Just got my first ever parking ticket. The parking spaces at Dirk in the centre of the village got turned into a blue zone a few years ago, and although I often set my parking disc, I don’t always remember to do so. Especially if I’m just nipping in for a couple of items. The disc was sitting behind the windscreen, as it always does. I could have got lucky if it had accidentally still been set to a valid time from the last occasion I used it, but no. In the shop for less than ten minutes, feeling slightly virtuous from having bought the latest Z! homeless paper from the vendor at the door, step out onto the street and there’s the parking warden just popping the ticket under the windscreen wiper. €90. Bah.
Thumpers at Paradiso, Friday 4 April 2014
I saw Thumpers in October last year when they opened for Chvrches at Melkweg, and I loved them. I had never heard any of their songs before, but their drum-heavy feel, bouncy rhythms, and the playful intertwining of vocals really got to me. (To be honest, I thought they put on a better show than Chvrches.) “Unkinder” instantly became one of my favourite tracks of 2013.
I was excited when they announced their album and their own tour, and I bought tickets as soon as they went on sale. They played Paradiso this evening at the crazy early hour of 19:00. (I don’t think I’ve ever left Paradiso while it was still light.) The small room was practically empty when Abi and I got there around 18:45, and never filled up completely, but the audience felt warm and welcoming nonetheless. The band played a short but energetic 45 minutes, and were as good as I remembered them. The new single “Tame” sounded great, and the extended version of “Unkinder” they ended with was just wonderful. Recommended!
I had hoped they would have copies of their CD Galore at the merch table in advance of its 19th May European release (it’s available in North America, Australia, and New Zealand already), but no such luck. I had to console myself with another Thumpers T-shirt instead. I already have the grey, so I got the white one with blue letters this time. Gotta have my merch.
Walk to Velsen Zuid
On Saturday Abi and I took a long walk from Oostzaan to Velsen Zuid. Our original plan had been to walk a bit farther to IJmuiden and then take the green “Fast Flying Ferry” hydrofoil back to Amsterdam, but unfortunately the service has stopped. It was shut down on 1st January because of low passenger numbers. Alex and Fiona went on it once a few years ago, but I never got the chance – pity.
We left the house around 08:30, and had amazing walking weather. Blue skies, temperature rising through the mid teens, and a very light haze that burned off later in the morning. Our route took us over the Den Uylbrug, along the north shore of the Noordzeekanaal, and through Overtoom and Nauerna. We took the Spaarndam-Buitenhuizen ferry across the Noordzeekanaal, and then walked through Spaarnwoude to the edge of Velsen Zuid, where we caught the 82 bus into Amsterdam.
I’ve played golf at Spaarnwoude, but this was the first time I’d explored more of the recreation area on foot, and it’s lovely. Towards the end of the walk, we took a detour from the direct path to visit an outlook point (on a hill — a hill!) and a signposted art object. This turned out to be the enormous piece “Klimwand en Schijf in Grofpuinheuvel” (Climbing Wall and Disc in a Mound of Rubble) by Dutch sculptor Frans De Wit.
It does exactly what it says on the tin: a free-standing public climbing wall (no entrance fee; just bring your own gear) in line with two massive concrete discs embedded in a man-made hill of rocks. There’s a narrow staircase betwene the discs, and when you climb it you can see that the climbing wall is exactly in line with the discs. It’s super impressive.
Migraine recording
Alex is home from school and in bed right now after another migraine last night. I’m going to create a new shared calendar to record them, and see what patterns we can discover.
Picture-in-picture
Found this, from 12 November 2012, while I was organising some old photos. Too good not to share.
Mixed media, 23 March 2014
This week, I have been mostly listening to Capital Cities’ In A Tidal Wave of Mystery and watching Arrow on Netflix. I said that I might have to listen to Capital Cities a bit more before getting to grips with the album, but now it is fully embedded in my head. Can’t stop listening to it, can’t stop my brain from replaying it internally when I’m not listening to it. My favourite album of 2014 so far.
I’m at episode 13 of Arrow now, and I’m particularly enjoying the way the relationships between the characters are genuinely changing, and how the plot is unfolding at the same time as Oliver Queen’s back story on the island is being revealed. It hasn’t (yet?) got stuck in a bad-guy-of-the-week rhythm, or forced Oliver and Laurel to replay a tormented “I love you but I can’t be with you” chorus whenever they’re in the same room. (That repetitiveness was one of the reasons I stopped scarfing down episodes of Chuck somewhere in the middle of its second season. That, and the disturbing levels of non-ironic sexism.)
I’ve started on Ken MacLeod’s Descent but haven’t made it very far yet.
The painter is almost finished with the house. The scaffolding is down, and the outside is all finished apart from a few final touch-ups on Monday. We got him to do the downstairs woordwork as well, and that’s looking lovely now too.
This afternoon Abi and I spent an hour and a half pruning back the pear tree, which had got out of control. Last year it threw off more pears than we could handle, even after we finally (6 years in this house) discovered that the right way to deal with otherwise inedible cooking pears is to cook them. So the pear tree is much smaller now.
