Skip to main content

Holiday at home

I'm on holiday. Already. In my own home. Strange.


What I definitely hadn't missed: Utrecht Central station (though that may have had something to do with the cleaners' strike). 
But my home has changed. Not just in my mind. I walked into the house for the first time without the hallway gently reminding me that this was a project and not a house. And I have come full circle: the upstairs toilet that (I) broke just before moving in now flushes like nothing ever happened. Oh, the immense joy of doing the getting up - morning pee - shower - getting dressed ritual all on one floor! In some ways my holiday home is better than my real home. 
In others, it's a bit sad. It's my house but without me, it's empty, but filled with boxes. I needed to bring all my toilet stuff to my own house, I needed to go find bedsheets in boxes, I don't put my clothes in the closet. 


But it's not really a holiday: it's an even rounder circle. My last days in my house will be spent like the first - 'klussing'. And the next (real) Holland-holiday will have to do without the holiday home. 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Glasgow. De tiener die je wilt versieren.

Sauchiehall street op zaterdagnacht om 3:00 is een 21 ste eeuwse versie van een schilderij van Breughel. Een krioelende massa laat tieners en vroeg twintigers die hoe langer je kijkt hoe meer spektakel biedt. De clubs waar de straat van barst zijn net gesloten en hebben hun inhoud over straat uitgespuugd. Links volgt iemand het voorbeeld, maar dan met de inhoud van zijn maag. Rechts staat een stelletje uitgebreid een voorspel te bedrijven. Waar je ook kijkt zijn meisjes in strakke, glitterende, glimmende, kleurrijke, en vooral korte, jurkjes. Schotse meisjes, dus de jurkjes zijn rijkelijk voorzien van randjes vet waar het jurkje niet op bedacht was. Hun nepwimpers zijn te zwaar geworden voor hun oogleden en hangen dus halfstok. In hun handen hebben de meisjes hun schoenen – het gebruikelijke voortstrompelen op metershoge hakken is op dit late alcoholgehalte teveel gevraagd. Blootsvoets zwalken de meisjes verder, hangend aan de schouders, of de tong, van al niet stabieler ogende jongen...

Charm Alarm!

After 5.5 years in one and the same My First Workplace, how do you start anew? I've figured getting to and from the office, but then... My roommate understands what is most crucial - he cleans a cup and escorts me to the coffee machine. Freshly ground espresso - I can safely stay in Glasgow.  The official 'induction' on the second day is not much more extensive than the informal one on on the first day: I appear to already have learnt all that's in the list. Well, except for where to actually find the people involved - three Victorian houses merged together in a Psychology department equal one big maze. (Experts say it takes about a month to get oriented.) The inductress is nevertheless almost off within a minute - but then decides to introduce me to 'other people in the project'. She stops at one. Then luckily she remembers a crucial bit: the welcome present. The Charm Alarm! The Charm Alarm! is a big pink egg resembling a hand grenade. If you pull out the p...

Home Sweet Home

Three Little Deadlines made me decide that a home was not at all an essential part of moving to Glasgow. The first thing to cross my path would do. A room in a house I'd never seen with a guy I'd never met in a suburb of Glasgow I'd never heard of crossed my path so I moved in. Not bad: the suburb is not one of Glasgow's infamous areas but is actually pretty, the connection to work is straightforward (my commute has already shrunk by 50%), the house-mate is indeed an 'agreeable 29 year old male professional' as promised. He cleans, he's orderly, he's not noisy, he's friendly, he's social, he works for a children's charity - he's the ideal housemate.  If only I hadn't outgrown the very concept of housemate. (Ok, and if only I could always understand what he says). Therefore, exit deadlines enter house hunt. The response rate to my responses to ads suggests Glaswegians offer flats without actually wanting to let them. I nevertheless...