Foreign Correspondent returns

After an absence of several weeks our foreign correspondent emails the latest .....

Just a quick note to let you know the haps over here of late.

Been a bit of excitment in the last week or so. Sarah managed to write the Corsa off last Wednesday night. Some Chav from the council estate up from where she works lost it going round a corner in the rain and plunged into her head on. Sarah is alright but was a little shaken from it all. Chasis on the car was bent and written off by the assessor pretty quickly. Now we have a free VW Polo for a couple of weeks.

I reckon that we need to buy an Alfa but Sarah seems to want another Corsa. Oh lucky me I get all the good cars to drive!

To celebrate Sarah writing her car off I spent the weekend in Amsterdam and ensured that at various points I too was a write off. I went over with the Sister and Ben. My cousin was meant to come over as well but he had to pass on it after popping his shoulder playing rugby and then getting concussed later on that night after talking to a couple of bouncers. Still got the headaches from it all I understand and probably has learned a valuable lesson.

Amsterdam is a great little city. Heineken Museum I believe is better than the Guiness one, but then its a matter of choice and I am a closet Heineken fan afterall. All the other museums there are pretty good, though on this occassion I did not make it to the Torture and S@x museum. Maybe next time. The canals are wicked and although frowned upon by the locals the canal cruise is a good way to get an idea of how the city is laid out.

True to form I stayed in the cheapest possible accomodation. 17 quid a night buys you a bed of sorts in the dodgiest hostel in the dodgiest part of the red light district. It does come with its own drug addicts for free though! Next time I will not stay in the red light district. Obviously I did not partake in the delights of the working women nor the various live shows. What I can't understand though is the people that say that the working women are attractive.
Would not pay for what I saw that's for real.

The coffeeshops are something else. Once you get out of the town centre they go from being dodgy dives into some of the trendiest cafes I have ever seen. One named Kadinsky in particular is very good. Lovely place light, airy and great hospitality! Of course I tried to get to as many as possible in the short time that I was there. My mission in finding the best ones was made easy by someone I know putting all the good ones down on a map.

The Van Gogh museum is all good as is the R museum. There is a great photography gallery called Foam which rates. Anne Franks house is decent as well. Buy the tickets to that in advance so that you can jump the queue.

Best way to see the city is to rent a bike. It costs next to nothing and stops you from getting blood blisters on the soles of your feet like I did from walking too much.

Well I wrote all that early last week. I did not get a chance to send it as it is so frantic in the office at the moment. Lots of long days and not much sleep due to the stress of it all. Amsterdam is now but a distant memory. At least it is off to Ireland for a weekend in about 3 weeks so that is something to look forward to.

Last weekend I met up with Tim, Andy, Mel and about 20 other kiwis and went to an air show just out of London. A great way to spend a day after watching the All Blacks win the Tri Nations.

Wanted to watch all the All Blacks games over here this year but tickets are too much. All up it is going to cost over 600 quid in tickets alone to see the games. With transport accom and beer money on top it will exceed 2 grand so I may only go to England and Wales games.

It's a bit of saving at the moment as we have just bought our flights home for January. Looks like I will be back for about 3 weeks better be some decent weather. I have already been on the Regional Wines website looking at the price of wine as I intend on getting a bit while back. It's great Church Road equates to about 6 quid a bottle. I spend that on a glass when I go out. I fly in the day before the sister's wedding meaning that I can miss all that boring pre wedding stuff and the arguments. I just hope that I do not snore too loudly in the church as it may echo.

The ashes start today so I will track it on cricinfo through the day. Go England they need to win something as the soccer team lost to Northern Ireland last night. From what I understand it would be like the All Blacks losing to Fiji. The nation is almost in mourning.

Oh well better go and do some work. For all those on Virtual NPC. Watch out I have now started looking at it a bit closer so hopefully I will salvage soem respect by the end of the season.

Catch yas, dont do anything I wouldn't.