hear the announcer say: “Second removal man - Alex Jennings”. I usually recognise the voice when I hear it, but not this time. Not surprising really, as he only had a couple of lines, and it was some serious character acting. Deep voice and strong accent. I listened to the episode again, just to actually hear it. And I did hear the second removal man.

Back in Time

For some reasons the desks in my office have been moved. I used to be right at the window in my little glass house, but the table has been moved back and there is a gap between the desk and the window. So if I want to open or close the window, or charge my phone, I have to crawl under the table to do that. Not too bad really, a little exercise once in a while.

It all reminds me of a children's book I read when I was little, one of the first books I can remember, about a girl whose favourite place was the space behind her father's desk. She liked to crawl under the desk to hide out. I was thinking about the book only the other day. I can't remember much else about it, I’m sure there was much more to the story, but that is the one thing I can remember. I’ll have to check my boxes at home to see if I still have it somewhere. For some reason the idea of the little corner behind the desk must have appealed to me, otherwise I wouldn’t have remembered. And I wouldn’t have thought of it today.

As I Waved Goodbye

In his newsletter Luka Bloom mentions that it is 50 years since the Dalai Lama went into exile. He hasn't been back to Tibet since, which is so sad. When I first saw Luka about 10 years ago here in Utrecht the song that moved and impressed me most was "As I Waved Goodbye", which he had not recorded yet. Luka also still had his sruti box at the time, which provided beautiful accompaniment to the song.

Looking at the documentaries about the history of Tibet and the current situation makes me sad. And there is no sign of things getting better out there yet.

Luka recorded the song in Whelans in Dublin last February, and it is beautiful as ever: As I Waved Goodbye

Lovely Monday Morning

Some days just start out right. As I walked out of my street this morning I could see the tram at the stop. I started running, but then the tram started moving. I slowed down, but so did the tram driver, and he actually stopped for me. I told him he was wonderful!

Luka

Luka was back in the country, I had to go to Utrecht this time to see him, to the mythical Tivoli. I had never been to Tivoli before, not to the old one anyway. This is where people first started to sing with Luka in 1990. People still sing, though for some reason other people felt it necessary to talk all the way through the concert. I don't understand this, why go to a concert if you don't want to listen to the music.

Luka was his own opening act for the occasion, and what an opening act. He started of with "Diamond Mountain", such a beautiful song. And he just went on from there. Before the break he sang some ten songs by himself, and then came back with the boys, which made for a different kind of Luka concert. Familiar songs, but they sounded different.

He began his encore with "Don't be Afraid of the Light that Shines Within You", which I love. It is such a song of hope. Then he went on by himself to sing a request, "The Man is Alive". When I heard the first chords I couldn't believe my ears, this was the one song I wanted, didn't expect, but got anyway. It completely blew me away, and has been sustaining me ever since.

Oma

It would have been my grandmother's birthday today. She would have been 100, but she only lived to be 60. Such a long time ago, and I can remember so little, except for a great feeling of warmth and love. And chicken soup, sweet pears, and little dogs. I often think of her, when important things happen to me in my life. That is lovely to me.

Alienation

My first few days back home are always difficult. Suddenly everything changes. Walking down the the street here in Amsterdam I kept seeing familiar figures, Pavel, our zodiac driver, or Mariano, the owner of the bookshop in Ushuaia, somewhere on the street. One of those tricks of the mind or the eye. Moving from one world to the other within 24 hours.

Suddenly I find myself cycling again, after almost three months. First on my bike in Delft, which is unusual anyway, then on my bike here. I first have to drag that down three flights of stairs, something of an effort, but then it feels like I was cycling only yesterday.

Coming back to work is strange. Everything seems the same, I am the one who has changed. And then I see part of the office has been redecorated, we now have a sheepy reading room and lounge area. And I see a lot of new faces, again. I've read about people leaving and saying goodbye, I didn't realise there were so many new arrivals.

When you leave the ship you see so many faces after seeing so few for a long time. Travelling back, flying up to Buenos Aires, during the taxi ride to the international airport, then flying to Madrid and on to Amsterdam. So many people. And again, out here.

What is strangest perhaps is having time to myself. After working most working hours every day for the past 11 weeks, I now have spare time again. I need to decide for myself what I want to do, I have a choice. My life is no longer governed by the regular hours and schedule of the ship.

Being on the move, working all day long, you need a little time to readjust to a different way of life again.