The seaberries

I wanted to go to Haarlem. Taking the train from Sloterdijk is the best option but purely due to work-routine I took the tram to Central Station, an unintended detour... I didn't think it would be this warm so I dressed way too hot. Should've put on shorts but no, I wore jeans. The tram was too hot. I got to Central Station only to find out that I could only take a train to Sloterdijk and that the rest of the journey would be done by bus. I could have completely skipped all this fuckery had I gone to Sloterdijk directly. I was so pissed off with myself...

When I got to Haarlem I rented a bicycle. Took 15 minutes instead of 5 due to other fuckery beyond my control. But I managed to get a bike and I finally drove to Marjolein.

She went outside with a plant to add some dirt and when it was put back on the table inside we discovered some wildlife hitchhiking on it.

We cycled to the dunes but quickly made our first stop at a little pancake house. This was the first time EVER I've seen it open. Not surprising with a shit summer such as this year's...

Marjolein giving me funny looks.

We saw these guys playing cricket. Hadn't seen any since I left Australia!

It was bloody hot, good cycling weather though. We had a short stop (there was no shade here) at a little dune-lake.

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Marjolein taught me about these edible berries. In English they are called sea berries even though they also grow in desert-like environments in central Asia...

I tasted one and then another good few because I like them! Marjolein thinks they're too sour... They are incredibly rich in vitamin C. I believe 1 little berry contains as much as an orange. Dutch wikipedia page on this: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duindoorn.

Back at the ranch we had a lovely shower and a rest. I admired Marjolein's hippo collection.

I took her out to an Indian restaurant in the evening. The food there was very good but the service not quite. Sorry folks, no tip... I had a lovely evening with Marjolein :-)

The call

I called my Australian bank before i went to work. 8 o'clock here means 16:00 or 17:00 over there. I asked them to close my accounts and send me my money, which they say they have. Can take a few days before I see any money myself though... You know, money, one of the stickiest things. Always gets stuck somewhere along the way it seems...

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My colleague Hans left the company to go travel. There was cake for us and a pressie for Hans.

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I had dinner with Eva in the evening. She re-decorated her house which I liked very much. The living room is a lot nicer now. She's got a tall lamp hanging in her "walk-in dressing room" that I can stick my head in.

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Here she is, slaving away in her kitchen just to feed me me me ;-) She made tagliatelle with a pesto-salmon-pinenut-garlic sauce which was delicious. We hadn't seen each other for too long. After 3 bottles or Rose wine (2 for me, 1 for her ;-P ) the time had advanced to 3:20 and I thought I'd better gone home. Was a fun evening :-)

DIY shopping

This area is being prepared for construction. I wonder what they'll build here. And I wonder what they'll do with the water even more so!

When I got home I got my back pack and cycled the Choppermeister to the DIY store. I looked at wood to build me a shed. A lot cheaper than what I saw elsewhere! This is for about 12 metres of wood. (packet of 5 pieces of 240cm each)

I also checked out these glass blocks. I'm thinking of building 2 little walls with them in my house to separate the front and back and thus create a proper bed room. I like the colours a lot.

This is what I came for. I need to fix the plaster on the wall next to my pad at the back before I can paint it.

I can see a lot more spending coming up there so I got myself a discount pass.

After I cycled the 20 kilo bag of cement home I drove in to town to buy a coffee maker off of Kate. It's for Marjolein. Much easier than her old coffee maker.

My hit chocolate caramel cake

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Meet my second ever chocolate caramel cake! (No. 1 was a disaster and got binned)

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This cake was awesome. Baked last night. Many colleagues enjoyed it very much. I'm quite proud at it :-)

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A few colleagues came down for a piece, invitation only coz I didn't have enough, sorry for those who didn't get any! I made them pose for a picture picture.

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I made another picture. There's always one who isn't paying attention...

In the evening I went to Marjolein. She gave me the CHEESE that her neighbours brought her from Portugal. You see, Marjolein hates cheese. I like cheese. It's rather... fragrant ;-)

Rain

Rain made a waterfall from our gutter at work.

Lots of water came down.

And then lots more.

Until it hit the ground.

Apart from that I got pissed of a number of times throughout the day. Work related things.

Knock knock, who's there?

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Little Noortje opened the door for me at Mic's place today.

Mic and I played squash.

The baking experiment

It rained. What's new...

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What is new is the second flower which opened this morning.

I felt like doing some experimenting in baking. My aim was to make a chocolate caramel tart.

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It looked the part but it wasn't great. At least it taught me a few things.