happy new year

to one and all


off to bed now

Young @ heart

Yesterday we went to our neighbours, the Swiss consul and his wife. They invited us round for a film. As we knew Thum can cook nice thai food and will allways make snacks for this kind of event, it couldn't go wrong. The film turned out to be brilliant. He got it on DVD from the US and it is currently playing in european cinemas. So about ten of us set in their reshuffled living room, facing the white wall. The film is more of a documentary. It is about a group of old people singing in a chorus. This doesn't sound interesting, but it is. These oldies, average age of 80, sing moderns songs in their own style. Imagine your grandma singing a Clash song or Sonic Youth. For those who don't know these names: loud punk music. But the film is also about the characters. This is these peoples live; one man didn't come to rehearsals one day, the next day he came and told he was in hospital, but he came as soon as he could. Three of them car pooled, the one that could see properly drove (slowly). During the filming two of them died, almost on stage, but the group kept going. They are just unstoppable.

It is not the storyline, but the characters that make this film brilliant. They are more alive than many teenagers. They even made a prison audience quiet and tearful.

A must see, if not the film their tour.

Here is a link
www.youngatheartchorus.com

Happy Christmas

Nothing very much exiting to report.

Christmas brought us several new cd's and dvd's and for Hazel some books on painting.

We had a lovely dinner, potatoes, duckbreast, gravy, and carrot and beans. Hazel made some mince pies for herself and apple pies for me. Boxing day we stayed at home as well, playing Jenga and generally not doing much though we saw all of heroes second series.

By the third day of Christmas we were very confused as what day it was. Saturday. So we left the house for a pizabun for lunch we invited a colleague for our Conimex (indonesian pre-mix) dinner. So now it's Sunday and we are relaxing after a busy few days doing nothing. Fortunately next weekend is 4 days long again, I could get used to this.

Friends of ours are taking these four days to drive to Mwanza, spend a day in Serengeti and drive back. In exchange for a full report on driving times etcetera we have to feed their cat and dog. The dog behaves more like a cat, rolling on her back asking for attention. The cat looks a lot like our Neville, only female. Maybe because she is female, she is softer and easier to pick up and stroke. A perfect cat, I wonder if we swop her for Neville if they would notice (thats my evil genius side speaking).

No big plans for new years except a party at English friends. A lot of Dutch will be experiencing the change of year at a colleague's house.

Small things

It is the small things that make you laugh.

We heard this (old) song on the radio this morning on the way to work.
Pygmy_Divorce

baking day

partly because it is the season, and partly for bookclub today has been a baking kind of day

I made some dutch spice cookies - a bit like speculaas but using cookie cutter shapes instead of the traditional moulds which of course I don't have



they made the whole house smell heavenly - all spicy and cinnamony


three cheers for imports from Kenya, I have been able to make my traditional mince pies (ready made pastry and a jar!)

Random pictures

Just two things we came across.