Category Archives: lifestyle

Give us this Day our Daily Exercise

Posted on April 9, 2020 by

In these troubled times when the Corona virus is dominating our lives and restricting our freedom, it can be a challenge to find a secluded place to exercise if you live in a city like Amsterdam. Finding quiet places is … Continue reading →

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First House-sit of the Year

Posted on March 24, 2020 by

Unless you are a Buddha living under a tree you will have noticed we are in the grip of a pandemic which has severely restricted our freedom of movement. It now seems like some distant dream when we could move … Continue reading →

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Central Library, Oosterdok – The Jewel in Amsterdam’s Crown

Posted on February 4, 2020 by

OBA which stands for Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam boasts in total 26 branch libraries, 177,000 members and has 1.3 million books, CDs and DVDs in its collection. Amsterdam Central Library, Oosterdok is one of my favourite places in the city. The … Continue reading →

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Balloon Flight over the Chateau

Posted on October 2, 2019 by

Frank and I celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary in September. On our ninth house-sit of this year we decided to book a balloon flight. Paying for our accommodation in kind (offering pet care) means we free up cash which can … Continue reading →

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All Good Things…

Posted on July 23, 2019 by

After two months of house-sitting it is sadly almost time to go home again. We’ve travelled through Hertfordshire, Nottinghamshire, East Riding of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Leicestershire and spent the last two weeks in the smallest county in England, Rutland. … Continue reading →

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Llamas, Outrageous Wealth and The Black Death

Posted on June 7, 2019 by

It’s a first! pet-sitting llamas in deepest Peru, I mean deepest Hertfordshire. Continue reading →

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Is it OK to trample on the tulips, in pursuit of the ultimate selfie?

Posted on April 25, 2019 by

We live in an era of narcissism fuelled by sites such as Facebook and Instagram. Many people post images of themselves amongst the tulip fields surrounding the famous spring gardens, de Keukenhof and this often involves traipsing through and destroying … Continue reading →

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Creative Hub – De Ceuvel in #Amsterdam

Posted on March 5, 2019 by

Sorry for the radio silence, dear followers! I have been doing a turbo-boost fiction course which I blogged about for Writers Abroad here. That took up my writing energy for a bit. Clichéd Vision The new series on BBC1, Sunday … Continue reading →

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Silence: an elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow

Posted on January 22, 2019 by

Noise, it’s everywhere, isn’t it? Loud machines and vehicles are associated with importance and personal status. It’s even infiltrated our language. The idiom; he/she’s a big noise means someone is an important person. Fire Alarm set too loud Even if … Continue reading →

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