37b(k) twijnstraat

the input for the name of urecht blog was shockingly, appallingly poor. yes, i am referring to you! hence, you have no one but yourself to blame for this shameful effort: 37b(k). this being derived from the address of my new abode on twijnstraat in utrecht where my niece maren and i are living for the next few months. perhaps i will become a private detective and 37b twijnstraat will superced that of 22b baker street in the annals of crime. yes, that's it. a private detective. you may henceforth refer to me as shelock. but without the hypodermic. needles make me a wee bit squeamish.

maren and i officially received the keys to the kingdom on the evening of oct 29 but although it is furnished, there were no linens, dishes, etc so couldn't stay that night and had to return to greg & saskia's until we could make a pilgrimage to ikea to kit ourselves out.

after a rough start to the day (almost losing one of the dogs at the park), maren and i headed to ikea to kit out our new pad. i must say, we really got an amazing amount of stuff for very little money. unfortunately, i could not participate in the glorious unpacking of the goods since greg & saskia had gone away for a couple of days leaving me in charge of the dogs so i had to get back for the evening feeding & constitutional. got back a little later than i had anticipated and was greeted by some very excited dogs, and a big pile of sick in the middle of the floor. apparently someone's tripe didn't sit well today ... the job of the babysitter is never an easy one.

since i'm going to be here for the winter, i figured i would head to the nearest gap to fill up on turtlenecks. i could have sworn that i had seen a gap in town but was mistaken. ah well, there must be one in amsterdam. i checked online for the location and indeed, gap.com proclaims that "you'll find gap stores all over the world." apparently, someone at gap needs some geography lessons because 5 countries does not a world make. so the closest european stores are in france (no help there) and gap.com online ordering only delivers to u.s. addresses. was i to be thus thwarted in my quest? not a bit of it!! at the 11th hour, i got an email from richard stewart saying he would be in town so i made an impassioned plea (as well as an offer of alcoholic beverages) and he agreed to be my turtleneck mule. joy! although i turned down his offer to bring a jaunty beret, a cigarette holder, and a copy of "beat poetry for dummies". at last rich arrived with the goods but unfortunately, gap has completely ruined them and they were total shit. so rich had to take them back with him. oops!

dutch lessons have started and i feel confident i'll be fluent in no time. in the meantime, i've bought a bike so at least i can look the part. it's 'sparta' brand so i have christened it 'sparta piet' after zwarte piet, the original dutch 'bad santa.' he's terribly un-pc but ... when in holland!