The diary of a Scot in Amsterdam

I have been back in Scotland for the last week due to my grandparents’ anniversary celebrations at the weekend. Since Catriona is also over from Spain it is the first time in quite a while that the whole family has been at home together under one roof. Just like old times, except perhaps with less bickering – but then the knowledge that I am going home today probably helped with that…

Most families, when they have a day out or whatever together, would (I imagine) choose to go to the cinema or fishing or whatever it is that people do with themselves. Not ours, however. My parents had heard that there is currently an experimental hovercraft service across the Forth between Portobello and Kirkaldy (for non-Scottish types it’s pronounced “Kirkawdie”). My dad in particular was very excited about this, bless his heart, and so we decided to make a wee trip with the air-powered beast over to Fife and back. Since I have been working in the RSTO office all week and needed to be back in Leith by 9.30am, this could only be done with the first crossing of the day. This in turn meant getting up just after six in the morning, but dispite this and the pouring rain this morning I would say that it was worth it; it is a magnificent machine and fairly speeds across the sea. I felt pretty embarrassed when Mum told the guy that we would not even be getting off the boat at the other end but would be coming straight back, but then again the question should be perhaps “Why not?”.

I remember hearing once that the Duke of Wellington or some other Victorian toff thought the invention of the railway a rather pointless occurrence because it would only encourage the poorer classes to make needless journeys around the countryside for the sake of it. I suppose then that we are, almost two centuries later, living justification of his aristocratic fears.

This silliness over, we had some delicious breakfast in Leith paid for out of the parental wallet. A fine way to end my stay in the homeland.

I am in Scotland this week, mainly because of the occasion of my Grandparents (my Mum’s folks) having been married for sixty years. That’s a bloody long time I would say, and their intention was to celebrate with a party for the whole family at a posh hotel in the countryside.

If the truth be told I am not so very good at this sort of occasion; that is to say, talking to distant relatives whom I have not seen for years and who insist on asking the same idiotic questions and remarking on how tall I am. This makes me very self-conscious and nervous, for some reason, and I do think that it’s quite a weird thing to have pointed out. You wouldn’t say “Gosh, aren’t you fat?”, or “My, I do think you’re uglier every time I see you!”, so why is it acceptable to stand with your mouth wide open gasping at people’s tallness?

I know, I should be grateful that I am not short or deformed or disfigured or otherwise disadvantaged, and that being tall is something many people are quite jealous of, but still it gets to me a little bit.

Anyhow, the old dears seemed to enjoy the celebrations very much, and Grandpa made a good speach as always (and so did my Mum!). On a sadder note, though, I would guess this will be one of the last of such occasions for them; they are both not far off ninety.

Mum had found an album of their wedding photos from 1947, and I have to admit that people dressed much better then. Grandpa looked really handsome in his R.A.F. uniform, as did the ladies and in fact everyone. What I was really interesting though was a photo I had never seen of all four of my great-grandparents on my Mum’s side. I’m not much into nostalgia but it was lovely to see some of my own kin, all dead long before I was, as is said, “a twinkle in my Daddy’s eye”.

As expected, it is only now that I am able to sit down and write about my week as an art accessory in Münster. Unfortunately, I lost my camera on the last evening before I left, so no photos, but the good news is that someone has handed it in and I should have it back next week; update 16-08-2007 – it wasn’t a week but in fact about a month, but now we have photos!

So, where do I begin? I don’t usually have to write so much in one post. I suppose the journey would be a good start, which was it must be said not ideal. Works on the railway line meant that what should have been two train journeys became three and a bus ride, and it was not until the late afternoon of last Sunday (8th) that I finally arrived at the Schlossgarten, where the project is taking place.

The whole scene was quite overwhelming, with a large crowd of people gathered to hear the lecture being given in the big tent, and a little village of tents, vegetables growing, children crawling around, and people cycling by. It really took most of the rest of the afternoon to get my bearings, by which time Maria had introduced me to the practical business of what we were to be doing over the week. During this time the other members of my group arrived – Piotr from Poland, and Ida, Simone, and Esther from Breda.

What we were basically to do was to inhabit the area around the big tent for one week, being part of the “Beautiful City”. This was to be a city of ideas and dreams, rather than one of bricks and plaster. What this meant in practical terms was that we needed to be there pretty much all the time, keep it clean, and be friendly and helpful people. This was without a great deal of knowledge of German between us, and my standard answer when asked questions was “Wir sind die Kunst” (we are the art)…

I had planned to take it easy during this week, but I do always find this quite difficult. This became apparent when we went wandering and found some old bicycles and some folding lecture hall benches behind some nearby university buildings; I could not leave them alone. I got the idea into my head that they needed to be built into something, and the fact that we had been supplied with tools made the prospect irresistable.

So it was then that I spent the next four days constructing a kind of rickshaw, that it with two seats and two wheels at the front, and one person and one wheel at the back. It actually works; pictures when I get my camera back; update 16-08-2007 – I have my camera back. Thankyou Jolanda, Nikos, and everyone!

Aside from that, it turned out to be a lovely week of of cooking and eating outside, meeting some interesting and also some quite strange people, and generally being able to forget about work and studying and such things. The time passed very quickly, and when it came round to Sunday and the need to go back to Amsterdam, I was really not in the mood at all.

So, a fantastic time. And I got a wee tan!

This may be the last post for the next week or so, since I am travelling to Münster, Germany later this morning to take part in the Beautiful City project being organised by Maria Pask (you can see my picture on the website somewhere here). This will basically involve living for eight days or so in a tent in the middle of a park, being almost “accessories” to the action which is to take place there, namely a series of lectures and discussions about religion, its relevance, and how adherents to various and others can best communicate. What I am most interested in at least is a bit of simple living, and perhaps even the chance to relax a bit. Here’s hoping!

Well, it has finally come; 365 days on the counter on the left of this page, one whole year living in the Netherlands. What can I say? It has certainly be eventful, both in bad ways and good, but overall I would say that has been a fantastic experience. Will I still be here in another year’s time? I don’t see why not. It is not so very far across the sea from Scotland, but the experience of living somewhere else has been fantastic, and I do feel a lot older and wiser than when I stepped onto the plane at Prestwick one year ago today. Here’s to the future!

Some unfortunate timing meant that just three days after finishing with HATCOTW Enschede, we needed to be back at the DAI today for the first of three days of end-of-year Assessments – scary.

I myself had to present on the first day (that is, today), and so I have been very busy over the weekend working out what I need to do to make sense of my work and my research, firstly for myself and then in a way that I could explain clearly and concisely to others. This has not been easy, and as a result I didn’t get to sleep ’til 2am last night despite needing to be up before 6am today to get an early train to Enschede in time to take some photos in my studio.

An unpleasant surprise when I got to the bus stop opposite the entrance to the university this morning was that someone had let the air out of the tyres of my bike – I had only left on Thursday evening and hoped it would be safe for a few days. I was wrong. Sometimes the worst things are the ones that you just can’t understand, and this kind of pointless distructiveness is just beyond me.

My presentation went reasonably OK, though not outstanding. I do worry sometimes that my epitaph will be these last five words…

What particularly upset me was that one of the visiting assessors questioned whether some of what I was doing was either design or art; this is not the first time this has been asked of me. My background is indeed in design, but while I am in a masters programme at an art academy I would like at least to be able to think that I was capable of making something now and then that could be called “art”. Thinking about it later, though, it occurs to me that this kind of distinction is in fact quite artificial, and one that I could perhaps do well not to think about too much.

That’s it, then, ’til September as far as the DAI is concerned (exept a wee “performance” that myself and Bani will do over our project in Beetsterzwaag). A strange thought, actually. But a welcome chance to relax a bit!