My mom turned 65!

I wanted to make a photo of the "exciting food" department at Albert Heijn. I am 6'4" and I was aiming my camera (phone). Kinda hard to miss you'd think. But hey... Now I have an opportunity to introduce to you: Mr. Dickhead!

It was my moms 65th birthday today so I went to Alkmaar. I waited for my train at Amsterdam Central Station.

Lots of snowy landscapes along the way.

One of my aunties (left) and my mom (right).

Ilse and my auntie.

Mom and dad.

(Click to enlarge)
A redbreast in the bird house.

Ilse wrapped up to go home.

I took the train back early evening because they forecasted lots of snow and I didn't wanna get stuck there. This was not my train btw. Wouldn't mind a ride though...

I went to Mulligans for a few pints. Collins, Anna, Marina, Kees, Jon, Djordje and Joana were there too.

(Click to enlarge)
Djordje, Joana, Anna, Marina and Kees while walking to the Cave.

Me in the Cave.

The Cave's "Throne chambers".

The men's throne.

The fog.

The ferry.

The ferry leaving.

The ferry entering the fog.

The ferry disappearing.

The ferry almost gone.

Ferry?

The little plant

Waiting for the ferry after work.

I met my friend Patricia at Wagamama where we had dinner. It was great seeing her again after two years. Like nothing happened :-)

After dinner we went to the pub where one of Mulligans regulars had her 40th birthday bash. The first band of the evening dressed up a bit and were quite funny.

The place was packed.

As a surprise Danny Guinan came to play along as well. They played nice songs and everybody had a great time.

Patricia brought me a gift too which was super nice. The cup is one of my old ones from when we worked together. When I left I gave it to her with a plant in it, which unfortunately didn't survive. She left that employer as well but took the cup with her and now she gave it back with a new little plant. I am very pleased with it :-)

More snow.

The ferry dog. I dunno what he/she is for but it's a very big dog. Wouldn't wanna clean up after...

The city council has run out of salt. Can't get any anywhere. So we bought sand. Some colleagues pretended to be council services with a make-shift salt truck... I believe they had a good time.

Across the road they were fixing the roof. The weather was still nice then.

Coz two hours later it looked like this...

It snowed a bit bad tonight. Traffic around Amsterdam came to a grinding halt around 19:00. Unfortunately this meant my landlord couldn't come to replace my kitchen heater...

Some brave soul on a bicycle.

(Click to enlarge)

A building from the distance on my way home.

(Click to enlarge)

The same building from close by.

Some guys had found a table and made a sleigh out of it and drove around the area. It was hilarious. They were having a good time too.

It doesn't look it in this picture but it was chaotic again at Central Station. Public transport gets a lot more passengers than normal and to deal with them as fast as possible they let everybody in without checking or buying tickets, just just so they can drive on time, kinda, coz it still took my tram 60 minutes to get me home instead of 15...

Amsterdam Central Station.

Dancing on ice.

There was such a thick layer of ice in the streets close to my work that I could've gone faster if I had brought my ice skates (and knew how to use them)...

Going back home I had to wait for the tram so bloody long that I told the imaginary tram people to all fuck off and I went to the pub! I got chips with peanut sauce along the way. Even the coppers get their chips here. It must be good!

Indeed.

In the pub there were only a handful of people. I sat by myself and warmed up with two pints of Guinness. Had a chat with Barry (I have to go try the new Burger Bar!) and a few laughs and I played a bit of sudoku. Then I went home. It was nice.

Views and food.

(Click to enlarge)
My walk to work was less boring than usual for obvious reasons but the picture actually turned out quite cool I think.

(Click to enlarge)
Need a bit of pipe? Our neighbours at work have started an extraordinary DIY project.

(Click to enlarge)
It started snowing heavily in the afternoon but it all turned to sludge in no-time. I can't get enough of these views.

My dinner: Chicken Korma. I admit, it's Korma from a jar. But it was good! I added some cashews. More cashews = better :-)

The private fireworks show

I stayed in all day and I only have photos of a private fireworks show on the square in front of my house. Two families (I guess) walked over with one fireworks-crazy dad (I guess) to light some leftovers.

Red stars...

Green stars...

And other exploding stuff. It was all pretty. Especially the one little thing that tipped over after the first star was launched and then started firing in random directions and one actually got launched at the group of people and exploded in their midst. Their kids could've lost their eye-sight but instead one lady only got burns on her coat. Clapper-dee-clap.