Author Archives: essiep

Where is Rosie?

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20°C, good weather, dry & fresh

Today I lost my dog for some time. Some nice folks helped me find her soon enough. She likes to rummage around the wooded fields & lost track of me. The folks who found her said she was frantically running up and down (obviously upset). She slept very well on getting home.
Solutions:
  • Get a whistle*
  • Buy a bell for me and/or her.
  • Put my Mobile number on Rosie’s collar
  • Satellite tracking is out of the question though. What about a radio tag, I can creep about with headphones and a dipole aerial.

*I’m a teacher, I should have one.

I thought it was the dust…

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16°C, clearing for a nice day.

I thought it was the dust that made my throat feel dry & sore. Grain harvest dust does this every summer during cycle rides. It’s worth taking a detour to avoid combine harvesters because of the discomfort after getting a lungful. It’s a horrible feeling – as if your lungs won’t open full stretch; is that what it’s like for asthmatics?
Anyway, that’s not my problem, I have a good old fashioned cold as of this morning. Pity, because I had another cycle ride planned.

Not again

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16°C, cloudy with some rain.
Dammit No.II: it’s raining again, last year July was the rotten month that spoilt the summer for many, this year- August.
Later: it brightens up, the wind gets stronger but at least some sun appears. Result? 34 miles cycling…
…that’s better. Happy now.
So, my good people, if you are feeling restless, can’t sleep or settle to do something requiring concentration this is what you should do:
Go out to the shed, blow up the tyres on your bike, fill the drink bottle and get out there. Pack a rain jacket, go and tap out some miles.
It works every time.

Home by lunchtime

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16°C. Cloudy,

On getting home: I had every intention of cycling my restless feelings away. Now all I can see is torrential rain outside. Dammit!
Taking a solo holiday is revealing. Normally I can open conversation casually with strangers without any effort. But this trip I was largely in a bubble isolated from others & I think I know why: perhaps folks mistrust of single blokes travelling alone.

Day 2: Van Gogh Museum

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19°C, heavy showers forecast, it’s sunny right now.

2nd full day: more walking planned but I have a blister- let’s see if wearing two pairs of socks helps. I didn’t sleep very well so now have a mild headache; perhaps when I was in Japan blaming my poor sleep on the earth-quakes- I may not have slept anyway.
This certainly is a beautiful city, as expensive as London though.
 
Later: VG museum was far busier then the Rijksmuseum. I had to queue. The tone of the labels was interesting, interesting to anyone learning to paint I’d imagine. It’s clear that various phases in his work were deliberate attempts to learn skills he had identified as shortcomings himself. It’s sad to reflect that he never felt that he’d "arrived" in the sense that he became a professional artist.
 
Anyway; My feet hurt so much from blisters that I am only comfortable in my running shoes. Now is the last part of my stay, tomorrow will be consumed with the journey back and the desire not to miss my flight. Shipol is one of the biggest airports in Europe, I need to get to the right place.
Now, I’d better go and pick up some foodie souvenirs to take home.

Day 1: Rijksmuseum

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up to 21°C, some heavy showers predicted.
Hotel: like staying in an Art gallery, the room is a bit pokey though. There are shared bathrooms, which are worth a photo in themselves. (Wait & see).
I shall have to task some shots here before I go to the Rjiksmuseum today.

The light is ideal. Talking of Light- I will get to see at least some Vermeer & Rembandt today.

I didn’t get here early enough to look around yesterday, all I did was have a meal at a nearby bar washed down with a pint.

Evening: has turned sunny but the town was plagued by rainshowers in the day- a lot of my photos look almost black/white. Even I am amazed at the numbers of bikes here, but the machines are all situp& beg, often piled up with loasdf of luggage.
I’m off now to see some sunshine.

Amsterdam

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16°C, rain

The weather forecast is terrible- rain all week. Worse weather than is due here.

Map image

This M$ map feature is good don’t you think? I will be staying near the top-right, just where the S100 meets the yellow road.

45 miles

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19°C, sun & a few showers, amazing cloudscapes.

I’ve worn myself out. 170 miles so far this week. An advantages of recent upheavals is that I am burning off nervous energy by cycling, the spinoff- my fitness is the highest in ten years. Maybe I can sleep now.