Yule 2021

Yule 2021

We ubered to St. Pancras, and the Marylebone traffic was virtually standstill, but we made it. And my stick was miraculous. We were escorted personally through all the checks and controls. I may never travel again without the crutch. From the Eurostar train station, I phoned Liz Green just before we boarded. She is much better and sounded well.

But after not having been to the Amsterdam house for nearly three years, it has been an exhausting experience getting things at least marginally back together, Virtually, I had to purchase replacement light bulbs for the entire house. The sobering realisation has been that we are now too old to maintain and do the necessary work involved with a house this size. On

top of all, the bureaucracy has been nightmarish. We have gone back and forth in pursuit of updated or replacement Chip cards for the trams. And going to the IND office to collect our residence cards, we went instead to the end of the line where we remembered (correctly or not) that being where the office was. But at least we were only five minutes late for our appointment but learned once there that our cards themselves were in Zwolle. A letter was to be written to have them resent to Amsterdam after which we were to be informed and could then come to collect them. Richard received a letter from IND just as The Netherlands went into a total lockdown. Apparently, my card is still in Zwolle. And one of the main reasons for our coming to Amsterdam at this point was for our verblijfsvergunning cards, and now we

cannot secure them.

We had arrived in NL on a Wednesday and in the evening of our unsuccessful visit to IND (Friday) we went to Stephan and Koen’s for a splendid dinner with them and Michael and Maxim. Just as we reached our house after walking home, Richard somehow vanished. Yelling for him, there was no response. I went inside and did some email and then descended again to resume my search and found Richard sitting on the steps in front of the door of the house. He has no memory of any of this.

On the evening of the Agonium sacred to the Sol Indiges and the start of the Roman yuletide, Kostas, Marta and Alan came up from the ground floor apartment. We explained to them about the looming necessity for us to sell the house, but they let us know that Marta’s second child is due on the first of March and that she plans to move to Spain three months later – with Kostas going back and forth until the end of 2022 when he will move

permanently to Spain.

The next day was a Soteria, this time on Samuel Johnson’s Rasselas. This led into a questioning of what is happiness. On the Ides, Marie-Laura from Paris and Meg from Stratford on Avon both arrived, and the next day both Nancy from Colorado and Drew (the other reason for coming to A’dam) from New York arrived as well. Later that day, we went to De Kas not for an evening meal which already was no longer possible (restaurants and pubs closing at 17:00) but for a 15:00 afternoon repast for what almost everyone said afterwards was the best meal in their lives. All in all, De Kas was a complete highlight, with delicious food and a wonderful group. In addition, we enjoyed a most scrumptious waiter. We all had negroni though Nancy did not like it much and did not have a second. I had broken my glasses just as we were arriving but bought replacement glasses at Oorbeek when we got back. That evening, we had a perfect time of snacks and Coal Ila Moch.

On the Consualia, we buried the old year, and both Marie-Laure and Meg departed in the evening after having had some space cake. Drew made a delicious tomato ravioli for dinner and then suggested that he prepare a kabeljouw (cod) dinner the following evening for which we invited Stephan & Koen and Michael & Maxim. The cuisine was superb.

The Croque Madame sandwiches with egg on top was Drew’s delicious preparation for our Saturnalian meal on the 17th. We had begun with martinis, and after dinner the four of us walked to the Red Light district and back – being amazed over how quiet and empty the city was. The next day (Saturday) we finally got to the Nieuwemarkt farmers’ market, and that

evening it was Santima, Laura and Jimmy for dinner which began with our smoked salmon from Killorglin and was followed by Drew’s scrumptious lasagne, a cheese course and then with ice cream and chocolates for dessert. Drew departed back to New York very early the next morning.

Richard & I invoked Ops for the Opalia on the Rembrandtsplein. In the afternoon, we Zoomed with Barbara & Patrick. And because of the now full lockdown, my Apple appointment for the next day was cancelled. And with my iPhone not recharging, I am unable to get a replacement battery as well. I began by phone the process of getting the TV to function, and in the afternoon, Richard and I had our appointments with Hans, our physiotherapist. The Divalia and then the Larentalia which concludes the Roman yule followed. For the last, which is also Laura’s birthday, we had a dinner with Laura, Santima, Jimmy and Vicky & Fred. Richard had made a soup; Laura brought sushi; Vicky a salad and some dessert; Santima supplied more dessert. It was a relaxed and comfortable evening

reminiscent to a degree of the old commune days.

And that was our yule for this year. The following morning, the plumbers arrived, but everything is now leaking. Chaos remains on virtually all fronts. But in all, it is still nice to be alive and so very nice to be in love.