“Man oh man!” Such a luxury to wake up in a proper bed.  No laminate floorboards.  No Greek men lying by my side :)  I did though awake sometime in the middle of the night to the experience of rain lashing viciously against the window-panes.  Slightly ajar.  Thunder rolled in the distance and lightening flashed with ferocious regularity.  Quite a storm was wreaking it’s way around us and in a slumbering trance it all felt slightly unreal as I stumbled over to close the window casings.

By daytime it is golden sunshine once more.

…which is GOOD as it’s Jordan’s first day at pre-school today.  (That's Patricia's youngest by the way).  She seems to be pretty cool about this fact as Patricia readies her girls and gets her bike set to accompany them on their way.  I spend the first portion of the day crafting a “thank you” illustration for Patricia’s and the girls’ great kindness and hospitality for my stay in their cosy hometown of Meppel.

The girls are later collected for an amusing and chaotic lunch where Lego blocks abound and are sculpted into a myriad of colourful and creative marvels.  Jordan prefers at one point just to stick the bucket on her head! Hmm, definitely a creative kid :)  She also continues to attempt to practice her vetinary skills by trying to glue the broken leg of a small plastic horse back into place with mummy’s Prit-Stick.  Ironically Patricia explains that once when asked what they wished to be when they grew up it was Reagan, not Jordan who proclaimed she wished to become a vet.  Jordan on the other hand stated she wanted to become “a chicken”. (?!)  Hmmm, not sure there’s much of a future in that Jordan, although presumably you’ll be well cared for by your sister the vet.

Before the girls return Reagan asks that I draw a further picture.  One that she can colour in herself as they get awarded “medals” for good colouring at school.  This is a first for me I have to say, but I pretty swiftly whip up a picture of a creature I dub ‘The Cloud-Bunny’.  Reagan struggles with the question as to whether Cloud-Bunnies actually exist.  I try to explain that “how could I possibly draw one if this were not the case?”.  I’m not sure she’s convinced but she commences happily colouring later on nevertheless.

When Jordan’s day at school ends later Patricia takes she and I on a gentle guided tour of Meppel.  This takes in the town centre, the canals and the lovely Wilhemina Park where the ponds throng with bread-guzzling geese and a large fenced area contains goats, peacocks, a gorgeous group of deer (anyone know the collective noun for deer please feel free to inform me) including the very sociable stag who’s more than happy to scrunch the apple-skins that the goats foolishly refused when offered by Jordan.

I’m left to my own devices for a bit in town but spend 40 minutes waiting in a travel agency waiting to sort out the next leg of my travels.  I settle for an impetuous booking on a midnight, overnight coach from Utrecht to Berlin.  Patricia cooks us all a wonderful, fresh homemade lasagne with all the trimmings and an ice-cream’n’ maple syrrup chaser.  We all sit around the dinner table happily, two redheads and two blondes and smiles all around.  Patricia and I encourage the girls not to play with their food... whilst I play with my food :)  Reagan and I play some intriguing Dora the Explorer puzzle games after munchies until it’s time for the girls to say goodbye and turn in for the night.  Sadly then it's also time for me to hug Patricia farewell with endless thanks for her kindnesses and to catch my train to Utrecht.  Luxury is at an end, for now, for Weselby.

Like a right plum I get so anxious about getting the correct train I completely forget to buy a ticket which lands me in a spot of hot water and a potential fine.  I playup the naïve backpacker, doesn’t know any better “sorry, sorry, sorry” card and buy the ticket at the next station.  Dignity occasionally has a price and tonight it’s avoiding a 45 Euro fine at the expense of some grovelling.

The sun is setting over my right shoulder as we glide along on the IC (Inter City) train smooooth as you like.  Any objects observed through the window against this backdrop appear as perfect 2D paper-cutout silhouettes.  Trees. Lamposts. Buildings.  Every now and then waterways are zip by.  As they strip away towards the distant horizon line they mirror the sunset in their gently rippled waters.  The black shadows of the silhouettes ripple too, but we are moving on.  Two giant wind turbines pass by as the train slows, their three black silhouette blades arc through the mauve and tangerine skies graceful and grand.  My final Dutch windmills as I head towards the border.

‘Threads’ (Part 2 of 3)

- "Oh, don’t be silly daddy.  You know he doesn’t speak Dutch!"

Or at least that’s what I assume she’s just said in Dutch to her father who was making another enquiry of me.  It’s 23:30pm.  I’m trying to remain conscious whilst awaiting the coach to Berlin.  I smile at the bubbly young lady as I gather a response of some sort is called for from me.

-  "So how are you? Where are you going? Where do you come from? W? W? W?" etc…

Uh-oh midnight conversational hijacking ahoy!  A pretty young Dutch lady… girl (half my age) who’s father I earlier pointed in the right direction for the bus stop seems keen to snatch the opportunity to practice as much of her excellent English upon me as possible ahead of the coach arrival that will rescue me.  A barrage of questions assail my weary ears.  My wearier eyes are drooping fast.

- "Errr… well I’m from England. Travelling a bit.  I’ve just had a lovely time in Leiden and Meppel."

- "Oh, well I’m from Breda.  Have you ever been to Breda?"

- "Umm? No.  Amsterdam a couple of times."

- "Oh."  (disappointed) ."...well Breda is wooonderful!  You MUST go there sometime.  Is the most beautiful place in all of the Netherlands!"

- "Okay. Cool." If you say so.  " I’ll bear that in mind next time I’m around."

- "Yes you must! OH we have the MOST beautiful strawberries in the whole world.  Breda strawberries!  They are unbeatable, so fresh and sweet.  I promise you of all the strawberries in the world I could always pick out the Breda strawberries just by their smell alone! They are so wonderful!"

Right. Okay.  Breda.  Strawberries.  I getcha. Calm down on the strawberry thing already!

- "I see, I’ll bear that in mind too.  We have famous strawberries in England also.  At the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, with champaigne and cream."

- "But they are not so beautiful as Breda strawberries no."

Sure.  You’re the boss.  I’m just trying to say something that vaguely chimes in with a topic of conversation as strange as strawberries at midnight.  She is a very charming and extreeeeeeemely talkative young lady.  Clearly very well educated and keen to show it.  They are here to see off a German girl who they’ve had to stay as part of a charitable program her father runs to give holidays to poor Berliner teenagers that otherwise, apparently would not have the opportunity to travel. ( Jeez these guys are too nice for this time of night!) ‘Poor’ Berliner girl smiles “good evening” in my general direction.   The Dutch girl continues to talk at me, and talk, and talk, the words tumbling in a friendly, enthusiastic torrent, veritably tinkling uncontrollably over the edge of her lips like a sonerous waterfall.  Sometimes the cascade, the flow of words and thoughts gets a little too much even for her to handle and every now and then the words spill over into sweet and genuine, sporadic laughter.  The laughter comes often, and often without reason it seems other that to  give her mind a momentary pause for thought…to find the next thing to say. I am apparently kind.   She laughs some more.

Ha ha.

- "Yeah, so no Breda for me this time.  But in two years when I’m back maybe.  It’s Germany and then Austria for me next."

- "Oh Austria, I soooo love the idea of Austria.  The music. The culture.  I will be going to Vienna with my mother later this year.  I cannot wait and have a great ambition to go to the opera there."

- "Wow. Cool.  Do you play something yourself?"

- "Yes, the violin!"

No doubt she plays the violin as well as she speaks English and as well as she acquits herself of all other tasks in life with effortlessness and grace I imagine.  Didn't we all know (and hate) someone like that when we were at school?

- "So are you going to Vienna?"

- "Sadly not.  I plan only to go to the western end of Austria.  The Tyrol region.  My family, we used to go there when we were young.  But it’s some way from Vienna."

- "Oh that is SUCH a shame.  I dream of going to Vienna and seeing the opera, it must be soooo magnificent.  Don’t you think?"

- "Um? Well, my dad liked it.  Opera that is.  I’m not sure?  Never been.  Never really thought about it."  No biggy.

- "You must, you MUST go!  And I must go also.  With my mother later this year!"

- "You do that and if I’m ever in Vienna again, maybe I’ll give it a look in too."

 [End]

The coach finally arrives.  It’s 5 to midnight.  I cannot recall if we exchanged names.  I’m notorious for not doing this.  But the pretty girl from Breda, whose words cascaded into waterfalls of laughter you shall be remembered by the name of Strawberries.  Strawberries and opera.  The bus rumbles out of town.  The ‘Poor’ Berliner girl sit’s a couple of seats down from me on the other side of the isle, turns and smiles “good night”.

Yesterday, after spending the weekend in Leiden with a large group of TravBuddies, I managed to persuade Steve to come home with me to Meppel. (I had to fight Devika over him but I won, hahaha! :-P) We travelled to Meppel by train with Wendy and got home around 7pm. The kids were dropped off, the bedtime ritual done and then Steve and I ordered in pizza and had a nice chat before going to bed.

This morning things were back to the usual: getting up early with the kids, feeding and dressing them and then off to school. In the morning we just pottered about a little bit: had some breakfast, checked out TB to see all the pics of the meet-up, that sort of thing. We then had lunch with the girls and after Reagan went back to school, Steve, Jordan and I went for a walk.

First we went to the train station where I had left my bike on Saturday. From there we walked to the park where we fed the animals, and after that we walked into town. Steve went to the local tourist information office to find out some info about trains but they couldn't help him and referred him to the travel agency. So when I want to school again to pick up Reagan I left him behind in town to have a bit more of a look around and then go the travel agents. He ended up booking a night coach from Utrecht to Berlin for that night. We spent some more time together and Steve entertained the kids by drawing pictures (he's a wonderful artist and I have a Steve Wes original!) and playing with them. They were not impressed when they found out he was leaving again so soon! We had some home cooked lasagna this time and after I put the girls to bed Steve and I said our goodbyes and he walked off into the sunset...

Steve, I really enjoyed having you stay and I hope your trip is everything you want it to be!

The restaurant is situated on a two master that is more than 100 years old. The interior is pleasant with lots of woodwork and copper. There is seating for about 100 people, although it is a bit cramped when all tables are filled and the tables are quite small. The menu is a combination of pancakes (which in The Netherlands have the size similar to that of a pizza in most countries) and meat and fish dishes served with fries and salad mostly. The children's pancakes are the same size in diameter as the adult one's, but they are thinner. If you don't like the exact toppings you can change them. The pancakes start at around €5,- and the other dishes at just under €13,-. They are very large servings and should fill you up no problem. If you don't want to pay for water don't ask for it, as water from the tap is not possible here. The service is quite fast, as soon as you sit down menu's will be handed out, drinks orders taken and the kids get a colouring in picture which they can enter into a competition. Meals are usually brought out fast too. On departure you get to draw a ball out of a barrel and the number on the ball represents a percentage discount for your next visit. Let's say you spent €50,- and you draw out the number 10, that gives you €5,- discount for next time! For the kids there's a big treasure chest with some small toys which they are allowed to take one out of on departure. So, if you're looking for an affordable quick and simple meal without the kids getting too bored, this is the place to go in Meppel!

Today started like any other Saturday: the girls getting up early, me wanting to sleep more... We took things slowly in the morning but decided to go to the park to feed some stale bread to the animals there. The ducks, deer and goats were very appreciative! The weather was nice so we decided to stay in the park for a while, we walked around and I showed the girls the youth hostel which was once my home. My parents were youth hostel wardens and I was born in one where we lived for all of eleven months after that, and then spent another three years in the one in Meppel. They couldn't believe I lived in such a big house!

After that the girls wanted to play in the playground. Now that might sound quite grand but most of the equipment was pulled down so there are only two things left to play with. One is what we call a "wipkip", a bit like a one person see-saw, and the other was something that spins around. The girls were spinning around quite fast and of course that had to go wrong! Jordan, my youngest daughter of 3 years of age fell off and the spinning toy hit her in the face. It actually caught her in the eye and tore the outer corner of her left eye! This resulted in her eye fool of blood and it looked quite bad so I ended up taking her to the emergency room of the hospital where they ended up glueing it and putting a band-aid on. Fortunately there was no permanent damage done to her eye...

This weekend (25, 26 and 27th July) there was a celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the start of the Boat Owner's Club Oude Glorie. The memebers basically all own all sorts of pre-war pleasure yaghts. Not only were there many of these to be seen, but also old cars, motorbikes, caroussels and more. There was music to be heard from the 20's and 30's as well. And on Sunday a lot of shops were open as well, so plenty to see and do around town!

Today was a wonderful day weather-wise for Donderdag Meppeldag. It was about 25 degrees and this doesn't happen too often. A good opportunity to climb the Church tower for some good views. Reagan, Jordan and I climbed it together. We also saw some choirs and stuff around town, today the theme was "Musicals".

Today Donderdag Meppeldag was all about cacophony. In other words: noise. This meant there were a lot of percussion bands, but there was more than that. I went into town and the first band I saw was FunFare. Three guys dressed in funny clothes with fake moustaches, drums and a big horn. They were quite funny, walked the length of the main shopping street while playing, and making fun of poeple. There was a guy filming them and they just started walking circles around him while playing and the guy got quite dizzy! The next band I saw was Eternity Percussion, a band with drums and a guy with a whistle leading them on. I really enjoyed that too. Then I saw Ben Jur, a one man band. I then went home for some lunch and went back into town after that. I then saw Cool 24, a big band with some really good music. The male singer was very good, he obviously loved his job! He really got the crowd going. After that I went to see Brasil Axe, a band that did capoeira as well, a Brazilian fighting sport. I really enjoyed it, it took me back to my holiday in Brazil, which is almost 10 years ago already... More Cool 24 after that, and then on to Circle Percussion, a Dutch percussion band. Then back to another show by Brasil Axe!

I then went home to have some dinner and relax a little bit, until my sister came to pick me up. A friend of her's also joined us in town, and we went to see X-clusive,  and after that Novomundo. Both bands played top 100 music from the last few decades. The first included Dutch music as well. Barbara's friend went home around 11, Barbara followed about half an hour later and I stayed until midnight. No much fun on your own though... So here I am writing this blog and I'm off to bed now!

As today it was pissing rain most of the day I don't think it was a very good start to the Donderdag Meppeldag Season. I must admit I stayed holed up inside most of the day but I did manage to get out for a little bit during the day. The theme of the day was Puppet and Animal. Apparently there were a lot of different acts but the only one I saw was "Lejo", who imitates something from Sesame Street with the eyes on your hands thing. (See pics, you'll understand what I mean.) All this didn't really appeal to me anyway, but I'll definitely be there next week, as there are a lot of percussion bands from Japan, The Netherlands Antilles and Brazil. That's more my style!

My last eating experience at De Beurs was as follows: First we ordered drinks. We both ordered coke but it turned out to be Pepsi. I normally ask but I forgot this time and as I don't like Pepsi I gave it away. I ended up ordering a glass of wine instead. We asked to see the menu but after about ten minutes had to ask someone else again as we still hadn't received them. Again, I had the salad with goat's cheese, but was very disappointed this time. I think they may have changed the cheese but it was so dry I could hardly swallow it. Merv (ice4swervin) said his carpaccio was good though. For mains he had the scnitzel with Stroganoff sauce which was ok and I had the Ossenhaaspuntjes (which I translated to Merv as the end bits of the ox's tail). This is on the menu as a started but I asked for it as a main. I must say the meat was very nice but the combination with the pesto and rice was not very nice. It was very oily and everything was basically swimming in oil... The Irish coffee I had afterwards had whipped cream on top and the sugar, whiskey and coffee hadn't been stirred properly so the cream was sinking into the coffee. I know it still tastes the same but still... Not the best dining experience I have had!

One might not necessarily define culture as food, but as food can be defining in what we are and how we look I though it worthy of comment. It seems to me that each race of people and in many different places have ways that define who they are. Some beliefs are based on religion others certain values, to me I believe food can be defined as begin one part of the being that can almost without doubt decide what and who we are.

As we grow up much of what we become is gained from those around us and the culture we experience in our lives through what we experience, where we are and who we are with. Food to me is one of the factors that can and will define much of this. Sometimes when we simply mention a certain race or try and define a culture many thoughts come to mind and for many these can be thoughts of food, after all it is a necessity to eat and therefore live on this planet... unless you are on a fast that is. So just the mere mention of a culture race or country can already have us defining who they are by the food they eat or how we associate them with what they are and where they are. Take for instance if I mention Japan or in fact many parts of Asia, the image that I suddenly think of is rice and chopsticks which I am already thinking that many of you automatically thought of.

When Patricia and I lived in Australia we decided to share our house and home with people from different countries and help them understand us and vice versa, we did this through a program at the university where young students would travel to our country and learn English at the University and be placed with families and lead the life they did as a part of the family. The ages of these students varied from about 16 through to there early twenties and most of them were from Asia. We would cook dinner for them and let them live with us and be part of our family. What really opened my eyes around them was how many of them had never even experienced what I would describe as a western culture. Dinner time really pointed this out when you would see many of them trying to use a simple utensil like a fork the way I have become accustomed to using one. I had never really thought about this, but in there upbringing it was normal to use chop sticks, not a piece of metal with prongs. I know it sounds simple enough, but take the time to think! How many of us have tried to eat an Asian meal with chop sticks and sometimes even failed and had to ask the waiter for a fork?

So what is it that has defined us this way? It is the culture around us which includes how we are raised and who and what is around us. These students would have thought of nothing strange to be eating with two wooden sticks even from an early age, it is just what was exposed to them and instilled in their being through their culture. And in much the same way the food they eat has had this effect. What I have experienced in my short life is by no means extensive and my thoughts are not the be all end all of every definition of culture, it is merely a refection of what I see. When we live in an environment we are by no means bound by anything, but contrary to that there are certain factors which will inevitable and even no matter how hard we try still affect us or be part of us and how others see us.

If I was an American (and no offence, but thank you Mum and Dad for being second generation Australians, although if they were second generation English then me being able to obtain an English passport would of been much more helpful in my current situation, but that's another story all together!)... Where was I... that's right American... undoubtedly the phrase, " These pretzels are making me thirsty" would of become second nature to me and the thought of putting peanut butter and jelly on a sandwich would not seem so wrong. And by the way, jelly in this instance doesn't mean the good old Australian wobbly dessert food with the flying airplane singing "I like Areoplane Jelly" it means jam. Just as the Americans are famous for this they are also famous for such things as McDonalds and " Finger lickin' good"... I'll leave the later to the imagination but for those of you not familiar with that phrase you don't have to send the kiddies to bed, if refers to friend chicken! Even the all famous hotdog and ball game are common.

But that all said, if I was English things would be entirely different, apart from all the obvious things like driving on the opposite side of the road and waving like the Monarchy with a fist almost ready to catch rain. I would be accustomed to the fine odd " cup a tea, luv" where for once it is customary to put this white stuff called milk into the drink and not bee scorned and ridiculed for actually liking my tea somewhat cooler and a white looking colour. I would also be able to enjoy eating strawberries with jam and if really lucky I could be on the lawns of Wimbledon basking in the "summer" sun enjoying the odd cucumber sandwich while ducking for the covers every two minutes to avoid the drops of rain. For breakfast everything has been ordered by the guy that failed the nutrition part of medical school and in particular the part about which fats are good or bad for you and I'd be served up the ugliest, however oh so tasty, fried eggs, bacon, sausages and tomato that one could possibly see through all the fat luring around as reminisce of the main cooking ingredient... that being fat! The bad kind no doubt... and this breakfast must be avoided at all costs if you've just spent the previous night partying with royalty at the swankiest bar in town.

All this said, the Australians are very proud of what they call "Dinkie Di Tucker". Not only do we eat almost every national animal with great luster we even have towns coined as such things as, the "Beef Capitol of Australia" and even a state that puts the bend in Bananas? As for all things big and grand, the Aussies much like the Americans enjoy everything big... from the big Mango to the big Pineapple or huge Merino... not only the distances can be immense. The have also become quite the alcohol consumers in the world with a per capita consumption of beer up there behind only the Czech's, German and Irish (not accounting for that brown almost sludge like stuff they make in Ireland), but more so the Aussies have even harnessed the by-products of the beer making process to harness a power that can turn even the worst of hangovers into a delight for Dean Martin! From an ingredient in beer the yeast which makes the alcohol and bubbles the Aussies have invented the second, maybe the third behind one nights stand reason for beer...the extract that makes the one and only Vegemite! In one mere spread of this tar looking solution which honestly has a foul smell, the Vitamin B has glorious effects on the body. With double the vitamins in the same serving as counterparts such as peanut butter when used properly this commodity is a god send. There is never nothing to eat in the house as long as a trusty jar of vegemite is present and as my mum used to say... well if you are so damn fussy just have a sandwich with vegemite... which I commonly did!

Let me see… who I haven’t offended yet… oh yes my current country of residence, Holland more commonly called the Netherlands, home to the Dutch! Now here is a country, which has seen the way the rest of the world do things and decided to be a little daring and do things a little different. Well know for their love of cheese I have expended my taste buds beyond the realms of which it was accustomed. Thank you good old Kraft for being so nurturing in my previous years, but the Australian choice of either Cheddar cheese or the good old fashioned singles has now been surpassed. I have been introduced to many things new and different from stuff with blue mould on it to stuff that smells even worse than vegemite. Most of these actually taste quite decent and provided they are eaten with the right crackers (Nuc bacon ones are the best) they go down quite well.

The strangest thing I have experienced is the way the Dutch eat there sandwiches… it is more like a ritual than just having something to eat. It is quite common to eat all together at such times as lunch and although it isn’t done all the time, there is this way the Dutch do it. First you assemble every one at the table followed by everything they could possibly want to eat. This will involve at least 4 types of bread, from white, to brown with various bird seeds, some soft some hard and crusty. Along with this is at least two types of cheese, cut directly from the cheese market in Edam, into a “V” shape, the two choices of cheese will be young and old ( I thought this always applied to someone’s age… but I have learnt differently). Apparently each cheese has a different taste and texture??? Apparently!!! Each of these cheeses is encased in a hard crusty shell, usually red or orange which is first cut of with a cheese slicer… somewhat like a potato peeler actually and then slices of this cheese is somehow peeled off and shared around. Add to the cheese at least one serving of American Fillet spread, which as far as I know the Americans don’t eat, but basically it is a raw mashed up meat suitable for spreading on bread?

Then also is the customary Hagelslag… which I can’t fathom. Basically it comes in various forms and colours depending which time of the year it is (If it is either the soccer season or the Queen’s birthday it will be orange) but other wise it is dependant on the chocolate of choose…  they are actually sprinkles of chocolate, so you will get a Melk, normal chocolate, Puur, the dark chocolate, a mixture of the two or even flakes of chocolate. It does taste OK on it’s own, but the Dutch prefer to slap a but of butter on some bread and then sprinkle it on the bread in copious amount and then make sure it has stuck to the bread by moving it all around leaving no part of the bread viewable. To eat the marvel one must then get a knife and slice the bread from top to bottom and then from side to side to make little tiny squares, some what like you mum used to do with meat or even sandwiches when you were a child. And please don’t make the mistake of putting a top on the sandwich, which would ruin the effect of all the chocolate sprinkles. And of cause there is a special Hagelslag for the kids, this is basically a coloured assortment of sugar based sprinkles used the same way, but with a very special effect. It’s all quite fun and games for the kids… but in my opinion and I speak here as a father of two children that already have enough energy as it is, but why would you want to serve up almost pure sugar on bread to worsen their already electrified bodies? At least Vegemite has vitamin be in it which is healthy.

Oh and let’s not forget the customary glass of milk that accompanies lunch or the 8pm Coffee time which must be adhered too under all circumstances. Oh and if anyone has had a baby recently be prepared for Mice… the customary way of introducing a new child with family and friends is to provide a yummy snack on a piece of crusty round bread known as Biscout, with the appropriate coloured mouse, yes blue for boys and pink for girls, which is actually coloured aniseed sprinkles.

Now if it’s the evening and you want a snack you can’t go past the ever popular snack bar where everything and I mean everything, including the hamburgers are deep fried. Not to mention the famous Crocket, a delightful tool for burning the mouth of an unknowing stranger that you may hate. It appears as a sort of crumbed sausage but in fact is a usually brown paste type stuff that I am told is minced sort of meat encased in crumbs which of course is deep fried and much the way a microwave heats from the inside yes the Crocket is steaming hot on the inside… so be aware that you might burn your mouth or as is a customary way to eat this place it on an unbuttered piece of bread take a fork and mush it into the bread spreading the mush all around… you are allowed in this case to use a top for the bread, but you must eat it with a knife and fork.

The point I’m trying to make is that each area or country has there peculiar traits or foods, and like it or not, it is part of who they are and their culture. Just please keep in mind that it isn’t their fault it’s what they know and if you are in doubt of anything make sure you rely on the good old jar of Vegemite that you have packed in your suitcase!

This restaurant was recently taken over again by the original owner. He sold it a few years ago and the people that took over almost ran it into the ground. They then sold it back for a song if we are to believe the rumours. In the past few months since the sale I have not eaten here but have gotten take-away a few times. The consistency in quality seems to be lacking somewhat, but two out of three times the food was really good. The main problem seems to be the speed at which things happen and the general feeling of chaos. One person seems to be doing so many things at once that he doesn't seem to finish one thing before moving onto the next. There seem to be plenty of staff in the front of house but I'm not sure about the kitchen. When I called to order my food I was told I could pick it up in half an hour by which time I was there only to have to wait for another 15 minutes. Now, the food: We have ordered the Mix Grill Aphrodite several times, which is a mixture of different dishes. They have this in several sizes: for 1, for 2 or for 4. When taking out I would reccommend going a size down from the amount of people you are feeding as it is very generous. Of course when you are eating in this is not possible. The dishes from the grill are all served with fried potatoes, rice and salad too. To me this is very good value for money! When dining in you will also be served with an Ouzo before dinner if you like. The restaurant itself is a bit dark when you are seated away from the windows, and it has some booth seating as well as normal tables. I will have to test this place again a few times to see how they'll improve their speed!

So after our 3 day layover in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, we continued our journey to the Netherlands, where Trish is from. We had just over two weeks here to catch up with friends and family before headinjg back to the warth of Australia. In the middle of this period Trish's Grandfather had rented a large house in a Bungalow Park called the Kajtcheschelder, Oosterhout, near Breda in the Netherlands. The house had some thing like 9 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms! WOW

We based our stay in a newly purchased holiday house that Trish Mum had bought for her stays in Meppel. She lives in Ireland with her irish husband Padraig, but quite often travels to the Netherlands so it's good to have somewhere to stay while she is here, and for this trip it was very comforting to have a room to ourselves and a room for Reagan. On the second day there Reagan even got to see snow for the first time as it fell through the sky, made her very happy.

We caught up with many people during this trip as we went on the short vacation and also made use of a friends car to visit various friends and family throughout the Netherlands. It was also Reagan first time flying and we fly with Malaysian Airlines which proved very good, but obviously there service differs on variuos parts due to how many passengers there were. On one leg we managed to get ourselves 9 seats, 5 in the middle and 4 along the wing of the plane. At one stage one of the cabin crew even came and took Reagan for a walk so we could eat opur meal alone and get some rest.

It was good to get back to the Netherlands but as usual we didn't have enough time but that happens when you live 20 000 kilometres away.

Oh yes, the time is here again for soccer madness! Over the last couple of days I have seen more and more decorations go up around town and I will have to show you all the proof through some pictures. As I am not into soccer at all I can't really understand what the fuss is about but it shows to me again the over the top side of the Dutch. I am all for loving the country youl ive in and being proud of the national sporting team but you can take it a bit too far sometimes...

Yesterday was the official start of the Grachtenfestival 2008. As I had to work I didn't get a chance to see or do much but today I had a day off so it was a little bit different.

We had a relaxing morning and left to go into town around 11am. As the weather was supposed to be nice today the girls and I had dressed in dresses which turned out to be a big mistake as it was quite chilly! Anyway, my mum, her husband, the girls and I first walked to the post office and then to the Stoombootkade where there was an event called "gieklopen" on. Basically it means walking along the boom of a ship. Of course the object of the game is to walk along it without falling off but not many people managed that! There were also lots of historic boats on display, many of them with signs explaining the history on them. The stage for the live music was not in use yet when we were there. We walked around to the other side of the water where there were several steam engines on display, and we then walked around to the Heerengracht where there were people displaying traditional arts and crafts.

There were also several shanty (pirate) choirs showing their stuff, one of them travelling back and forth on a boat.

At night there was live music on a floating stage at the Stoombootkade.

More on Sunday but I have to work again!

Every year for six Thursdays in Summer this festival is held in Meppel, my hometown. There is a different theme every Thursday, from Puppets & Animals, to musicals to Streettheater. All sorts of activities are organised around these themes for young and old. There is also live music in a few locations, and bar trailers will be scattered all around town too. For the first time this year you can actually get into town on a boat after you park your car at the edge of town. The festival itself is free but obviously you can spend some money once you're there! If you're looking for something fun to do this Summer this is definitely a good option! Could be another TB Meet Up on the cards...