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He really wouldn't survive a day outside of the house

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Merry X-mas

Well, I guess we are entering what is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. Let me wish everyone a lovely Christmas. With dreams coming true and everything.
Because I won’t be home too much these Holidays and even out of the country with the turn of the year (I’ll be in Berlin with friends) I wasn’t sure whether to buy a tree or not. Finally I did and I even got some extra lights in it. And what a good choice it was. Because he is on my balcony it’s not easy to get a good picture, but you get the idea. Isn’t he really nice (T.)?

Of course no one can beat the Christmas tree that’s is on the ‘Grote Markt’ this year. Luckily the morans that pulled off some branches didn’t do too much damage. He is truly beautiful, especially in the evenings with the lights shining brightly.
The other day my parents and I went to have a look at it together. I told my mom that she and my father should go see it, because I know she likes these sort of things. Of course my mother responded immediately by declaring that ‘it would be ever so nice’ if I was to join them on that. So the three of us went in town for a cup of coffee.
And that was actually pretty good. Especially considering the fact that my father was having a really bad time in hospital only a few weeks ago.

What will Christmas bring this year? I don’t know.
My favorite pub was close to burning down just two days ago. I wasn't there that night (I was... well let’s not get into that...) and was woken up Friday morning by someone texting me that there had been a fire at my hangout. My own newspaper reported that the damage was big enough to keep the place closed for at least a couple of days.
A few hours later I had my friend E. on the phone who works there. She told me that things looked a lot better than was suggested in the paper. The cafe would be open as nothing had happened. Was there a Christmas angel involved?
I myself will spend the first day of Christmas with my parents at my sister’s. For the second day B. from Wilmington invited me to have a nice Christmas meal with some friends at his place. I’m looking forward to that.

Furthermore: I will be dreaming Christmas dreams for sure. And I suggest you do the same. Merry X-mas!

Badly bruised

I didn’t think much of it when it happened, but... God I’m hurting!
I had a little accident last Tuesday, when I was stupid enough to climb on a desk chair (with wheels!) to reach for something. An all too sudden move was enough to have me falling, by which I landed with my chest on the edge of the file cabinet.
It really didn’t hurt that much at the time. The pain is increasing every day though. And now, five days later, my right side aches like hell. I mean really LIKE HELL!
I don’t know how to sit or lie down anymore and when I do I hardly can get up later. Coughing and even breathing is painful, sneezing feels like being shot by a firing-squad. You can imagine I didn’t get much sleep last night.
Now my internet doctor tells me that it will take about six weeks for bruised ribs to heal. SIX weeks!! Man, am I screwed.

Human Rights Day

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home—so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person: The neighbourhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 - 1962)

Story about a mouse

Did I ever tell you the story of the little mouse that lived with me? It crossed my mind when I saw the huge defense system my co-workers in Alkmaar have built to get rid of just one mouse. See here.
I lived in a very small apartment on the ground floor at the time. It wasn’t even a real apartment, it was actually a small office space. I had about 18 square meter to my disposal including a kitchenette and a lavatory. There was no shower. I had to wash at the sink, but was lucky to have a swimming pool in my neighbourhood. I also had a little garden.
For about six years I lived in my humble estate on the eastside of Haarlem and was pretty happy with it.

At one evening, while watching TV from my couch, which was also my bed, I suddenly saw a little mouse crawling from under the gas heater. After some hesitations he trip stepped alongside the wall right in front of me, got underneath my work desk and got around the plywood wall that separated my ‘living-room’ from the kitchenette/bathroom. On the other side of that wall he found mice heaven between the spilled crumbs on the floor.
It became a daily routine for him, and for me that was fun to watch. Now and then I blocked his way with a shoe or a book just to see him consulting himself on how to deal with this strange and new obstacle. The first time I did this it scared him so much that he literally jumped up and raced back to his hiding place under the heater.

Meanwhile I realized that my tailed little house friend could not stay here for ever. I enjoyed his company but feared the day that he would bring his entire family and his friends with him. I decided that I had to catch him and put him outside. Off course I made this decision on a Saturday night after all the shops had closed for the weekend. So I had to make my own mouse trap, and I did so with the cardboard box of my chessmen, a rook, a piece of string and some cookie crumbs.




I didn’t have to wait very long before my little friend showed up, with his nose sniffing in the air. The smell of crumbs was irresistible. One pull on the string and he was trapped under the lid.
But now what? Ho did I get him from there? I realized that my plan had failed. I let him go.
A few days later I bought a mouse trap – a humane one! – I filled it with the most delicious mix of crumbs I could think of. But he didn’t bother. From now on he would only have crumbs that had no roof!

Weeks went by. My little mouse didn’t bring any friends or relatives and I let him. Until one night I woke up from a strange noise that came from under the kitchen sink.
I got up and soon found out that my little friend had gotten into the cupboard and had himself trapped in the space between the backside of the cupboard and the wall behind. He must have fallen in there through one of the pipe holes. There was no way he would get out of there by himself and he would surely die a horrifying death if I didn’t do something. But what?


I had to make a hole in the backside at the bottom of the cupboard. So I got a torchlight, a screwdriver and a hammer and I got in.

After a few bangs I had made a little hole. When I pulled back the screwdriver to have a better look, immediately my little friend stuck his nose through the hole and started to gnaw his way out. From that moment on – I know this sounds very Disney-like, but it really happened – he and I worked together making the gap big enough for him to get out.
When the hole was almost big enough, I decided he was to finish the job on his own. I very cleverly put the humane mousetrap in front of the opening and went back to bed.

The next morning I heard some clattering noises coming from the kitchen. I got up, opened the cupboard door and saw that my friend had gotten out, but also had managed to get passed the trap.
But he was exhausted! The little fellow had fought for his live all night long and could hardly stand on his tiny feet anymore. He didn’t even have the strength to get away when I reached out my hand to grab him. And there I held him… Until he bit me in the finger and would not let go! Ouch!!
Now there was a dilemma. What do you do when a mouse is biting your finger and you don’t really want to hurt him? I didn’t want to squeeze him to death… I don’t know how it got into to me, but I decided to bite him back. I bit him in his neck.
(This is usually the part where the lovely girl that till now has been listening to my story with a melting heart suddenly looks at me with great disgust).
It worked. He let go of my finger and I put him in the trap, where he stayed until I was sure he was recovered enough to take care of himelf again.
That night I took him outside and set him free.

So let that be a lesson: You CAN catch a mouse in a friendly way!

And the winner is…

Me!!! I bought myself the Canon EF-S 17-85 mm f4-5.6 IS USM. After hours of thorough investigation I decided that given my budget this was the best lens for me. I thereby found a big photoshop in Rotterdam that had this lens temporarily for sale for only 349 euro, which is 100 to 150 euros less then anywhere else. On top of that Canon will give me a 30 euro refund when I send them the barcode and my receipt within three weeks.
And what a great lens it is! It is raining cats and dogs today, but soon I’ll show you what this baby brings.
After my trip to Rotterdam yesterday I helped E moving again. That’s sort of an annual thing, really.
After that, I talked to a guy who told me everything about brewing beer. Not that I wanted to know really. He was only to tell me about a certain building on the Spaarne riverside that used to be a brewery, because I’m planning to do a story on it. Unfortunately he couldn’t tell me a lot more about that building than I already knew and I guess I’ve forgotten close to everything he told me about that history of beer brewing.
As I’m writing this I am still soaking wet because of a job I had to do earlier today in Schalkwijk. All the way to and from that, while riding my bike, I kept telling myself: ‘You are saving the environment! Al Gore will be proud of you!’
I have exactly one hour before I have to get back into the rain again. What can one do? But hey, I just got the nicest text message: someone got me a present (don't know what)! And it’s not even Christmas…