Going to town

I took the bus to work today so that I can enjoy some alcoholic substances tonight. That's planning ahead folks! ;-)

It's been raining a LOT lately.

Obviously there's still some sun in between the horrific showers.

I'm preparing for making a floor in my garage. I need some metal poles that the floor can rest on. So I investigated sizes and prices. I think I'll go with the square 70x70x3mm beams. It can handle 5 tonnes. Not sure if I should get 6 or 8...

So, after work I took the tram to my old place and walked into town from there. I've always enjoyed that walk a lot.

It gets you through the nices old parts of town. On a sunny afternoon like today's that's real nice!

When I got to Mulligans I immediately ordered a pint of Guinness. That's been a while!

Then my buddy Mic arrived and after we had one more pint we went out to get some Indian food. That had been a loooong while too!

And then back to Mulligans for a few whiskeys. Mmmmmmh.

Soon after the music started we left. We are old and get tired quick ;-)

That was a very nice evening!

The walk / my old house

I took the bus to work this morning because I'm going out straight after work! :-)

I decided to walk into town from work, which is about an hour's walk. The weather was great so it was very nice.

I walked past my old house and was able to look inside and see what they've done with the place!
There is a kitchen where my bed once was.

They made a bedroom where my old kitch was and put a wall around it. I would've done the same thing except I would have made the bedroom smaller so that the little window would be in the kitchen. It's a dark hole now, the kitchen...

The living room door is some black metal thing with a lot of glass in it. Glass = OK, black = shit.

The windows got fresh paint but no green which looks odd compared to the other windows.

I continued my walk along the beautiful canals of Amsterdam.

When I got to Mulligans I was hot and very thirsty so I ordered a cold, juicy pint of cider. Wonderful stuff this is!

Gerrit joined me for a few drinks and a great Indian dinner and we left 10-ish. A lot of things changed in the area lately so I was quite amazed to see that whole streets had another look now, like this part of the Rokin.

The welding

There was a bit of crane action right next door at work. I wouldn't want to be the guy sitting at the top...

In the evening I met Mic in Mulligans. We had Guinness, dinner, a movie and then more Guinness.
At the pub two bands were playing, the first one was very young...

Around 1:15 Mic and I walked home. Some dudes were welding the tram tracks.

The Dutch movie

Some days I walk the stair to my office. It's just 17 floors, no biggie ;-)

I start to breathe heavier after the 7th floor. By the time I reach the 17th floor I'm just about fed up with the exercise so that's good.

In the evening I met Gerrit to go see a movie. It was a very nice movie. Not a big international blockbuster but one made in Holland, with Dutch actors doing a Dutch story. The crowd was small and civilised. Nice.

It was at the Tuschinski cinema which is known for it's stunning architecture.

The street where the cinema is, has changed a fair bit over the last couple of years but not to its advantage unfortunately. Normal shops are replaced with more tourist traps. Souvenirs and nutella everywhere. It's bad.

Afterwards we had a lovely pint of the black stuff.

Going out

It's now closed for cars behind Central Station. Great!

Construction is going strong in front of the HEMA.

There were a few birthdays at work. I really, really liked the cake at the front. It's Indonesian I believe and called "spekkoek" in Dutch, "layered cake" in English but I doubt it if that's the proper name.

After work I walked to Mulligans to meet Mic. Now there's construction at the Rokin. I believe there's going to be a park here...

And there's Mic! We had dinner at Wagamama's.

Then we went to Mulligans again and stood outside for a bit.

We used to take the little stolls out and hang outhere all afternoon in to the evening very often during the summer. But that all ended when I moved to Australia. Since then the rules have changed and you are actually not really allowed to have your drink outside at the front... Sad.

Plenty to see here :-)

Mic in front of the pub where we've been going for about 20 years.

The love-locks

I saw this little family while going to work. It's close to my house. They didn't seem scared...

In the evening I went in to town to get some new clothes. The weather was real nice.

After shopping I went to Mulligans to meet up with Gerrit. It was a fun evening with a couple of lovely pints of real Irish cidre.

The bench from the movie "blah blah in the stars" or something is now the latest target of "love-locks"...

The second proteine diet, day 24.

My little fake bonsai tree at work has given up. One of the trunks is rotting away and it can't manage anymore. It tried making a few new branches but it was too late. It's gotta go now...

After work I went to Mulligans. I saw a contraption from the Amsterdam Light Festival.

In Mulligans it was nice and quiet and all the Christmas decorations were up again. Very cosy :-)

Because of my diet I'm not drinking alcohol. I had to stick with diet coke and cups of tea. Crap...

Gerrit and I went to Wagamama for dinner. I don't think Gerrit smiles for pictures ;-)

Of course I couldn't eat just anything, it had to kinda fit my diet as well so I got this salad. It was delicious!

After dinner we went back to Mulligans. My old friend Birgitte also dropped in. She lives in Melbourne and is visiting for Christmas. It was nice to see her again. On my way home I saw the Christmas tram!

Finishing my engine!

Selfie!

Simone's boy gave me an AZ poster. I think that was very nice of him so I hung it up at work :-)

When I walked home I saw guys dancing in underwear. Yesterday there was just 1 guy dancing in underwear. I fear for tomorrow...

I only went home to get the keys to my garage. I was just connecting the last 2 remaining hoses when Mic showed up. He assisted a bit and then I fired the engine. It took a few times but eventually it ran super. I was very pleased :-)

When I come back from vacation I can make an appointment to have my car registered again.

Then it was time to feed!

Mic feeding himself. It's kinda like going to the ZOO ;-)

And for desert we went to Mulligans. There was a pretty decent little bluegrass band from Sweden. Nice tunes. And I drank nice cider too.