Slow Food, Courtyards and Magic Carpets

Posted on September 18, 2012 by ASWilliams

Last week, I spent an afternoon in my hometown. Yes, I did! Starting off with lunch at  Gartine, a small restaurant that specialises in mouth-watering, organic food and serves lunch, cakes, and high tea using home-grown ingredients from the proprietors’ kitchen garden and orchard in the Beemster. Gartine is in the Taksteeg, an alleyway between Kalverstraat and the Rokin. Exceedingly popular amongst those in the know, and with only about twenty covers, I definitely recommend reserving for lunch during the week and anytime during the weekend.

A short stroll away is the secluded courtyard, the Begijnhof. Arriving here from the brash commerciality of the Kalverstraat, it’s as if one has slipped through the back of C. S. Lewis’s wardrobe into an ancient and quite different place. This enclosed former convent dates from the early 14th century. Away from the hustle and bustle, it exudes peace, with miniature houses and beautifully manicured gardens encircling a luscious green courtyard. The Beguines were a Catholic order of unmarried or widowed women who cared for the elderly and lived a religious life without taking monastic vows. The last true Beguines died in the 1970s. Contained within the courtyard is the enchanting Begijnhof Kapel, a clandestine chapel where the Beguines were forced to worship after their former Gothic church was taken away by the Calvinists.

The other church in the Begijnhof is the Engelse Kerk (English Church), built around 1392 which still serves as the city’s Presbyterian church. I confess to only visiting this beautifully austere church once a year, on St David’s Day when the church is filled with the heady scent of daffodils and the wonderful Rachel Ann Morgan plays harp and accompanies other artistes celebrating Wales’s musical heritage.

Reluctant to leave Narnia just yet, I walked through the nearby, Schuttersgalerij, which is a long corridor that forms part of the Amsterdam History Museum. Exhibited there for six months, is a 40 metres long carpet by textile artist, Barbara Broekman. The carpet celebrates the diversity of nationalities that live in Amsterdam. The artist chose a signature textile design from each country represented and put them together in a patchwork design that is an eye-watering explosion of colour and pattern. Broekman fully exploits the metaphor of woven textile, merging disparate pieces into one abundant and cohesive whole. A symbol of cultures merging together, but at the same time each one retaining its own unique heritage and richness.

Full of good food, my spirit nourished and senses uplifted, I cycled back home thinking how lucky I am to live in a city that has so many hidden gems.

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I’m Not Kidding!

Posted on September 7, 2012 by ASWilliams

I’ve never been very vocal about my decision not to have children but I thought perhaps it’s time to come clean. Neither the hub or I have ever had a baby wish. I grew up on a farm and was exposed at a tender age to animals giving birth and the whole reproductive thing was bloody, messy and scary. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the lambs when they were fluffy and gambolling around and I could give them the bottle. Just that whole birthing bit and hands up you-know-where, I didn’t care for.

Au Pair Experience from Hell
In my twenties, on a youthful whim, I decided to broaden my horizons and become an au pair for a Spanish family one summer. I spoke only broken Spanish and was often left in charge of a little boy, aged four whom I couldn’t communicate with and whose idea of fun was torturing the family chickens by pinning their wings to the grounds with bricks. In the evening he used to cycle around the dining table, squeaking over the wooden floor while his parents and I ate in silence. It was like a scene from a Luis Bunuel film. Remember Damien in The Omen? Well, little Pxxx bore him an astonishing resemblance. Every morning he lunged at me with his breakfast knife and fork and even ambushed me in the garden, whacking my legs with a fishing rod! The little tyke. If I forgot to lock my bedroom at night he would come into my bedroom and ransack my cupboards. He even found my contraceptive pills once, strewing them all over my room with disdain, as if they offended his nascent Catholic sensibilities. I was 21 and the thought of being permanently lumbered with a kid like that was frankly, horrific. Despite the fact that the family did their best to make me feel at home, I was overjoyed when term started and I could get back to doing weird stuff at art college in London.

Regrets, I’ve had a few…
Very occasionally I do feel a pang of regret. Only today coming home on the metro there was a darling little girl with blonde curls. Her mother really engaged with her physically and emotionally and I sensed the strong bond. Something that I’ve missed out on. Much of the time though I see parents treating their children as annoying encumbrances and kids adopting extreme behaviour to get mummy and daddy’s attention. We have neighbours just across the garden from our flat. They have two kids who frequently row with each other. These fights often reach ear-busting crescendoes. The parents’ energies are totally consumed by their domestic chores and policing the kids’ outbursts. Hand on heart, I can honestly tell you I have never, but then never ever, seen either mother or father smile or laugh once. So if I do ever get regrets all I have to do is go out on the balcony and take a look at how it could have been…

There, I’ve said it and now you know!

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Top Picks in Prague

Posted on August 31, 2012 by ASWilliams

On Tuesday I got back from a week in the enchanting city of Prague. We stayed in an apartment I found via Airbnb. It was total luxury, with marble bathroom, sauna, designer kitchen and contemporary artworks, take a peek and drool with apartment envy! This kind of accommodation in a hotel would easily cost around 350 euros per night, well outside our budget, but because we are Airbnb hosts we got it for a knockdown price.

I would love to share a few of things we did with you, so here’s my idiosyncratic list of things to see and do in Prague;

  1.  Charles Bridge – go early or at dusk to avoid crowds.
  2. Prague Castle – Tram 22 takes you up the steep hill to the castle. Have lunch or cakes at Lobkowicz Palace Cafe on your way back down the hill.
  3. Look out for David Cerny’s eccentric artworks around town. My favourite is the upside-down King Wenceslas’s horse in Lucerna Passage.
  4. Don’t expect snow and carolling children on Wenceslas Square, you’ll be disappointed. You will see all the ubiquitous global chains however.
  5. To recover from Wenceslas Square get a spiritual fix and cool down in the church of Our Lady of the Snow, and the tranquil FranciscanGardens next to it.
  6. Buy a Kafka novel at the Globe Bookstore/café in Nové Město, vibrant meeting place for expats. Afterwards follow the oriental aromas and have a Thai at the Lemon Leaf restaurant just up the road.
  7. Take tram 14 to National Gallery – Veletržní palace; huge, ocean-liner like museum with paintings by major 20th century artists: Klimt, Picasso, Miro, Lautrec, Degas, Rousseau, Monet, Munch, Matisse, Grosz, Ernst, etc and lesser-known Czech artists. Art of this calibre in Paris or London would mean elbowing your way through hordes of tourists. In Prague we had the museum practically to ourselves. Don’t miss the awe-inspiring Slav Epic, Art Noveau founder, Alfons Mucha’s life’s work.
  8. After National Gallery, go to nearby Stromovka park and enjoy the outdoor pub and view of the lakes.
  9. Try the black beer that according to other half tastes great and is very cheap! Looks like Guinness but lighter taste.
  10. Avoid buying anything near Old Town Square. Prices are very inflated and you get better quality items outside this area.
  11. Wear very comfortable shoes for sightseeing. Cobbled streets can be hard going and it certainly isn’t advisable to break in new shoes or wear heels of any kind.
  12. Take an evening stroll along River Vltava. There are bars and musicians aplenty and for romantic atmosphere it rivals the River Seine.
  13. Stumble upon and buy a DVD of ‘Three Gifts for Cinderella.’ Any Brit who grew up in the seventies and watched BBC’s ‘Tales from Europe,’ will remember this magical Czech/East German production. Popelku rides a white horse, hunts and dresses up as a boy and outwits her future husband: Walt Disney’s Cinders she ain’t! The music score alone is enough to make me tear up with nostalgia…

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Shortlisted in Mslexia Poetry Competition

Posted on August 21, 2012 by ASWilliams

Got some wonderful news in the post on Friday. My poem, The Lamb, was shortlisted in the Mslexia poetry competition! This is a very prestigious competition and I was thrilled to make the top 100 out of thousands and thousands of entries.

The judge, 
Gillian Clarke, said that though she has judged most major poetry competitions ‘this time reaching a decision was more difficult than usual because the standard was extraordinarily high.’ For those of you not familiar with the procedures of writing competitions, the judge is only asked to read and select from shortlisted poems, all of which are presented without the authors’ names.

Ty Newydd, Writers Centre
I had the pleasure of meeting Welsh poet, Gillian Clarke at Ty Newydd writing centre in North Wales some years ago. She taught a poetry and sculpture course there with sculptor, Meic Watts. I had group and one-on-one sessions with her and learned so much about paring down words, using all the senses, dispensing with functional words and discovering my unique voice.

Unique Location
It’s such an inspirational place on the North Wales coast and the two courses I followed there were blessed with fantastic weather. One of our assignments was to create sculptures from natural materials, and some of the wonderful creations are shown below. I made the forest washing line, spiral of flowers and driftwood mask sculpture. Friend and poet, Sue Chadd made the stone fish. Unfortunately, I didn’t keep a record of the names of the creators of the other artworks but their talent is self-evident. Pedantic rules regarding publishing work on personal blogs prevent me sharing the shortlisted poem with you but here’s another poem, Called to Earth, which I wrote at Ty Newydd to accompany the flower spirals.

Called to Earth

Footprints in blood, an Indian wedding.

The rosy red that spirals into white.

Sap that rises and ebbs again.

Flowers bathed in morning dew

feel cool and damp against my fingers.

Wet velvet, a foal’s nose nuzzling my palm.

Cupped petals cascade towards the shimmer

and beckon of the sea.

I remember the goddess of shells,

that deserted beach in Portugal,

sun-drenched mornings,

the shade of the Cypress tree.

Yes, that young woman in the dungarees and strawberry top is me! Or at least it was me, a good few years ago…

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Meeting of Minds in Monnickendam

Posted on August 14, 2012 by ASWilliams

Last week I spent a sunny afternoon with fellow Writers Abroad member, Sally Robinson. I met Sally in the spring of 2011 at a workshop at the English Bookshop in Amsterdam. The workshop was arranged by Wordsinhere, Amsterdam’s literary writing organisation, and was about how to navigate the often bewildering world of writing competitions. As we were looking for new members for our face-to-face writers’ group at the time, I invited Sally along to the next meeting and since then she’s been a regular member. Shortly afterwards she decided to join the online WA group as well.

Fairytale Location, Stone’s Throw from Amsterdam
Sally lives in Monnickendam, a picturesque town in North Holland that lies on the coast of the Ijsselmeer, about half an hour’s drive away from Amsterdam. Sally lives in a traditional house alongside a canal, dating from 1854. The house is a listed building with a charming courtyard garden. Originally from England, Sally spent many happy years as a trailing spouse, living in such far flung locations as Indonesia, Kenya and The Congo. Her ex-husband is Dutch and worked as an economist in 3rd world development, which of course involved a lot of relocation. Their base in Holland from the mid-seventies was Monnickendam where, interspersed with periods abroad, Sally raised her three children. The children all now live in Amsterdam and her growing number of grandchildren are very happy that she lives so nearby!

Writing Experience
Sally followed an OU creative writing module, and an OCA course in short fiction. She has also followed an Arvon writing course in Shropshire. Using her experiences of living abroad as a source of inspiration for her fiction, Sally also has a dry wit and great sense of humour which come across strongly in her writing. Sometimes though procrastination is a problem, but she finds being a member of two writing groups a fantastic stimulus to pick up the pen and just get writing.

Getting to Monnickendam from Amsterdam
Take Bus 311 from Central Station. The bus departs from the back of the station. Walk through the shopping area and up the escalator to the bus stop.  M’dam comes after Broek-in-Waterland and stop called ‘dorp’ (!) Get off at bus stop ‘Nieuwepoortslaan’ just after you swing over the bridge into M’dam.

A few photos of the lovely afternoon we spent together.

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The Final Expat Taboo

Posted on August 7, 2012 by ASWilliams

Last week I heard the sad news that a family member had died. Not a relative whom I knew very well but the difficult circumstances of his life and death caused great pain to his nearest and dearest. The least I could do was send them a card. Preferably one with an English greeting. So off I set into the centre of town, on my bike, in August. Are you totally off your rocker, my sensible self asked me. And she was right. The centre of town is teeming with tourists who have had their eyes and ears removed before departing for their holiday in Amsterdam.

One Condolence Card to Choose From
By the time I arrived at Waterstones, my blood was boiling after dealing with inept cyclists, lobotomised pedestrians and post gay pride debris. Then, to top it all, I discovered that Waterstones carry just ONE design of condolence card, which wasn’t very attractive and cost € 4,50! All other milestones in life were represented in abundance; birthdays, weddings, births, new jobs, moving house and navel piercings. You name it; there was a card to mark it. But death? Oh no, expats don’t suffer from that embarrassing complaint, do they?

Expats Must Live the Life of Riley…
Did I buy aforesaid, ludicrously priced card? No I didn’t and not because I’m tight with money. If it was a beautiful card I would have happily paid that price, but it wasn’t. And it was the principle of the thing. How about the Americans, I thought? Do they have deaths in their families? Girding my loins yet again I dashed between the visually-challenged visitors and crossed the road to the American Book Center. Well, it appears American expats cleverly dodge bereavment and have no need of condolence cards either. But at least the ABC only carries tourist postcards, which somehow seemed less injurious. And besides, ABC is a brilliant independent bookstore (they once agreed to stock an anthology I contributed to) so self-interest demands I don’t knock them too much.

Mary Elizabeth Frye
A Dutch card would just have to do, so on the way back to the sanity of Amsterdam’s outskirts I stopped at a corner tobacconist run by Chinese immigrants. Plenty of choice finally! I chose a Hallmark card and just hope that my relatives won’t mind the Dutch greeting too much. I will also send them this poem, written by housewife, Mary Elizabeth Frye which I have always found very moving. I discovered it was written to comfort a Jewish woman who had fled her native Germany because of anti-Semitism and was devastated because she couldn’t attend her mother’s funeral.  The German refugee told Frye she had been denied the chance to stand at her mother’s grave and shed a tear, which gave Frye the first line of her poem;

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there; I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints on snow,

I am the sun on ripened grain,

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning’s hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circling flight.

I am the soft star-shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there; I did not die.

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Paradise Found in Amstelveen

Posted on July 31, 2012 by ASWilliams

I love Amsterdam in August. Almost everyone has gone on holiday and even the DIYers are giving their Black & Deckers a break. A staycation definitely has its upside; summer weather has finally arrived, Olympics on the telly and plenty of day trips to enjoy nearby and inside the city.

Last weekend I went to the Jac. P. Thijsse park in Amstelveen. Thijsse was a Dutch conservationist and botanist, 1865-1945.  The 5,3 hectare park was designed by C.P. Broerse and J. Landwehr as a tribute to Thijsse and his principals. The oldest part dates from 1940 and the newest part from 1972. It is planted with purely indigenous plants. Its natural and random looking layout belies the amount of planning and maintenance that goes into creating this little bit of paradise. Unusually in Amsterdam dogs are banned from the park, which means your visit won’t be spoiled by the stink of dog poo or other litter. Definitely a hidden jewel which is free to visit.

Address – Jac P Thijsse Park, Prins Bernhardlaan 9, Amstelveen, Holland
Opening times – All year. Dawn to dusk.

Take bus 174 from Central Station (Pr Hendrikkade) and get off at Kalfjeslaan/Amstelveenseweg. About 30mins journey by bus and ten minutes walk to park.

Link to map

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Writers Abroad Meet in Real Time!

Posted on July 24, 2012 by ASWilliams

Recently, I met fellow Writers Abroad member, Paola Fornari. Writers Abroad is a writers’ group made up of published writers who live outside their country of origin. We meet almost solely online for mutual support, inspiration and critiquing. We also produce an annual anthology. This year’s anthology is entitled, Foreign Encounters.

Members of WA rarely have the oppurtunity to meet face-to-face so it was with great excitement I set off on my train journey to meet Paola. She was born in Tanzania, has lived in a dozen countries over three continents, and describes herself as an ‘expatriate sin patria’. Wherever she goes she learns the language, gets to know the local people and customs, and discovers the country’s remotest corners. All these rich experiences fuel her articles that have been widely published online and in print. Right now she lives in Dhaka, Bangladesh but was spending the summer in Brussels. Den Bosch is roughly halfway between Brussels and Amsterdam so we chose this charming town as our rendezvous point.

We had a gorgeous day together as the photos clearly show. First we had coffee and shared a Bossche Bol. Tjonge jonge, as the Dutch say, those chocolate-covered cream bombs are about the size of a tennis ball! In between chocolate and creamy bites we chatted away like lifelong friends. The ease with which we got along made me wonder if we reveal much more of ourselves in our writing than we do in our every day encounters with family, colleagues and friends? The answer is, I’m pretty sure, a resounding yes.

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After coffee we headed towards the Sint Janskathedraal. Outside the cathedral stood a horse drawn charabanc powered by three beautiful Friesian horses. Feeling like tourists for the day we decided to take the half hour tour of the city. I’ve visited Den Bosch a few times but never realised there was such a vast green area just outside the city ramparts. This  historic polder has been kept intact as a nature reserve.

The Roman Catholic cathedral is truly breathtaking. Unexpectedly large for a town the size of Den Bosch, the building dates from 1525. The stained glass windows were stunning and we were surprised to stumble upon a special exhibition about the Shroud of Turin.

After lunch Paola and I walked into the luscious old polder outside the southern city rampart. By then the sun had come out. It was easy to lose track of time but we decided to follow a path that seemed to be heading towards the station. We rounded the path’s blind corner expecting to see a bridge but, and this was a first for both of us, there was a little self-operated ferry boat. It’s on a chain that you have to wind the boat along by means of a crank handle system. Fortunately someone was crossing from the city side so we only had to wind it back over. My first ever encounter with a DIY ferry. And hopefully the first of many encounters with friend and writer, Paola Fornari.

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Pied Beauty versus Homogeny

Posted on July 18, 2012 by ASWilliams

My other half and I have been cutting back on meat consumption, for moral and health reasons. We often use meat substitutes like tofu or seitan.

Hubby announced he was going to have a go at making seitan (wheat based product) himself. When I asked why, he told me that a 700 ml jar of seitan (including water weight) costs seven euros! How come meat, which comes from a living animal is so cheap, while a product that is better for our health and the environment is so expensive?

This issue reminded me of a poem I wrote some years ago while following a distance- learning poetry course at the Open College of the Arts.  I took Victorian poet, Gerald Manley Hopkins’ poem, Pied Beauty, as a template and wrote my version of it anno 2002 when Dolly the first sheep was cloned. The poems contrast people’s attitude to the natural world and spirituality in Hopkins’ day with our modern, economically-driven preference for homogeny.

Pied Beauty

Glory be to God for dappled things-
For skies of couple – colour as a brinded cow;
for rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut falls; finches wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how ?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him.

                          Cloned

Glory be to scientists for cloned beings-
For skies of two tones as a patented cow;
for chip-inserting all trout that swim;
Genetically altered grain; clipped wings;
Landscape managed and stitched – bent, barren, and fallow;
And all farm hands made redundant, grim.

All things bland, economical, matched, tame;
Whatever is exploitable (they know how)
With fast, fast; cheap, cheap; all made dim;
They father-forth their beauty, their change:

Praise them.

For some technical reason I can’t post Hopkins’ poem in its original, wonderful layout. If you would like to see the original layout, click here.

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Going Ape in Almere!

Posted on July 10, 2012 by ASWilliams

Stichting Aap is a Dutch charity set up to rescue primates and exotic animals from cruel or unsuitable homes. It houses around 300 animals in Almere and also attempts to re-home primates and exotics in high quality zoos and sanctuaries around the world. It has a sister organisation in Spain, Primadomus, the new rescue centre near the city of Villena.

Recently, I went on an open-day tour organised especially for SA donators. We were warned beforehand that we weren’t to smile at or make eye contact with the primates. This was to prevent Bokito-type scenarios. Bokito is the alpha gorilla from Rotterdam zoo who had a female admirer who smiled at him on regular visits. He interpreted her teeth baring as a sign of aggression and one day leapt over the water separating him from the public and attacked the woman. He dragged her around by the hair and inflicted multiple fractures and bites. Both parties lived to tell the tale. The woman’s affection for Bokito is apparently, undiminished.

The ape sanctary in Almere is set up so that the primates have as little contact as possible with humans. When they arrive they spend several weeks in quarantine and then are slowly re-socialised with their own species. After that they are released into fields or enclosures where they are encouraged to follow their natural behaviour as much as possible.

Rescued from a laboratory, this rhesus ape was conditioned to accept drinking water as a reward.

During the introductory talk we were told that this wasn’t going to be a zoo-like experience. In between the enclosures there were wooden boardwalks and as we shuffled along huddled under umbrellas, sheltering from the torrential downpour, it definitely felt like we were the captives being gawped at!

Who’s watching who?

A Few Case Histories

Fifi, the chimpanzee, was born in the wild in West Africa. She was caught for the exotic animal trade, bought by an eccentric millionaire and ended up in the dilapidated attic of a castle gatehouse near Paris. There she spent 30 lonely years and was infected with two STDs. She hadn’t lost her faith in humanity though and now lives a happy retirement in Almere with two elderly male chimps.

Achille, was a major attraction in a down-at-heel French circus. He was housed in a small cage, where he was put as a juvenile chimp, and of course had dramatically outgrown in the many years he’d been touring with the circus. His cage door had to be cut open in order for him to come out. Understandably, when his door was opened he became totally hysterical. Achille had to be sedated and slowly learn natural chimp behaviour. Now he lives a contented life in Primadomus (Spanish branch of Stiching Aap).

Tonkin, the racoon, was kept as a pet on an Amsterdam balcony and one day made a bid for freedom. He found a sanctuary in nearby city gardens and helped himself to food from the bird tables. When he dived into a canal in order to pinch some ducks’ food he quickly discovered that swimming was great but canal walls were very slippery and steep. He was fortunately rescued by the dierenambulance and later re-homed at Stichting Aap.

Although Stichting Aap is not a zoo it is possible to visit the centre in Almere. The islands with the boardwalks are open daily to the general public between 9.30am and 4pm. Almere is about half an hour’s drive away from Amsterdam. If you don’t have time to visit you can always go to the website and donate some money! NL residents can also donate air miles. You’ll make some animals very happy!

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