Odds And Sods

We made our first on-line order of Dutch groceries a short while ago, from Albert and I must say that the experience was very good. The delivery was made on time, the man brought everything into the kitchen and fridge and freezer items were packed separately for immediate storage; he even took our Coke bottles away and deducted the deposit from the price

The experience stirred some fond memories of ordering from Webvan to my Linuxcare expense account, back in 2000 when I was living in my corporate apartment, down on 3rd and Folsom in San Francisco. Webvan was pure bliss, but Albert is right up there, too, even if the name isn’t quite as snappy sounding.

Last Tuesday saw me bike over to the Elandsgracht for the formal return of the house to the property management agency, which went without a hitch. I put the last few bags of rubbish on the doorstep, read the meters, handed back the keys and off I went again.

Elandsgracht 33 served its purpose; not well, but its purpose it served. Uncomfortable furniture, unwieldy lay-out, dodgy boiler, a rather pathetic shower, bed linen straight from a whore’s boudoir, a water bed with all the support of a punctured rubber dinghy… it had it all. Still, it was home for the first few months of our return to The Netherlands and, as such, still manages to acquire a fondness in our memory. The location, if nothing else, was fantastic, with everything right there on our doorstep. Oh, how I miss the Thai take-away next door.

Last Sunday, we drove over to Delft, a pleasant little town about a forty minute drive from here. Now life is starting to calm down somewhat, we’ll be making more of these little trips across country, as Sarah has still seen very little of it.

Earlier this week, we had an electrician make the ventilators in our three toilets separately switchable from the lights. That way, I don’t run the risk of waking Sarah and Eloïse when I come up to bed in the middle of the night. Old habits die hard, especially the bad ones. I also had them replace one of the ventilators, as it made a lot of noise and sounded like it was at the end of its useful life.

Next week, we’ll be seeing a lighting specialist in order to figure out how we can make our new home look a little more atmospheric. Right now, we have a lot of halogen spotlights, which are a little too modern and businesslike for my taste. Some light fittings have been reduced to loose wires hanging from the ceiling, where chandeliers have been removed. Lighting’s very important in a home, so we’re hoping to make some progress on that front. The man in question has already been to our home to take a gander and form an opinion, so hopefully he’ll have lots of nice things to show us next Tuesday.