Sirens

Living in a big city means there's no escaping the sirens.
Early this morning, I was woken up by some which seemed to, suddenly, stop in our street.  Not being able to distinguish one siren from the other, I thought it best to see what was going on, in case there was a fire and I needed to make a quick get-away.
There was a police car parked on our curb (almost through our front door)...then more sirens and an ambulance arrived...a bit later, another one.
Somehow, I don't think it will be long before I'll be a 'Sound of Sirens' expert.

The scene from my balcony

Hello?

The title of this blog refers to me saying hello to the faithful followers of this blog who have persevered and not given up on me, but also to Amsterdam and its residents.
The reason, I've been 'off air' for so long is, partly, because I was busy with moving house and all that it entails (130-ish boxes, packed etc.)
However, the deafening silence was mainly due to an astoundingly inefficient, Dutch version of British Telecom which meant I was without home telephone, tv and, more importantly, Internet for almost 4 weeks.
Anyway....moving on...(because my whole head is turning purple and steam is coming from my ears, again)....I had a house-warming-drink at my apartment yesterday.
'Eric and friends' first went to run the Amsterdam-half-marathon and then came over for drinks and nibbles. Two of my old friends were also able to come and all I can say is that it was lovely to have the place full with people (especially after my trusty, little cat Jerry died just two days before, and the place felt empty).
So far, I love living here and we've (incl. Jerry) been able to enjoy some unexpected, fine weather on the balcony.

Post Marathon house warming drink

Jerry and I on the balcony