It’s new
year’s day, half three in the afternoon, and the last day of my 12-day holiday
is coming to an end. I can happily conclude that this break away from working
life was a definite success, with all the ingredients I needed to ‘fill the
well’, as Dana would say. I feel energised to start working again tomorrow and
make January a productive first month of 2014. Given the prospects, I will need
this vibe!
Leaving
work Friday the 21st I celebrated the beginning of the holiday break
by having a Guiness with Bo and two of her colleagues at Dublin airport before
boarding our delayed flight to Amsterdam. A train ride home, a few hours of
sleep, and off we went by car on a 11-hour journey to the south of France where
we commenced a week of pure relaxation. Hiking in the mountains, reading stacks
of books, eating, drinking, the occasional run to counterbalance it all, and
another 10 hours back in the car to get to the Netherlands again summarises
pretty well what I have been up to over Christmas. Back home I utilised the
three days I had left in the Netherlands by visiting some good old friends in
Utrecht. Sunday night Stefan and Koen had set up an entertaining programme
which featured a game of bowling, followed by some decent cooking at Stefan’s
place and the resulting tasty dinner. It goes without mentioning that the bowl
was emptied down to the last bite, as the influence these lads have on my
appetite hasn’t shrunk over time. The next day featured an extensive lunch with
Bob, Alex, Minke, Iris and Manon, which was –no surprise- concluded in a pub
Alex had recently discovered. Before I met David and his bird for dinner I had
an hour to purchase a decent pair of leather shoes (impossible to find in
Dublin) which wasn’t much of a challenge in Utrecht. The Chinese restaurant
David had picked was a winner, as were the beers in Oliver where we finished our
evening. Happy to have seen so many of my friends in such a short time span I
took the train back home, only to wake up the next morning with the prospects
of the ‘oudejaarspot’ with my high school-era buddies. This tradition features
a game of football on the last day of the year, and although I have had to miss
out on most of the previous ones I was happily welcomed to join in. That night
I witnessed 2013 make way for 2014 in the company of Koen and his family at his
parents’ place, along with various family and friends of his that I have known
since my first year in high school. Familiar faces and new stories meant a
decent start of the new year!
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