The Neil that never sleeps

If you are ever sold the idea that business travel is sweet, or "a jolly" let me tell you - it is not (well not always). Yesterday I got to bed at 12 and was up at 4 to get a flight to Amsterdam - where I have just put in a full day. To say I am cream crackered is to miss the point - travelling/working is tough. I am leading meetings with people I dont know. I have to try to sell them my ideas/vision of how things should be done. Then I also have to interview 4 people, and sort out my new contract with the Dutch HR (are my hints getting painfully obvious?). I also have to go looking at apartments so that I can get a feel for the size etc.

But, I will also get to do some fun things at the weekend - my pay has cleared! Space cake looks likely. DVD shopping is also pretty likely. Only bad thing is that I only know one guy in Holland - and so am meeting him on Friday lunchtime to persuade him to show me the sights, sounds and tastes that make this European city unique - because I am damned if I am going to see them by myself! Does anyone have any frustrated urges that they would like me to proxy for them? :-)

One thing about Holland - it really is flat. I don't think you can really visualise this without seeing it from the 20th storey of an office block. The eye can see for miles (no haze here) without end. I can imagine cycling to Germany or Belgium and not breaking a sweat. It is rather strange.

My hotel (the Marriot) is in the centre of town - and I have been told by various people to expect to trip over drug users, vomit and dog crap. What an image. Streets where that run yellow and brown with excretia. Stone heads passed out in said effluvia. Really - can it be that bad? I know plenty of stoners in my time, and they all managed to hold it together. Never saw them pass out in the gutter. Dog crap I can believe though - for some reason European cities seem to be full of it (I once stayed in Rheims (FR) and its streets were positively paved with doo doo).

Anyway - I am meeting my Boss (note the B - Sean is my Boss, whereas Mandy is my Boss) at 9pm for drinks. I know where drinks with Mand can go - luckily we will be drinking in the Hotel so I can drag myself upstairs to pass out. I am looking forward to the weekend - I hope to have stories to blog with. Hopefully not too tame as I owe Terz some spice, but not too wild (I owe Kanga that!). Somewhere in teh middle. Maybe "got stoned, went to bar to watch pole dancers and got the giggles and munchies". That most probably would be about the right level ;-P