Highs and Lows in 17th Year - Part 2...

We are happy that once again our list of highs is much longer than our list of lows. Much of this list again focuses around traveling, our favorite thing to do:

• Jimmy/Melissa/Veronica Travel: Drenthe - took lots of hikes when Brett and Kati joined us for a stay in a lakefront chalet with a hot tub; driving across the Afsluitdijk, a major dam and causeway; Liege - the Zombie Hash was once again a weekend event and included running through an abandoned train repair depot and dancing on the hostel’s rooftop terrace
• Jimmy/Melissa Travel: Ardennes - Belgian Nash Hash; Germany - Red Dress Hash in Stuttgart followed by German Nash Hash in a proper medieval castle; Glasgow - finally getting to visit Ashlynn and see her flat and university as well as see her bartend and DJ at BAaD; Slovenia - stayed at a spa hotel at first DIVA Hash Weekend featuring bubbly rather than beer; Tallinn - first Interscandi Hash Weekend; Zagreb - great time meeting up with hashers while exploring Croatia’s capital with Reinhardt and Inga
• Jimmy/Veronica Travel: Liege - scouting trail for Zombie Hash during August heatwave
• Melissa/Veronica Travel: Paris - Opera House, National Archives, good hostel experience; meeting Brett’s mom
• Jimmy Travel: Liege - first, and definitely not last, Beer Marathon; London - awesome run on King’s Day
• Melissa Travel: Edinburgh - finally getting to visit Gillian, who moved back to Scotland in August 2019; so great to get to catch up with lots of walking and talking; Falmouth - seeing Veronica’s new house; visiting St. Michael’s Mount; first hike on the South West Coast Path; two-person play in an intimate bar; London - exploring my third National Trust Site within two weeks with Camilla; Winchester - visiting Carlin and Kent; lots of long walks; watching Queen Elizabeth’s funeral from Winchester Cathedral
• Veronica Travel: Exeter - visiting Brett over Easter; camping on Dartmoor; taking Brett to an aerial class; hiking on South West Coast Path; parading around Exeter in graduation gowns despite skipping the ceremony; visiting Dreda and agricultural show; spending a night with Andrew in London; Interrailing- sunrise in Menton; snow on mountains in Innsbruck; hiking in the Calanques of Marseille; Texel - bikepacking trip with Brett; Paris - meeting up with Brett in Roscoff and later exploring Paris together; eating lots of baguettes and pastries; many long walks
• Ashlynn Travel: Berlin - visiting Sarah and seeing Bjarne; London - staying with Sophie; going to Brighton for New Year’s Eve; Thailand - Bottle Beach hike; Chaloklum, Chalok Bar; night scuba diving; matching tattoos; learning how to ride a scooter; drupella, a coral-eating snail; Thai food; doing science she enjoyed; sunshine and being outside all the time; meeting Mia and James; 10 days of fun diving; barefoot lifestyle; bioluminescence; out of body barracuda experience
• VACCINES!
• Being together for the first Christmas since 2018 
• Ashlynn surprising Veronica for her 25th birthday
• Family dinner at Aloha in Rotterdam to celebrate Veronica being awarded funding for a second master’s and PhD in UK
• Dance parties
• Bootjuh: fun rides with Andreas and Gina, Brett and Paul, Anna and Theo, Matthew and Sanne, and for FILTH 200th
• Jimmy/Melissa: FILTH H3 200th Hash Weekend was a big success; Opee’s Carnival Hash trail in Tilburg followed by crashing a house party; Rotterdam Rooftop Days; adding Dark Side of the Moon trails to the FILTH
• Jimmy: “It’s been a tough year, but the family is my fortress”; happy that Melissa and Phil have become good friends; DJing German Nash Hash from 11 p.m. until 4 a.m.; PortXL was fun; not getting the NATO job; nice overnight visit by Brett while Veronica and Melissa were away
• Melissa: long walks with Terri and Sally; lots of great art exhibits; Terri joining us for Gay Pride
• Veronica: growing her business and making money; getting accepted to a PhD program; moving to Falmouth; starting second master’s degree; first presention at academic conference; wild swimming; first solo camping; restarting aerial classes; meeting new friends; roller disco; meeting Saffron, her PhD Supervisor, and the PhD girls (other students she supervises); shooting film; writing Coves to Cliffs blog; David helping her move to Falmouth; volunteering at community farm; bioluminescence; volunteering at ESOF Science Festival in Leiden; Brett visiting Holland multiple times  
• Jimmy/Veronica: being part of Sleeping Beauty, the Pantomine; dance party after the panto 
• Melissa/Veronica: King’s Day and Trevor Noah Live in Amsterdam; cycling to the puzzle store; seeing a lamb being born; many farm visits to see lambs and piglets
• Jimmy/Melissa/Veronica: Floriade, the giant horticultural show; Castle De Haar near Utrecht; relief that when we finally did get COVID, it was mild; Jimmy haring Gay Pride Hash and finding the best spot to watch the Gay Canal Parade; tour of Noordeinde Palais, the main Dutch working castle, and dancing in the ballroom
• Ashlynn: Knockengorroch Festival; End of the Road Festival; hosting Slow Foam on Subcity plus lots of Subcity events; camping trip; visiting James in Leeds; hosting dinner parties; passing all of the Dutch residency exams; visits from Sophie, Soso and Bjarne
• Jimmy/Veronica/Ashlynn: Walibi World, an amusement park
• Veronica/Ashlynn: skinny dipping at Vlietland on Veronica’s 25th birthday
• Visitors: Theresa and Kevin finally visiting; Phil and Brett being in town for the panto; hosting hashers for Gay Pride and FILTH 200th

Happy New Year! Here’s hoping 2023 is full of many highs!

 

Highs and Lows of 17th Year - Part 1...

Can you believe that we’ve lived in the Netherlands for 17 years as of November 22? Once again, the four of us weren’t together then, but were reunited for Christmas. Ashlynn requested that we eat at Oudt Leyden, our favorite pannenkoekenhuis (Dutch pancake house) and Veronica suggested that we reflect on our Highs and Lows there on December 28. As usual, here are our lows first:

• The sting from the loss of our extended family
• Putin attacking the Ukraine causing global inflation
• Train strikes messing up travel
• Climate change!
• Roe v Wade being reversed
• Disappointed in the Democratic party
• Continued incompetency of British government
• Cold homes
• Wordpress
• Jimmy: repeatedly hearing how great his business idea is but no one is willing to pay for it; running injuries; having to walk a hash instead of running the ballbreaker; slow uptake for Harrier Central; misses going to the spa; poor scheduling of Zombie Hash which resulted in no zombies participating; not being able to help Veronica move; missing King’s Day
• Melissa: saying farewell to Going Dutch, essentially killing the magazine since no one was willing to take it over; lack of financial stability; uncertainty surrounding staying in Holland; having to fight my way upstream to get to Jimmy on crowded German train; losing public transport card during hash 
• Veronica: downfall of Twitter because of irrational Musk; film camera breaking during Interrail trip; van breaking down on the highway on the way to graduation; Lake Como tourist chaos; jellyfish sting; COVID-stress  before the panto and then getting COVID after the panto; missing Brett; suboptimal food environment in Falmouth since it’s in the middle of nowhere; closing my business and stopping working due to UK student visa requirements; Ashlynn not being able to come to panto
• Ashlynn: BAaD falling apart severing her work family; leaving Thailand; continued Bilge drama; missing Sophie; infections; Mia living so far away; Stereo Club Night shitshow; Cameron; last nights in Bangkok; living someplace where the sun sets at 3 p.m. 
• Melissa/Jimmy: meeting a very fun American couple that lives around the corner, but go to sleep by 9 p.m.; being given notice that we have to vacate our rental house by July 2023
• Veronica/Ashlynn: visa stress; RStudio

Big Crowds on King’s Day...

The most shocking things about King’s Day were the crowds...

…these boys that peed outside instead of inside the toilets...

…and the insane amount of litter. 

Hopefully teams of cleaners hit the streets that evening to pick up all the trash. 
 

Window Scenes on King’s Day...

An amazing feature of Bob and Lisa’s apartment is definitely this large window in the living room. 

I always love passing these former warehouses with their many windows. 

Throughout the day, we saw lots of interesting things in windows, including: a headless mannequin...

…a reminder to buy alcohol from street vendors since the grocery store was limited to selling one bottle or can per person... 

…guys wearing crop tops...

…many others sitting in their windows...

...and Bob’s neighbor celebrating his 60th birthday with a giant banner across his windows. 
 

Lots of Boats on King’s Day...

This canal looked especially pretty with orange streamers hanging between houseboats...

…and this one was lined with new foundations that made space for flowers to grow.

Not sure what the police would think, but I loved this boat with a bar at the helm.

We watched this boat in awe for several minutes as many, many grocery bags full of beer were passed across the pier and the adjoining boat.

Boat traffic increased throughout the day. 

This was the view from Bob’s friend’s place where we ended up later in the afternoon for a small party.
 

Dressed Up for King’s Day...

As you can see our King’s Day outfits were pretty basic. 

Veronica added an orange dress that she bought for a few euros. 

We eventually ran into Skye, who also went for a simple outfit.

My photos aren’t the best, but we saw some interesting costumes, including these orange spiky plastic wigs...

…three lions...

…a king...

…some fans of leather...

…a future Heineken drinker...

….and a cute couple with their goofy owners.
 

King’s Day in Amsterdam...

After taking Kati for a walk the next morning, Veronica and I took the train up to Amsterdam. 

On our way to Bob’s house (Lisa was also out of town), we saw the usual giant Dutch flag hanging in front of his neighbor’s house.

We dropped our bags at Bob’s and the three of us hit the streets. In addition to the usual flea market stalls...

…there were lots of orange things for sale...

…orange things on display...

…and orange games.

Bob decided to test his luck with a flying ball game...

…which he was pretty good at.

We covered a lot of ground, including making it to the Rijksmuseum, with lots of pretty tulips in front...

…Vondelpark, with this nice reflection... 

…and this building with its lovely murals above a pancake house
 

King’s Day Carnival...

Before the bands started, Veronica and I wandered over to Malieveld to check out the annual King’s Day carnival, not as participants but as observers. 

It was definitely very colorful...

…with flags from around the world.

It always boggles my mind how many people spend money on their chance to win a big dorky stuffed animal...

…or on sugar spun into a ball of fluff.

We swung back by on our way to the train station to capture some night shots.