Hup Holland Hup!

Never go to Fun, Food and Fashion.  I repeat, never go there, it will destroy your mind.

We had asked the owner of the B&B we were staying at in Amsterdam if there were any good restaurants/cafes/bars in the area and she gave us a few tips, but said that we should give F,F & F a try, but 'the owner is a little mad.'

No, not a little mad, totally insane.  To be fair, he was 75 and slightly forgetful, but Gary Christmas, of the Christmas Twins from New England, think a camp, male Grace Jones duo, was absolutely, delightfully mad.

('What would you like dear?  And what would Harry like?'
'My name's Rob, not Harry.'
'Oh, okay...' 
Five minutes later, after forgetting what we had ordered, again.
'So, what did you order Harry?')

We had ordered a Cappucino (Foam from Rome), an Orange Juice (Juicy Lucy), and two Tuna Sandwiches (Full Moons... don't ask, it's terribly complicated), but in the end we got one Foam from Rome and one Full Moon.  After insulting every person to walk past the window, into the shop or otherwise ('That guy's a real asshole... Oh god he's coming in'), and calling me Harry a few more times, a man walks in, called, I kid you not, 'Mr Scorpio'.  He didn't look like a James Bond villian, but he could have been playing his image down, after all his accent was certainly devillishly foreign and I'm sure he mentioned something about working in the international arms trade....

After a brief interlude of, again, being called Harry,we were thrust a small postcard with a painting of the Christmas twins adorning the front.  Gary signed the card, telling us that it was one of his last and with nary a word in edgeways, we crept out of the door, marvelling at the colourful decor, knitted hats and photos of Gary acting 'crazy'.

Fun, Food and Fashion will make you go blind/crazy/gibbering, but it meant our first morning in Amsterdam was certainly not what we expected.

Amsterdam

I'm off on holiday in the wee small hours of tomorrow morning, and I won't be back until Wednesday night.

Play nice, and see you later.

World Of Warcraft

Okay, I've been playing this recently.  Perhaps a little too much, as I attempted today to try and swim around the continent of Kalimdor.  I started from Auberdine and managed to reach Azshara before I was brutally mauled by some Murloc-alike.  I'm only lvl 29, so I died fairly quickly.  Best part of it was, because I was in Azsharan water I was placed in a graveyard on the far end of the continent, miles from any friendly settlements and flight paths.  I had Cliff Dwellers on one side and huge Satyrs on the other.  Thank god I had my Hearthstone otherwise I would have been more than screwed.

Not dead

Since last we met, I've been fortunate enough to get a new job.  I'm still with Burbidge, but I've been thrown into the position of Supply Chain Manager because someone decided to leave.  Sounds good, but the woman I'm kind of replacing left with absolutely nothing to go to, after spending six months crying everyday before work.  And I still have to do my old job at the same time. 

Go Team Rob, I say. 

The money is a little better, although it is set to shoot up during and after training.  Of course, I'm not starting training until September, my immediate boss is away on Maternity leave, and the only other person who has experience of the job has only been working as an SCM for six months.  I believe 'Flying By The Seat Of One's Pants' just about covers it.

It's not all doom and gloom, I am in a better job, with much better prospects, but I have a feeling the next year or two could be very rocky indeed.