The diary of a Scot in Amsterdam

As mentioned on Saturday, it is all go this week in Enschede. Knowing that I was not going to have much time spare for the next week and a half, I was keen to get as many things done as possible today in Amsterdam. It was a case of rushing about like a mad person on my bicycle running errands, including getting my hair cut, before rushing back and getting packed in time to catch a train at 5.30pm. Pretty much everything managed, though, which was a nice surprise.

Our meeting point was the Villa de Bank close to the middle of Enschede, where as I arrived preparations were still underway for the exhibition. There was dinner laid on in a tent outside, and this combined with huge amounts of wine and my earlier hyperactivity made sure that I was very glad to get bed. Some confusion existed about where exactly that might be, but I was eventually able to find a place at the DAI house. A bed is a bed, after all.

Goodness, less time than ever for writing, but I really must get something down.

We start next week with the next and final stage of Here As the Centre of the World, this time in good old Enschede. Folks who have been involved in the programme from across the world are descending on the town, and to coincide with this there is to be an exhibition at Villa de Bank (an art space) of the work produced up to now, including during our time in Diyarbakir.

All students had been asked to come and help with this, although in my case I couldn’t actually make it to Enschede in person. Instead, I volunteered to help with building some things here in Amsterdam, and so I have been busy over the last few days working on one very large (1m x 70cm) lightbox, and one much smaller one. I love this kind of thing, and it’s certainly a nice change from my normal work and responsibilities, in that it needs a lot less thinking and a lot more working with tools outdoors. I wish actually that I could find a way of doing this for a living, as long as I could still get to make art too!

Here is the completed lightbox, with Machteld next to it by way of a size comparison.

Also this week, a visit from Danny and his pal Johnny. They were over for just a few days, and of course being Scots were as eager as possible to get completely trollied and have a good old swally. I was more than happy to oblige of course.

I picked them up from their very posh hotel on the Prins Hendrikkade on Wednesday night, where the man on the front desk looked like he didn’t even want me in the door, and we went for a few in the Buurvrouw and then later headed out to the Diepte. There didn’t seem to be much doing afterwards, until we heard from a guy who was also in the Diepte that he had a secret bar in the basement of his hotel. We headed over (I’m not saying where it was for obvious reasons) and ended up there ’til about 9am, with a very strange but interesting bunch of transvestites, punks, and other late-night types. Got home about 10.30am and fell asleep, being awakened only by Björn calling me at 5.05pm when I was supposed to start work at 5 o’clock. Oops.

Nothing written on HFTD for more than two weeks – not what I would have wanted. I’ve just been really really busy and unfortunately writing here has just not been a priority, much though I would like it to be. I am still alive, though, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to write something soon!