A girls' weekend away-ish

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Time for an interlude amongst my Amsterdam posts me thinks. A couple of weeks ago me and my friend D went to stay with our friend A at her house in Essex for the weekend. We (mostly) lucked out with the weather, and had such a great time. I reckon middle aged sleepovers should be more of a thing, haha! We arrived on Friday evening, and early on Saturday morning we went for breakfast at the local farm café, and got supplies (i.e. cakes and dinner ingredients) from the farm shop next door.

A then drove us to Leigh-on Sea, and pretty it was too.

We made our way down towards the beach, and as we were doing so, three ladies half our age decided to run down this stretch which made us feel old, as when you get to a certain age you worry about twisting your ankle, falling over and then having a painful limp for a good few months afterwards. When you’re in your 20’s you don’t have to worry about that sort of thing, because you tend to be able to run and stay upright.

Down by the beach the tide was completely out, but we could still smell the sea.

We walked eastwards towards Westcliff-on-Sea, and I realise now how different the walk would’ve been had the tide been in, but it was still enjoyable. To the left, behind the fence were railway tracks

and on the other side of those these houses caught my eye, and this spacey one the most.

The cute view from the bench we rested our middle aged legs on.

This view made me think of Leon Spilliaerts’ sea side paintings.

Lunch was a bag of chips, and A recommended that we put more salt on than we normally would, and make sure we got some on the bottom of the bag. D mentioned hers being too salty, and seeing how much she poured in, in this picture, I AM NOT SURPRISED.

After lunch we ducked into the Leigh Heritage Centre where we had a nosey in the replicated fisherman’s cottage from 1850. I wonder if people in the future will fawn over our household items like we did here, or will most of it have disintegrated as they’re mainly mass-produced crap made of plastic, with planned obsolescence?

Back on the street we heard these guys way before we saw them, wondering “Is that people singing or someone playing it really loud?”, before we saw where the singing came from. Turns out it was these guys, singing sea shanties, while swigging ale. How very very English.

Driving back to A’s I thoroughly enjoyed being the passenger.

Joey was waiting for us when we got back, A’s sweet old fella. As a gentleman aged 14 he’s not up for long walks or days out anymore. A said I wouldn’t manage to get a shot of him as he always turns his head just as your about to, but he’s obviously never met anyone with a trigger finger like mine.

Time for the cakes we bought in the morning. And yes, I will never become a food stylist, unless you find this look appetising and if so - I’m your gal.

At one point A got out this giant jar of matches that her parents had collected from their travels decades ago.

We decided that we would all pull a random box out, and that we would have to travel to those places one day. Mine came from a hotel in Bandung, Indonesia, D got one from Hawaii, and I think A’s was also from Indonesia. Does already having been to Bali count as having gone? I don’t know about you, but I feel funny about flying long haul in the future. I reckon I’ll only allow myself about two more in my life time. It just doesn’t feel right.

In the mean time I appreciated how much “my” box matched my and D’s jumpers.

Ever wondered what would a matchbox from a Playboy Club in the 70’s looks like?

Well, ahem, a bit like this.

D, crashing from the cakes and the day out. Time to watch some telly.

We started watching Couples Therapy, and binged through six episodes in one sitting. We kept cursing at Mau, the husband in this couple. The show films couples as they have therapy in real life, and why you would want to air your problems is beyond me, but of course it makes for compelling telly, just like Esther Perel’s podcast “Where should we begin?” has been a fascinating listen for the past few years.

Halfway through our marathon CT session A made some fresh pesto and bloody delicious it was too. It even qualified for a picture which, if you have been reading the blog for the past decade and a bit, realise is quite something. I can’t say that I still see people take pictures of their food with the same dedication as they did pre-Covid, but I did watch a girl posing for a selfie in her car for a few minutes outside my window yesterday, taking a pic, checking it, rearranging her hair/pout and re-taking the picture on a loop. I was hoping that we’d moved on from that, considering where we are in the world right now, but hey, if it makes you happy, keep doing it (but does it though, DOES IT?!!). I'm not judging (but I am, I AM).

Hey Joey! Caught you again - hehe. Sunday morning, and time for coffee

and breakfast. Mmmm, white toast. What a treat.

We had planned to go out for a walk before it was time for me and D to head back home, but the weather took a turn, so we played Sussed which I’d brought with me instead, which was, as always, really good fun. Have you ever played it? The premise is this; you read out a question with three possible answers, and the other players have to guess which one you’d answer. Like “Do I think strangers should chat more to each other on public transport? A. Yes, a lot more/ B. Yes, in some cases/ C. No, it should stay as it is now. As it happened we three knew each other really well, and scored accordingly, but the best thing about the game are the conversations you end up having. I’ve played it with kids who are usually quiet in adult company, and seen them actively take part in the conversation, and the arguing that can ensue when you disagree with what someone says about themselves is very entertaining. A nice way to round of a perfect weekend! If you haven’t done a grown up sleepover in a while and you can, put one in the diary sooner than soon (and kid-free is obviously better). We were all buzzing from having been able to spend so much unhurried time together, and it showed that you really don’t have to go somewhere far for some quality time with your best people, you just need longer than a brunch/lunch/dinner/day.

In Betondorp

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Looking through the architecture section in my Monocle Amsterdam guide before we left London, I found a little section about Betondorp (Concrete City). Oomoo walked past and saw a photo of the clocktower above, stopped in his tracks and asked if we could go and check it out. I was so excited that he found it interesting, and on one of the days when my friend Z was working, we made our own way there. Google Maps sent on us on a hilarious round the houses (haha) way to get to there, with an added stop at the Tropenmuseum on the way (pix from there in another post). Z was already sceptical when I’d showed her the route, but it didn’t deter me from giving it a try. It turned out to be an insane route, through what felt like the middle of nowhere in places, but it showed me and O parts of Amsterdam we would never have seen otherwise. In fact that bike ride is one of my funniest memories from our whole trip. So how did Oomoo react when we finally got there? “Is that it?!”. As in, “Muuuum, you made cycle all that way here for… that?!” I felt so bad for him. I agree, it was a bit underwhelming, but I was so curious to see it with my own eyes.

Betondorp is a garden city that was built in the 1920’s as a way of solving a housing shortage in Amsterdam, and a way of trying out a different way of building houses quickly, using concrete as it was a cheap material. Half of the neighbourhood was built in traditional brick, but as bricks were also short in supply, the other half was built using concrete, in nine new different styles of houses.

The architecture is mixed, and the neighbourhood very quiet. As if modern life has some how passed it by.

Oomoo had totally zoned out by this point, so I had to do my architecture walk quite quickly. I felt too shy to have a proper nosy along this row of houses.

Can you see him in his red beanie? He stayed in the main square

where he almost passed out from boredom, inside a, eh, rabbit?

So, as you can see, I was on borrowed time. I think I had about 10 mins to get a feel for the place.

I really liked the different style and colours of the doors.

See what I mean?

As well as spotting little signs of the the personality of the inhabitants - in unexpected places.

Did some birdwatching too.

A detail from the town hall. Such a great font! And I love the zig zag brickwork.

And the sign of the library.

I would have loved to have stuck my head in there to see what those windows, including the stained glass ones, looked like from the inside.

Betondorp’s most famous inhabitant was Johan Cruyff, one of the world’s most famous and influential footballers, and this is the house he grew up in. As a kid he could be found in the same square that Oomoo almost fell asleep in, always kicking a ball. I made sure we found the house so I could send a picture from there to one of our friends back in the UK, who’s a big Cruyff fan. Oomoo isn’t into football, but by this time we were back on our bikes, getting ready to cross the city (this time going a more central and normal route), him happy that we were leaving, and me happy that we got to see this little ‘hood. You can watch a zany little YouTube guide/film about it here. If you want to see what some of the houses and flats look like on the inside you can peruse some for sale here. I think they look really rather nice, even the one that’s a wreck. So much light! Have a good weekend alles.

Solo walk

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Let’s go for a little architecture walk in the Jordaan neighbourhood of Amsterdam, shall we? I’m sure you’ll like it. I found myself with a couple of hours spare one afternoon, as Z was at a meeting and Oomoo did a work experience shift at L’s deli shop (he did really well and really enjoyed it. I was so proud of him and he seemed to have matured a few years in just two hours). So, I used my trusty Monocle Amsterdam guide to see what it recommended. Seeing as I was only about a five minute walk away I went to check out the 17th century Karthuizerhojfe (hofje - courtyard) almshouses on Karthuizerstraat. It was originally built as charitable housing for elderly widows, and is now residential. I was lucky enough to be there by my own, and stood there for a while just taking the quiet in.

It felt so apart from the rest of the neighbourhood, and I thought how awesome it would be to live there if you got on with your neighbours, and maybe how less awesome it would be if you didn’t.

This is the street side of the courtyard. I like how the residents make the most of the tiny spaces they have by their front doors.

See what I mean?

You can just picture yourself with a cup of tea and the paper on one of those benches couldn’t you? I don’t think you could do that here going by the chat on my local Nextdoor app. People seem to have their plant pots and anything that isn’t chained down stolen from their front gardens.

Anyway, time to keep walking. Have you ever seen a letter box in stairs before? I sure haven’t. It says ‘The Holiday Cyclist’ and there was a bike shop right next to the stairs, so I guess that kind of explains it… I’m pretty sure it had a door though, so I have no idea why this has come about.

Hoi little doggie. Fiiiiine, don’t look at me.

One of the many many many many many canals. I was texting my friend D back in London, sending her pictures as I was walking along, which she thoroughly enjoyed seeing as she was my architectural walk partner in the lockdowns. She’ll be able to see it all for herself when we go there in May - yay!

This doesn't look like much I guess, especially the shorter grey building on the right, but it was the one that caught my eye. In real life it looked incredibly cosy.

And old bank building which I think has been converted into flats. I couldn’t quite make it out standing and looking at it with a canal between me and it.

Dutch (or at least Amsterdam houses) are usually quite narrow, and as a result the inside stairs are equally so, as well as ridiculously steep. In one Airb’n’b we stayed in years ago the stairs were so much so that you practically had to crawl up them on all fours. Winching your furniture through the windows is the only way to get them in, so most buildings have hooks so you can set up a rope and get your winching on - like here.

Nice bit of randomness above my head.

Amazing bit of brick work above my head.

I don’t think I’ll ever tire of Dutch architecture, new or old. It’s just so different and beautifully done. Even the new builds look stunning, and not like the soulless glass buildings that keep popping up here. British architecture was great up until the Victorian era, but something went very wrong there. It just got really bland. Sure, there are some great buildings from the past 100 years, but as a whole something is aesthetically amiss.

This row of plants - YES! Nicely done.

The bricks are so nice, aren’t they? And the little coloured glass panes in the windows of the left hand building? And the lettering on the right hand building? It’s so funny to now be able to read it and know what it says (it was a life insurance office in a former life).

Hoi little cat. Fiiiiine, don’t you look at me neither.

And finally, it was time to pick Oomoo up from work. I’m pretty sure he’ll be taking up a summer job here once he’s old enough (and lucky boy now also has a Swedish passport so it’s actually an option). I hope he won’t mind if I tag along too.