Barricading the door.

Having survived fire, flood and famine I am now back in Falmouth. I miss the canals and spirit of Amsterdam. To refresh my memory I am posting a few pictures. They are a bit random so please feel free to ask if something doesn’t make sense.

Anyway, we spent the last 3 days in Amsterdam at a hostel smack bang in the middle of Jordaan during Queens Day. I will post some experiences of that day later on. The most exciting bit was when we woke up at 3 am. in the hostel of the sound of wood cracking in our door. Someone was trying to break in! We shouted and they left. After barricading the door we slept with one eye open. Which means that I didn’t sleep at all for a while;-)

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Should I be worried?

7 spam posts to delete? Just the other day it was 96 in 3 days. Should I be worried about my readership and circulation when not even spammers consider me worthy =P ? We are now finishing off here on our last day. In the garden out back, everything is set up for a big Queens Day party. They have large wooden tubs filled with ice and spirits and the fridge is full of lager. Apparently the best way to celebrate tomorrow is to get really drunk in the morning in Vondelpark and then work your way up north. We’ll see about that. It will be sad having to leave but hopefully we get to go back in the summer;-) I am also looking forward coming back to Falmouth and most of all, of course, I want you Sandra!

Lekkere…

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Will there be free drinks?

Going of to meet up with Ed & Bryan for a bite to eat. Then we’re going to the ADCN After Party at Jimmy Woo on Korte Leidsedwarsstraat. This is the ex Falmouth guys with their ever so handy bikes by the way. Forced to lead them since we people don’t have bikes;-) Bryan on the left though and Ed on the right. Better get dressed. Ciao.

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Wonky.

No there is nothing wrong with my lens. This is no trickery. Some houses just seem to be sprouting like mushrooms along the canal. Spring is on its way and I think I have a bit of a sunburn in my face. We are almost done with our third week, but that’s not all. We are coming back for more in June. Splendid! Must be doing something right. We are humbled by the offer and extremely happy of course. Tomorrow is ADCN. Art Directors Club Netherland. We have been invited to the after party! There will be a lot of 180 people and W+K people there. Will bring my black book and do some networking!

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Reflect in Vincent’s eyes of china blue.

New exciting week. We spent most of the weekend walking around and on Sunday we went to the van Gogh museum. It was absolutely amazing to see his real work up close and follow his mental deterioration in the brush strokes. Unfortunately my favourite ‘Starry Night’ was on exhibition in New York. Shame. As for 180 we have been asked to stay longer. With the sky filled with ash I suppose it makes little difference and we might be stranded anyway. Amsterdam is really growing on me, it really is an amazing city. We have been well taken care of by ex Falmouth Ed and Bryan. Rachel and I have just been out with Bryan for a nice pub burger. In other news, I’m currently addicted to Francois Hardy and I have been introduced to the cult classic Red Dwarf. We eat too much chocolate mousse and I think that’s about it for now.

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In midst of Straats and Grachts.

We have now survived our first day! I can’t go into details but we’ll be working on a pitch alongside with other people. As I said in previous post we have been given a desk with in the room with most of the other creatives. I also found another Swedish guy here from Hyper Island who has been working at 180 for 6 years. Apparently there are more than 30 nationalities and somewhere between 150 – 200 people employed.

All the streets here all look the same. As in one is just as beautiful as the other and they all look the same. They are all called Blablablasestraat or Blablablasegracht. Another 3 weeks and our Dutch will be fluent. Zie jullie allemaal morgen!

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A circus leaving town.

Have I got everything? Seriously. I hope I do. Train leaving down at the docks at 11:50 and every 15 minutes there is a hailstorm and I don’t have an umbrella, because it weighs too much. Also since I was afraid of oversleeping I simply stayed up which means I’m a bit…weird.

First stop Bradford. Then Amsterdam on monday. Here we go.

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Ultralight travel setup.

Rachel and I have decided to travel lightly, with hand luggage only (10 kg). I’m not sure yet if it’s the best, or worst, idea ever. As you can see it calls for drastic methods when it comes to selecting gear. But maybe I should be focusing more on how many pair of socks I should bring?

I only just realised that I bought the tripod in Holland so I guess it’s going back to its roots.

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Here we go again.

I have now given this blog a complete overhaul. After 10 000 spam comments I had enough. Not that I wasn’t happy with my DIY blog engine, but let’s just say WordPress is better at doing its job.

First thing coming up is my three week placement at 180 Amsterdam now between 6th – 23rd April.

I will take lots of pictures with my new Lumix LX3.

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