Moving Day...

The main reason we had come to The Hague was that January 5 was moving day! After Jimmy secured a permanent three-year contract starting on November 1, I started a serious search for a rental in London. A few weeks later, we found our dream flat, but it wouldn’t be available until January 26. So after some negotiating with the moving company, we settled on the 5th as the day they would pick up our belongings from storage to deliver sometime the week of January 29. We were fortunate to be able to borrow Terri’s car so that we could do one last run to the Kringloop to drop off some things we realized we wouldn’t need in our new place. 

The three movers were very efficient with minimal repacking of our belongings. I must confess that I was nervous that they’d end up delivering a bunch of broken stuff since I used clothing as packing material for much of our kitchenware, but amazingly we had only one broken shot glass and one chipped plate. 

Less than five hours after they arrived, the movers were ready to pull out with all of our belongings, which would be stored in the Netherlands until later in the month. 

We had one loss at the storage when a box of wine fell (luckily not the good stuff, which we then located and repacked) and shattered on one of our single mattresses. Jimmy thought we might be able to still use it, but the movers agreed with me that it was a total write-off so they wrapped it up for disposal. By good fortune, they had started chatting with an American woman at her storage unit and she loaned us a card to be able to use the local dump to drop off the stinky mattress. 

Like we did so many times that we dropped stuff off at storage, Jimmy and I stopped by our favorite Dutch microbrewery, Kompaan, for a drink and snack before returning to Terri’s to take her out for an amazing seafood dinner. 
 

Art with Terri...

While on the train from Berlin to The Hague on January 3, I got a message from Sally that we couldn’t stay with her because she had just tested positive for COVID. It was fortunate that she had no symptoms, but we couldn’t take any chances with our upcoming trip to visit Jimmy’s dad. Luckily Terri came to our rescue and offered us a place to stay. The following day, while Jimmy worked from her guest suite, she and I went for a 10K walk to Scheveningen Beach for lunch and some culture at Museum Beelden aan Zee.

We both loved the special exhibit by Dutch sculptor Tom Claassen. 

 

Wandering Around Berlin...

Jimmy had the following day off work, so we went for a long wander across the city while Jim worked. 

We came across another Christmas market, mostly full of tacky decorations and food stalls.

However, it led us to two incredible churches. This modern one, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was opened in 1961, as a memorial to peace and reconciliation. The octagonal building contains 21,292 stained glass inlays.

The old one opened in 1895, built in a neo-Romanesque style. It was heavily bombed in 1943 and instead of rebuilding it, the new church was constructed. 

The surviving mosaics were really impressive.

We also saw some cool street art.

We met up with Jim that evening for dinner at Arminius Market Hall. We were especially impressed with this enormous table, although we ate at a normal one. If you look closely, you’ll spot Jimmy at the other end of the uncomfortable log bench. 

We finished off the night at Solar, a rooftop bar on the 17th floor of an apartment building where we enjoyed excellent views and cocktails. 

 

New Year’s Day Hash...

It was no big surprise that Jim volunteered Opee to hare Berlin H3’s New Year’s Day Hash. It was also no big surprise that he ignored most of the area that we had scouted the day before and just punted despite not knowing the city well. Luckily he pulled it off like usual. 

Despite being slow, I managed to meet up with the pack in several key photo spots.

We’d been told at the start that there would be a gluhwein stop, so there was a lot of disappointment when we went through this Christmas market without stopping for a drink.

All was forgiven when we stopped nearby for a drink stop, which included bubbly.

Compared to the many statues around the city of stodgy old men, this series of naked statues was quite modern. 

Eventually we made our way to this beautiful Christmas market where we were treated by Berlin H3 to a free gluhwein with a shot. 

It was dark by the end of the trail, but that didn’t stop the RA from noticing that Opee was wearing new shoes. 

I know this photo is upside down, but better to see the shape of the trail.

 

Starting 2024 with a Bang...

After much drama at Schiphol Airport about whether we’d been banned from the EU for overstaying our Dutch visa (which actually wasn’t due to expire until this coming August), we were thrilled to be able to start the New Year in Berlin with Jim. Much like his place in The Hague, he lived in an incredible penthouse apartment, seen here adorned with Christmas lights. 

After hashing with us a few times at the FILTH, Jim joined Berlin H3 and volunteered to host a New Year’s Eve party. 

We already knew several of the guests from various Hash Weekends. 

Having not seen any fireworks when we rang in 2014 in Berlin, we were shocked by the display of giant fireworks from every direction. The show lasted for many hours, putting what we were used to in Holland to shame. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get any good photos.

Jim’s flat also had a rooftop terrace, where some Hashers set off some fireworks.

Jimmy had brought his laser along, so we could have a dance party.

Veronica and Brett had a very quiet start to 2024 in a quaint shepherd’s hut in the Devon countryside. And Ashlynn bartended until the wee hours.
 

High and Lows of 18th 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 Travel: Ardennes - Belgian Nash Hash, Melissa’s first midnight naked run; Brussels - celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary at a seafood restaurant and rooftop bar; Cornwall - helping Veronica move to Exeter; Frankfurt - German Nash Hash, hashing along beautiful trails through the vineyards along the Rhine River; Littlehampton - first British hash away weekend, amazing trail in Arundel; Milan - amazing spa amongst ruins; Netherlands - Eurohash at the castle, pleased to be able to help, Red Dress Hash in nearby Baarlo with lots of community support; South of France - Terri’s incredible 60th birthday party
• Jimmy Travel: Cornwall - sunny day in Falmouth visiting Veronica; Frankfurt - surreal to be DJing in a bar overlooking the Rhine where 40 years earlier he had been on a boat with his sister
• Melissa Travel: Cornwall - extra long hike on the South West Coast Path with Veronica; Milan - nice hike at Lake Como, amazing exhibit at Pirelli Museum; Winchester - Christmas Market with Carlin
• Family Travel: Northern Ireland - hiking on the Causeway Coast, Bushmill Distillery Tour, Giant’s Causeway with prohibited swim, great Thai food, Titanic Museum, arcade in Portrush, Red Dress Hash in Belfast (photo above)
• Veronica Travel: Aberdeen - Visiting David and Tamsin in their new house; California - epic photography-focused road trip with Brett through Death Valley and Sierras, Thanksgiving with Brett’s family, seeing family in Bay Area, Mitchell and Leslie’s wedding, celebrating four-year anniversary in Mammoth; France - fun times with Brett in Paris and Lyon; London - visiting Mommy and Daddy, seeing Moulin Rouge and Hamilton; Netherlands - being with Kati, moving the metal table off the balcony, introducing Brett to how the Dutch celebrate New Year’s, Castle de Haar; Norwich - Peter and Bekkah’s wedding, visiting UEA for the first time since graduation in 2019
• Ashlynn Travel: Berlin - visiting Bjarne and Soso; Bulgaria - amazing solo travel after mediocre festival; Cornwall - visiting Veronica, seal sanctuary, swimming in a tide pool and camping; Istanbul - Bilge showing us around his hometown; London - with Sophie, Ely and Ciaran; Scotland - camping and surfing, snowy cottage getaway with James
• Jimmy/Ashlynn Travel: Portrush - paddle boarding into a cave
• Jimmy/Veronica Travel: Cornwall - hashed with Truro H3 following by insane Sunday roast
• Melissa/Ashlynn Travel: The Hague - having a drink at the Boardwalk Hotel in Scheveningen, where we first stayed when we moved to the Netherlands
• Jimmy/Melissa: Good fortune of friends helping with our move (lifting boxes and furniture, loaning a car, cleaning our bathroom); Hashes coming to our rescue in Brussels (while commuting) and in London (while living out of suitcases); moving to London; subletting from Andrew, whom we met in 2006 when he was just six years old; getting a permanent job with workable pay; hashing three times a week in London; finding a dream flat; being on the same island as the girls and knowing we’ll see them more often
• Jimmy: when you go through a stressful time, it can pull a couple apart or it can pull a couple together and realizing that it’s made us even closer; DJing at the underground pub at Eurohash; after 25 years of back problems, finding a stretch that resets his back
• Melissa: creating an inventory for The Hague Hash Museum; enjoyed long walks across London; many cool art exhibits in London and Rotterdam
• Veronica: moving in with Brett in Exeter; starting a PhD; good friends in Penryn and Exeter; trying new disciplines at the Aerial Convention; lots of camping and hiking on the South West Coast Path; Tunes in the Dunes Festival; seeing Twelfth Night at Minack Theatre; getting stronger due to working out, bouldering and aerial; life drawing, sculpting and modeling; nude photo shoots; beach fire pit; Brett’s birthday dinner in a castle; first gallery display of my photography; lots of live theatre; graduating from master’s with a Distinction; sea swimming with friends
• Ashlynn: meeting Ciaran; Kelburn Festival with Ciaran and friends; Ciaran’s surprise tickets for Dog Lover’s Show; Iris, the puppy; bartending at the Old Hairdressers; DJ career taking off including Co-Clear DJ gig and DJing back-to-back with Ciaran at Nice & Sleazy; accepted into master’s program plus getting grant funding for my research; family atmosphere in my flat; ran 32K Ballbreaker Hash in Belfast and going to a club afterwards with Hashers; graduating with a First Class Bachelor’s degree
• Melissa/Veronica/Jimmy: visiting the Tate, incredible immersive 1984 play in Hackney Town Hall, Halloween Hash in Hampstead Heath
• Visitors in Voorschoten: Alan, Ashlynn, Brett, Simon, Veronica
• Visitors in London: Ashlynn, Brett, Jim, Veronica