This could be Rotterdam or anywhere, Liverpool or Rome....

Well I am back in Blighty and only have three days until my return leg starts. Amsterdam was fantastic - work was good, although I have a feeling that based on the meetings I had there will be fair amounts of conflict to manage next year. However, I did manage to interview 5 people and offer two of them jobs. Also I got a chance to meet up with the guys @ Strombaan, who always manage to put a smile on my face - this time with a pack of playing cards with a twist. Each card has on its reverse a restaurant description and location, with review. That means that with 52 cards in a deck, and 52 weeks in a year, Kanga and I should be able to go to a different restaurant every week by working through the pack. Seeing and my project is 56 weeks long that gives us ample time to eat our way through the cards.

I also found a charming little coffee shop that sells pre-rolled Polm (pollen) at the bargain price of E3.60. The best part is that it is in a residential part of amsterdam so no tourists, just residents. No space cake, but they have a fantastic menu that I can buy home to bake! Of course, a small glass pipe would remove the need for tabacco...which may be a way forward. I also found a mushroom shop in the Leidersaplein which sells about 6 varieties of psylocobin. This is a "maybe" option as hallucinogens are unpredictable and bad trips not my thing. Of course, it goes without saying that any coffeeshop activity would have to be a friday or saturday pastime - I have enough common sense to realise that stressful and dynamic jobs don't get done by stone heads! :-)

Back in London I am going to meet my Mother tomorrow for dinner - and am thinking of The Notting Grill. This is run by Anthony Worral Thompson, the chef behind the stuffed pork from two weeks ago. Actually it is not just run by him - he is the head chef. That make it a must. Tonight I will dine at the restaurant run by Brian Turner (or is that Bryan?), who is another celebrity chef who started as a desert chef and rapidly moved to overall gourmand. I am very lucky to be eating at two wonderful restaurants in one week - I am salivating at the prospect!

Looks like I will be back out here again in 3 weeks - it is a shame that Kanga can't get time off work. I think that a week in Amsterdam would be useful for her to get her bearing and start looking at the Herengracht, Keisersgracht and Leidersegracht for properties that she likes. Will have to also get her to do some financial planning to account for the single wage, as well as ask her to contact the Dutch embassy in Singapore to start the paperwork for her visa. Guess I should also arrange a farewell dinner party in November - although I guess it will be, as Mary Poppins describes it, an au revoir rather than goodbye.

Thats me over and out.

Taekwon