Done!

Posted IT on Saturday, express to London. And then crashed out pretty well for the rest of the weekend. Buddy and I did venture by bike into central Amsterdam, which is now at its best with the trees in full leaf (of course - we're in the middle of summer now; where have I been?) - and tourist boats wending their way along the canals. Felt like a holiday. We headed for an old bookshop - where else - and browsed for five or ten minutes amidst the piles of English paperbacks stacked on the floor, on tables and on shelves. I picked out a copy of the Koran, would you believe - the Penguin version from some years back - as I'd been saying in the past week that it was time I read it. Later we headed off for our favourite Belgian cafe, tucked away behind the Options Stock Exchange in the Rokin and always a good place to catch a bit of sun while you eat 'bitterballen' - a Dutch delicacy, if you could call it that (a sort of meat-based mush encased in thick breadcrumbs and fried) - and read a book. It's usually quiet there but this time our peace was disturbed by a jittery bunch of English tourists - or maybe they live here - who were obviously on drugs. They were behind me which meant that I had to keep my antennae on 'high alert' all the time in case one of them came crashing into our table or suddenly pulled a knife. Great. At a Spanish restaurant later on, we had the good fortune to be sitting next to a heavily tattoed individual with yellowing fingernail and a pickled, rotting nose who appeared to be an alcoholic and either a diabetic or a drug addict to boot (he had a syringe with him). So, yes, Amsterdam is lovely with its pretty canals and graceful, patrician houses. And, yes, Amsterdam's a ghastly place full of drug addicts and women of low class. What the hell am I doing here?

I want to go home to England, that lovely place full of such lovely, cultured, peace-loving people. Ho-ho-ho....