The eagle has landed

Here I am: back in Amsterdam! It has been a long couple of days. On Saturday I went to meet my mother in Dover to drive to London together. It actually took me leaving the UK to travel beyond the confines of the M25 [with slight exceptions for trips to Oxford and Cambridge]. Sunday was a particularly long day. My London apartment was situated on the third floor and unfortunately did not come with a lift so we had to carry all those boxes down those 60-something steps. With a fully loaded car we then spent about 9,5 hours on the road, travelling all the way back to the Netherlands. Three cheers for my brave mother for doing all this for me: hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!!

I was quite anxious to see my apartment again and to see how it had weathered out the storms of 2 years of tenancy. It turned out to be more Gustav than Katrina. There is no major damage of any kind, just the usual wear and tear that comes with habitation. Two years of alien occupation have, however, left their fair share of grease and grime everywhere. For the last two days we have been working on giving the place the deep clean it desperately needs, removing the mould from the fridge, busting the grime from the shower tiles and vacuuming up the smelly cigarette buds behind the bed. Slowly but steadily the place I know and love is starting to shimmer through again.

Not all my boxes are unpacked yet. In fact, not all boxes are retrieved from storage yet. Since I will be working from home for the next few months I intend to convert the guest room into a proper study (though guests will still be welcome and need not worry about having to sleep on the floor!). This means some serious reshuffling of furniture; moving the desk, shelves and bookcases around. As soon as that is done I will collect and unpack the rest of my stuff and will well and truly put my house in order. My only slight concern at this point? That I may have to do all this again in a few months time... sorry mum!