Gym and Shopping

I wake up fresh on a Saturday morning - its a new experience, and feels a little strange..

I'm going to go to the Gym with The Kiwi.... It's my second time in the Gym and I'm really looking forward to it:



I manage to add rowing to my routine and generally, I'm feeling fitter and sweating less - or little enough to not be extremely embarrassed that there's a stream running off the bottom of your running machine. I'm still surprised by how easy it is:

Step 1: Play upbeat classic album on iPod
Step:2: Perform repetitive action and get fit.

The Kiwi jokingly points me towards the basketball courts. Maybe holey Chuck Taylor's aren't suitable gym footwear:



I decide to reward my fitness with a trip to Kalverstraat to stock up on more suitable Gym attire...



Normally I would avoid going to Kalverstraat at all costs on a saturday - it is full of a very slow stream of very stupid shoppers and I instantly become a supporter of american gun laws when I step foot on it. Today, I'm so chilled from working out that I can slowly donner along the street without a care in the world.

I may be going for some sports clothes, which are traditionally associatted with the common or Garden Ned in Scotland:



A ned is a scottish youth who dresses in a tracksuit and hangs around street corners... Their intelligence is directly proportionate to the whiteness of their sportswear. The DO NOT perform sport..... For this reason, long haired hippies like myself don't have much call for sports wear and find shopping for it a little hard. I have decided to grunge up my Gym experience.

Without paying over the odds for a simple pair of good running shoes, it's pretty tough to grunge up my shoes, but I'll look out for something which is both functional and alternative. The real trick is in the T-Shirt... I head into the closest CD shop and look through their T-Shirt collection for something a bit different..... I fail. I'll have to make do with my trusty Subpop T-Shirt:



and the Kurt Cobain "Grunge is dead" T-Shirt I've ordered on the internet:



Okay it's obscure, and no one is ever likely to acknowledge it's origin, but it makes me feel less self concious about looking like a ned, and once I find an Ed Vedder "I love Grunge" T-shirt I can start alternating them:

I feel very chilled after the gym and I'm ready for a wild and wonderful night out. It doesn't happen, no one seems to be in the same mood, so The Kiwi and I find ourselves wandering aimlessly around a few bars and drinking with various people who seem to have forgotten their red tin of "Ronseal Town painter"(Does exactly what it says on the tin........

Getting togged up.

Today is the one day of the week I have to prepare for the impending wedding on Thursday and the arrival of two very energetic friends from Scotland. I have a mild throbbing in my head following the red wine last night, but it just serves to remind me what a good night it was.

I need to sort out some bikes for the girls coming, tog myself out for my first Amsterdam wedding, tidy my flat in preparation for a female level of cleanliness.

I'm really apprehensive about the wedding, cos it's a gay wedding, so I feel I have to be as well dressed as possible. I'm convinced I worry more about the opinions of my gay friends than I do about the opnions of females I'm wooing. If this was any city other than Amsterdam I'd worry about this last sentance.

It's smart - casual which makes it worse - i.e. more effort. Normally the kilt would serve the purpose of avoiding decisions, but the Groom(Or one of them) is Scottish so that's his propoerty tomorrow. So while 2 days ago I was apprehensive about looking rough and scruffy enough in a Pool hall. Tonight I have to spend time wondering if I prefer the Black or the White shirt with my newly purchased Hugo Boss Jacket for going to a Gay wedding.

I'm very proud of my Jacket - I bought it at lunch time today, It's smart enough(And expensive enough) for a wedding and grunge enough(Turquoise thread and denim inside pockets) for me to be comfortable in it. It provides me with just enough kick to mean that I can walk with confidence to the wedding tomorrow.

Amsterdam has this problem - everything is so casual that it can be a little difficult to look as if you made an effort to dress up.

Anyway - home for a night of ironing, tidying and resting before what will be one of my busiest weekends in Amsterdam(Or anywhere) in a while(If not ever).