Goodbye Chelsea, Hello Kensington

After four years, I'm sadly having to say goodbye to Chelsea. My landlady here in London is selling up. The good news is that she's letting me come with her, and rent a room in her new home in Kensington. But the bad news is, I'm going to be worse off in almost every way. It's going to be noiser, further away from work, and I'll be losing my en suite bathroom.

Still, I shouldn't complain. It's arguably a better neighborhood, and to live there for what she is charging me is fantastic. I try to look on the bright side, but as you know, I'm not very good at it.

Amsterdam 24 Years Later

This past weekend, Jen and I went down to Middelburg to see the family. I've got this week off, so it was nice to get away, even if it was just for a few days. On Sunday, we walked around Middelburg town centre, and I realised that despite going there since I was born, there are so many parts of the town I haven't yet seen!

On the way back, we stopped by Amsterdam for a night. The last time I spent any amount of time in Amsterdam was in November '93. I have to admit, the walk from the train station to Dam Square is not the nicest introduction to a city. It did leave a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, but once we got to our hotel, and began to explore the canals, it was lovely. We found lots of little bookshops, and canalside cafes. It's great to see that most of the building seem to be free from soot and pollution, unlike London and New York.

What was a particular highlight for me was the way we travelled back to the airport. We were going to take the train, but the hotel concierge kept telling us they could get a taxi. I noticed that many taxis in Amsterdam were Tesla electric cars, so I asked if we could have one of them. Initially, they said no, but one young man sorted it out for us, and we got a very luxurious ride to the airport in the back of a Tesla Model X. Very cool!