Google Earth

Have you not yet got your own copy of Google Earth? Oh, please do get it. It’s amazing.
I can spend hours (well... lots of minutes) traveling around the world in my own virtual satellite. With childish pleasure. I flew from Haarlem to Amsterdam following the railway line. And believe me or not, that was fun!
The other day I visited my friend Gg in East Harlem, NYC. The thrill I got when saw the view of the dead end street she lives in. I even saw a glimpse of her garden!
She must have sensed my little visit. Just a few hours later she sent me the sweetest message. Yes, my dear Gg, I will come to you and NYC. For real.

get your free copy of Google Earth at: http://earth.google.com/

53 years

My parents are married for 53 years. I repeat that sentence out loud a few times. And then again, slowly. 53 years... No, there’s no way my brain is going to comprehend this. It’s beyond what I can understand.
Still I’m glad my parents are the living proof of the possibility for a long during commitment between two people. Oh, I’m sure they will have known their difficulties. But they never ran away from them and stayed pretty happy along the way.
Yes, you probably do sense a certain envy in these words...
I took them to the place where they got married July 16th 1953. City hall in Haarlem. Since my new job a too familiar spot for me.
It’s a historic place. The oldest parts of the building are 14th century. Luckily I know a guy who knows a lot about the history of this house. And fortunately he was prepared to give my parents and me a two hour tour through the building. With highlights as the old clink in the basement. And off course the cellar where you can still see a part of the watercourse of the former river The Beek. Really amazing.
But naturally my parents were just as happy to see those real secrets of that ancient building as to see the press desk in the council chamber at which their son frequently sits...

Doing Something (2)

This Saturday RdB had her birthday party. I still don’t feel like going to parties, but I knew I could not not go to this one. RdB is my “journalistic mom”. And it was her 50th birthday. Besides, I knew her friends had put a lot of effort in throwing her a real nice party and I had let them down by not participate in any of the preparations. I had to go. So I dragged myself to it.
I could have left right after midnight just like I intended. I didn’t. I stayed till 3 a.m. as one of the last guests to leave. I had come on my own, I stayed on my own and left alone. But still I had a good time. Among very nice and friendly people. They sang to RdB, performed sketches, and made her feel special. In a very nice and warm way.

Doing something

“Think about you!” That was the message J.O. gave me. “Go do something!'' I knew he was right, but I couldn’t think of anything that I really wanted to do. Besides, I’m the kind of guy that considers it as some sort of betrayal to set aside this whole ‘L-issue’ just because it would be better for ‘me’. It doesn’t feel right to let go, despite the hurting.
Who taught me this? I don’t know. Maybe I just saw too many of the wrong movies when I was a kid. I was 8 and had a crush on Olivia Newton-John as Sandy. And she sang: 'My heart is saying "Don't let go!" Hold on to the end, that's what I intend to do...', didn't she? So how was and am I to know?

Anyway... I don’t think that I would have come up with any idea on what to do with my Sunday. So luckily there was M. She asked me to join her and two friends on a picnic in the park in Utrecht.
No, I didn’t feel like going. Not at all. But on the other hand I knew that I very much wanted to feel like going. So I went. I went ‘doing something’.
And I’m glad I went. It was good to see M and her friend My-K again. We had great food and nice wine. We talked, made fun, tried to solve a cryptic crossword and had the company of two very silly ducks. I felt free to make a few funny remarks, and it felt good to see it made them laugh. It was very a good day. (I’m sorry, L...)