Back to Scotland

With barely time to catch my breath after our inbred beer adventures, I have another day of Dutch bondage before heading off to Scotland to see my sister. She's back in the UK to renew her US visa, and what with her lack of holiday allowance and my allergy to Wisconsin, we doon;t see each other as often as we'd like to.

I arrive to be greeted by my father withe customary bottle of Irn Bru...

We head into Glasgow to wait for my brother to finish uni and I meet The Cadet for a coffee. I am planning to go hill walking while I'm over, so I go to an outdoor shop and pick up a few things. I'm excited at just being in the climbing shop - so many munros and so little time. I'm sure I wouldn't get like this if I still lived in Scotland.

The reason Scotland has these beautiful peaks is not because we have highlands and lowlands, but because they were two different land masses which crashed together millions of years ago.. giving us these huge grey craggy rocks which stick up from anywhere about the fault line....

The Netherlands had a similar landscape, huge peaks with wonderful views, but after the invention of the motor car they flattened their small country as they knew that cylcing would always be cheaper than fuel. Economically sound, but to the detrement of their scenary.

Anyway... after some purchasment and a quick coffee it's time to pick up my brother and head down to sunny ayrshire... we drop The Cadet off and head through the clyde tunnel.

Back in Ayrshire I quickly say hello to my sister and then the whole family heads off for dinner. It's the first time the whole family has been in Scotland It's strange going for family dinner, as it happens so seldom, yet it always seems like yesterday since we were all sitting round a table. Maybe it's just one of those things that you do so often, that you will always take it for granted.

Following dinner, it's an early night to prepare for the weekend ahead....

First weekend back in Amsterdam

Back to Amsterdam, and back to a mountain of work. The trip through the airport is interesting, due to an over abundance of Christmas pressies, my luggage weighs about 40Kg when I check in. The limit is 20, so I have to go away and do some rearanging. A fair whack of this is is Cheddar Cheese and Haggis - two delicacies not commonly found in Amsterdam. After rearranging things a little, my luggage weighs 22kg. Now it doesn't take a Maths genius to work out that I am now carrying 18 Kg's of Haggis and Cheese about my person. The woman at Security says this is the only country that would recognise haggis in the X-ray machine and that I'm lucky.....



I'm glad to get home and dump the huge weight that is my bags.

It's nice to be back, and nice to be cycling instead of driving for a wee while. It's the new year, and The Kiwi seems to be going to the Gym most days to tackle the winter blues. I decide that in an attempt to banish the beer belly and be little fitter on the mountains I'm going to sign up.

On Saturday, by the time I've bought a new bike and done various shopping tasks, and signed up for a 3 month membership to squash city, I don't have time to go to the gym as I'm due at Obi Wan and the Bulgarian Bride's house for a Haggis dinner. I balance my laziness with the fact that its a 45 minute cycle to Diemen.

The Bulgarian's seem to take to Haggis like the British do to binge drinking, so I always bring back plenty.

We have a good evening, where I show off some photos, eat some haggis etc. I also get the chance to see the present I bought Obi wan and my sister:



I head off and catch up with The Kiwi and some mates at the Gollem for a last beer on the way home. They are at that stage that only Belgian beer can put you in. They can barely talk, and it makes my over indulgence of Red Wine which I had been regretting on the cycle home pale into insignificance.

In the morning, I get started on some work. I have stuff to catch up on cos I'm going to be out of the office all week. As a break I head off to Squash city:



I'm pretty apprehensive... I've not been in a Gym in years, and even then it was the Glasgow University gym, and you could pretty much get away with any studentness.

Before long I'm on the cardio machines and churning away... The sweat is lashing off me, but my iPod is pumping out Dookie so I'm doing okay:



After this, I head to the weight machines and do the circuit along to nothing's shocking:



This gym thing is actually quite good fun. It gives me the chance to listen to music for extended lengths of time - nae bother!!

Afterwards I get a call from The Kiwi. They are going to Best Thai, a nearby Thai restaurant after kick boxing, so I go for a green thai curry:



The chill generated by the work out puts me in the zone and some good thai is a good way to finish off the weekend, before I head off on travels again next week....