Week 4

Week 4

Morning Photo 

- same place, same time, on the way to get Lucas.

Visit to Ben in Amsterdam

His Hotel  Student Accommodation... Casa 400. The bottom 3 or 4 floors still operate as a hotel. The upper floors occupied full time by students. It needs a fair bit of organisation re lifts, keys, cooking facilities, etc., but it is a great way to maintain high occupancy rates and still provide excellent facilities for "normal" guests.

Awful photo.... but the round structure in the courtyard has the word "ZeeSpiegel" on it, indicating Sea Level. So where I took the photo (in the lobby) is actually 3 - 4 metres below Sea Level.

In the carpark....

In the streets...

Ben took us to a few of his favorite places for food and drink. The first was an art deco theatre converted to a very busy restaurant. In fact, all of Amsterdam was busy with far more people than I had expected for a wet and grey Sunday afternoon. Ben led the way rather easily, walking or catching a tram or underground train.

Coffee and Coconuts

How it used to look, built in 1921. Known then as the Ceintuur Theater (American spelling).

And a boutique brewery very close to Central Station.

Ben has to go back to school in Zwolle next week but he has kept his room in Amsterdam and will commute daily until he has to move out. It will then be summer holidays so we might see him for a while. He is now in the process of deciding where he will "study" abroad. Spain, Bali and Korea have all been mentioned; we wait in anticipation...... and in the meantime he has another modelling job in Spain!

Building Works....

15 years ago I put up a plaster ceiling. All has to be replaced now. This was a milk shed at the rear of the house, circa 1965. Luckily, I had a helper to get all the screws out.

All in a day's work.....

One of our clients lives fairly independently in an apartment within an institutional building with other residents - all with varying degrees of independence. He does his own shopping and cleaning, drives a scooter in good weather, and is very mobile for is age - nearing 70!

Anyway, he was at home, doing the vacuuming and included the canary cage as part of his routine. This time, the canary was curious and disappeared  into the vacuum cleaner! We tried not to laugh when he told us and we all agreed that at least it was better that he did it and not somebody else. When Janny took him home, they stopped at a pet shop and bought a new one...... happy ending!

Warmest January 25th  on record...... 14 degrees!

A welcome change after the snow and ice of the past few weeks.