Wednesday, April 8: Amsterdam: Foggy, otherwise cloudy

This time I had one spare seat next to me, so the armrest went up as soon as we were in the air and I could spread myself out a bit. The departure had been delayed on the runway for GKW reason, and I was doubtful about getting out of Schiphol Airport on the train by 8:30.

But first the flight had to be dealt with. I took in the latest incarnation of The Great Gatsby, which I thought was not only overly detailed, but extravagant to the point of revoking my suspense of disbelief. Then there was the Dead Poets Society as an expression of respect for the newly deceased, but as I say there wasn’t that much to choose from. Was sorry to have missed Birdman on the way over.

Dinner was chicken, after which I slept for about three and then again for another two hours. The left leg was swelling quite visibly, and in the wake breaks I shuffled around the cabin. Breakfast was an omelette (although puzzlingly free of bacon), and we were in Amsterdam pretty close to 8:00.

Suitcase was fairly quickly off the carousel and I made a last minute attempt at reaching the first train, was stopped and briefly questioned by customs, but apparently wouldn’t have made it anyway, because I still had to go through the main arrivals/departure hall to reach the station and that was chaos. Finally determined which platform I was meant to be leaving from, and where said platform was, but the train had already gone.

I decided to move on towards Hilversum in any case, and that took about another half an hour of trying to identify a train that was going there. A couple of times the sign said “Hilversum” but either it wasn’t written on the train; or the train actually left at a different time than the one bound for Hilversum; or, on asking in the train, was told it was the wrong one. Finally found one that would do the job and was there in another 30 minutes.

Here there was a longer wait, which I filled out with a bread roll, and about an hour later was off in the direction of Hannover, finally arriving back home at 15:45. The flat seemed to be in fairly good nick, as Conny had reported after taking it over from my student. A shopping list had been prepared, so it was off to get all of the stuff, put what was necessary into the now operating fridge, and generally bring the flat up to speed. Daylight saving was useful here, because it meant that it was light until just after 8:00, by about which time everything was as near as dammit in its proper place. No need for extensive note-taking before falling asleep so that I can find stuff again tomorrow morning; the sense of familiarity meant everything clicked into place, and a celebratory beer could be poured. The rest of the 120,000 pictures: Mañana.

Spring is just beginning.