Brumminghamland

A weekend with the girls!

2007-10-04T19:50:00.000+01:00

A few weeks back Amanda, Kim, Rosanne and Eva came to visit! We shopped, shopped, shopped and shopped some more. And then we did interesting psychological games in the evening. It was so much fun! Imagine the fun as a big, big lake that you JUST WANT TO LIE IN!

(Sorry for the insiders joke)

The girls stuck in a smelly, but oh-so-English phone box.

Hmm.. smellyness seems to be a theme here. Kim (Little Miss Whoops) , Rosanne (Little Miss Sunshine), Eva (Little Miss Trouble) and Amanda (Little Miss Giggles), with a beastly bum in the middle.

All the girls (yes, I count myself as a girl!) on the way back to the airport.

Happy faces all around, we had such a great weekend!

And then they all left......... see you on October 12th!

Finnish vegetables

2007-08-15T10:06:00.000+01:00

2007-07-27T09:18:00.000+01:00

As we are off to Finland later today, I thought I'd give you an update on the party marathon of the last days. In the past week or so: the arrival of my mum and sister, my birthday including surprise party, the prep-party for Sarah, the wedding, the garden hog-roast party the day after the wedding, Jan-Willems goodbye outing.... Here is a visual, non-chronological representation of the madness.

Hmmmm... I just realised most of these pictures are of two people looking into the camera. Apparently, that is the type of picture I choose when hurried. Another thing I learned about myself today. I also learned I start to pluck my eyebrows sulkily in stead of doing anything useful when I get overwhelmed by to-do-lists.

JW and Marty wearing Dave and Caroline's glasses.

I wonder what her hand is doing under the table.

Mr and Mrs Brophy.

Nina and James.

Schwester und myself at the afterparty.

At the 3D cinema, watching scary fish attacking us in Deep Sea.

JW and Dave and their Sexy Serious Boy Band look.

Dancing to 80's trash in Reflex.

Dave wearing a fascinator. Fascinating.

The lay-dees all dressed up.

Monkey girls Nina and Eleonor.

Rietje enjoying herself. Dave looking worried. Or was it his strawberry?

Rob, Dave, Gareth. Kind of a reverse perspective picture: they get longer in the distance.

I think I might need a holiday now. On the menu: lots of books, scrabble, sleeping, music, sauna. And trying not to fight with S.

To buy or not to buy?

2007-07-06T14:36:00.000+01:00

We finished two recording days for To buy or not to buy.
We saw a house. We fell in love. To be continued.

Arran!

2007-06-28T12:56:00.000+01:00

Jorgen and myself went to the Isle of Arran for a few days and we had a fantastic time. The people were ricidulously friendly, the evenings were filled with drink and good conversation, the island was beautiful and we climbed Goatfell, the highest mountain of the island (874 m).

One of the highlights was 'the last supper' - not because of the food (a plate full of soya-sauce anyone?) but because of the view of The Mull of Kingtyre, the wine and the good conversation.

Another highlight was learning about the nuclear war between earth and Venus, around 2000 BC. A Dutch guy who was into white witchery appeared to know it all, and if we wouldn't pay him any attention in the pub where Jorgen was jamming with the locals, he'd just hoover his hands over people's heads to 'feel their energy'. Hmmm...

Jorgen made some pictures, click HERE to see them. My pictures are HERE.

Itchy

2007-06-26T12:12:00.001+01:00

The Midge. What can I say about the evil little f***ers?

Here is a selection of my 72 bites, spread out over legs, face, neck, bum, stomach, arms and hands. They itch like mad and make me want to cut myself open with a sharp knife.

More pictures on my holiday to Scotland will follow soon.

Things

2007-06-12T10:02:00.000+01:00

Ok, time for some updating.

After coming back down hill from a week in the French mountains with a group of wild teenagers (pictures HERE) my productivity went down hill as well. But after a good flu, including sinus infection, I am back to my old self.

Nina was here and had a great relaxing time - we didn't even fight!

Other stuff:
* Last week I was presenting at three different events and was stunned and appalled at the way most PhD students (ab)use Powerpoint.
* The band, Junction 2, kicked ass at a wedding last weekend! We were really really good: we had good sound, good stage presence, lots of audience interaction... people were raving afterwards. It felt gooooood.
* Next week I am going camping in Scotland with Jorgen!
* After the camping trip, we are going to The Royal Ascot - rara tata cheerio how do you do pip pip (I've trained myself to drink Pimm's with my pink in the air). And no - I don't have a hat.
* On Sunday the 24th we are seeing AEROSMITH in Hyde Park!!! The festival atmosphere is hitting the UK hard, tv and radio are reporting a lot of gigs on festivals. We aren't going to a fectival this year, so Aerosmith had better be really good!

I'll be back - soon!

I fart in your general direction

2007-05-23T19:27:00.001+01:00

Max and the boys in the Tap and Spile (JanWillems abbreviation: the T&P - god knows why) after a few drinks

Max relaxing with a coke in Carnaby St.

Nice views from St. James' park

A squirrel

After a pleasant week in Birmingham with my dad, we spent a day in London. After a drink in Carnaby street, a stroll through St. James' park, a great string quartet performance in Covent Garden, seeing Buckingham Palace and the Big Ben, we went to Spamalot, the Monty Python musical. It was truly funnier than the black death. I tried to kill Max, but he even survived the 193 steps from Covent Garden tube station to ground level, the run to the Palace Theatre and the climb up to the upper balcony. He's not dead yet.

Home sweet home

2007-05-14T22:00:00.000+01:00

I am back in the nest!

An update of my days in Holland and France will follow, I'm a bit busy hugging right now.

Nice

2007-04-25T20:45:00.000+01:00

It's been a while, but we visited Stefan and Marianne in Nice. We did a lot of driving: to cute mountain towns, to Monaco/Monte Carlo, to Ventemiglia in Italy, to Foundation Maeght, to St. Paul de Vence. We enjoyed the good food, bought as many bags of lavender as humanly possible in three days, smelled the most delicious soaps and perfumes and stocked up on Herbes de Provence. Post-Nice cooking in Birmingham: pasta with Herbes de Provence, Indian take away with Herbes de Provence, sunday roast dinner with Herbes de Provence, cup of tea with Herbes de Provence..

Dave by the beach, right before we played jeux de boules with rocks and Stefan dropped the bottle of wine over his crotch.

Cute mountain town. Forgot which one, they were all equally cute!

The cemetary in Saint-Paul de Vence, where Marc Chagall is buried.

The view from the plane on the way back. Nice huh?

Trotse zus

2007-04-25T20:35:00.000+01:00

Sorry English speakers: this post is in Dutch!

Zoals jullie wel weten, heeft Nina de derde prijs gewonnen in het concours om de Wim Sonneveld prijs, oftewel het Amsterdams Kleinkunst Festival. Het was een hele rit van de eerste naar de allerlaatste ronde en ze heeft het ontzettend goed gedaan. Ik ben apetrots! Als julli haar willen horen in het radioprogramma 'Het Circus Jeroen Bosch', klik dan HIER en ga naar de aflevering van 22 April. Vanaf minuut 25 gaat het over Nina, maar de rest geeft ook een goed beeld van de andere kandidaten, de finale en het festival.

Hier een selectie uit de recensies:

VOLKSKRANT:
Het ware talent van De la Croix lijkt te schuilen in de liedjes. Haar weinig
vrolijk stemmende visie op het leven van de poldervrouw op de melodie van
Les Flamands van Jacques Brel was een van de schaarse hoogtepunten van de
avond.

PAROOL:
De derde prijs ging naar Nina de la Croix (waarom niet de tweede prijs?) die
ook al afstudeerde aan de Kleinkunstakademie. Nina moet het vooral hebben
van haar liedjes. Goeie stem, leuke teksten. Vooral haar pittige bewerking
en uitvoering van Brels Les Flamands (vertaling: Poldervrouwen) maken
indruk.

CABARET-MAGAZINE:
De meeste indruk op ons maakte Nina de la Croix (samen met Maarten Ebbers op
de gitaar). Haar verhaal over het geluk zoeken door te verhuizen naar Parijs
was orgineel en zat vol onverwachte sketches. Het geheel kreeg meer volume
door onderwerpen als de liefde te betrekken in het verhaal. Een goede stem
en zeker goed begeleid door Maarten.

ZWARTE KAT:
De afsluiter is Nina de la Croix, met de muzikale begeleiding (op gitaar)
van Maarten Ebbers. Ze speelt de voorstelling 'Poldervrouw' wat als
afsluitend lied in een Brel vertolking terug komt. Ze kan zingen, daar is
geen twijfel over. Mooie teksten, mooie zang en een prettige muzikale
omlijsting.

TROUW:
Als laatste betrad Nina de la Croix het podium. Ook zij zong een aantal
mooie liedjes, waaronder het grappige 'Je zegt nee tegen mij, maar ik blijf
toch' en een bijzondere vertaling van Brels 'Les Flamandes':
'Poldervrouwen'. Dat was ook de titel van haar programma. De inhoud was
misschien niet zo sterk, haar persoonlijkheid des te meernaar te kijken.

JURY-RAPPORT NINA DE LA CROIX- POLDERVROUW

Nina de la Croix is een genoegen om Ze is enthousiast,
energiek en heeft een vrolijke en innemende uitstraling. Ze maakte met
'Poldervrouw' een lief en rond programma. Maar 'Poldervrouw' gaat wel érg
over jonge meisjes dingen, zoals naar een smoezelig hotel in Parijs gaan en
denken dat je daar het geluk vindt. Al met al een wat magere inhoud voor een
half uur cabaret. De uitwerking is ook niet altijd even origineel. Zo is er
in het Nederlands cabaret wel vaker krom Frans gesproken, maar uiteindelijk
vergeef je het haar. Ze heeft een mooi taalgebruik en vooral haar liedjes
zitten vol leuke tekstvondsten. Hoogtepunten zijn 'Ik zal niets aan je
vragen', 'Je zegt nee tegen me, maar ik blijf toch' en het slotnummer
'Poldervrouw'. Aanvankelijk hou je de adem in als ze aan een Brelbewerking
begint ( van 'Les Flamands'), maar ze overtuigt ten volle, ook dankzij de
prima tekst. Nina's sterkste punt is de vertolking van haar liedjes.
Nadrukkelijk wil de jury in dat verband ook gitarist Maarten Ebbers noemen.
De jury zou Nina willen aanraden ook in de toekomst te focussen op haar
liedjes en haar liedteksten. Daarnaast echter zou ze er verstandig aan doen
te investeren in sterkere verhalen en conférences. In dat geval zullen wij
nog van Nina de la Croix gaan horen.

Wedding!

2007-04-24T23:21:00.000+01:00

The Brophy family (extended version) at the wedding of Buzz and Lorna on the 17th of March.

HERE is a link to my pictures of the day.
HERE is a link to Robert's pictures of the day.
HERE is a link to Kam's pictures of the day.

Weekend in Birmingham

2007-04-24T22:51:00.000+01:00

Last weekend, we went to a farmer's market. But there wasn't one. So we walked around Bearwood, where we had an ice cream in Victoria Park.

Then we went to the museum to see a special Tibetan mandala made of sand. But there wasn't one. So we watched a bunch of people getting all excited and dancing around may poles because of St. George's Day (patriot saint of England).

We went to the Custard Factory, the place where Mr. Bird made his famous custard which is now a hip and trendy place with galleries, shops and a club.

We had a drink with a huge dragon watching over us.

And we greeted The Green Man, the largest living sculpture of the UK.

But the absolute highlight of the weekend followed on Saturday night when I painted a gnome.

Sign of life

2007-04-19T17:55:00.000+01:00

I am not dead. Neither is this blog.

Still smelly after all these years

2007-02-19T15:21:00.000Z

I have just had the BEST WEEK EVER! My work rules, Ireland rules, my friends rule....

Let's start at the very beginning. If it's good enough for Julie Andrews, it'll do the trick for me. There we go: University College Cork wants to start using role play as a methodology in the communication skills teaching. So the Interactive Studies Unit was invited to Cork in order to train assessors, train new role players and to screen Irish medical and nursing students. And YES!!! I was invited to come along for training and role playing! We had a week of working hard and playing hard. The people were fantabulous, the food was great and Cork has made it in my favorite cities top 10. This picture shows Jackie, Connie and myself having serious academic discussions in a pub.

Anyhoo, after a week of weird and wonderful work in Cork, I made my way up to Dublin for some craic with old friends O'Connor and McCarthy.

Yankee Pat, looking exactly the same as six years ago when we were roommates in Copenhagen and Sarah at the donkey sanctuary close to Sligo (where Sarah is from).

Willie, Ruth, Patter and Sarah walking up to the metholithic tombs and the view from the top of the mountain.

Sligo beach and Sarah & her very entertaining brother Kane having Sunday dinner in the O'Connor kitchen.

For more photographic evidence of my week, click HERE.

Superduperspective

2007-01-31T20:09:00.000Z

For Christmas, we got Daves granny Idle a voucher for a day out in Birmingham. So, last Saturday we went to an exhibition by Patrick Hughes, who makes 3-d artwork. It was fantastic! The pictures all look like they have real depth, a bit like in those 3D cards that were cool a few years back. And then when you come up close, shake your head and blink your eyes... you see it sticks out! And the things that initially looked furthest away in the painting, stick out the most. Hmmm... weird description, just look at these photos:

From the front

From the side

From the front

From the side

Birmingham

2007-01-27T00:51:00.000Z

I have told you before: it's not shit! I like living in England and in Birmingham. It can be shamelessly ugly and endearingly down-to-earth at the same time. Some random pictures of Brumminghamland, made by Annelise (the one above by me).

Annelise!

2007-01-27T00:41:00.000Z

Annelise, my American friend that I met 6 years ago in Copenhagen, came to visit us. We explored Birmingham, went to a party of my colleague Karen and visited Daves parents and the Tamworth pigs! For pictures, you can go to HER SITE! But because for some of us one click with the mouse is too much effort, here are a couple of cool ones...

Masterdam!

2007-01-17T17:48:00.000Z

Right after christmas, we went to Holland - taking our crazy Canadian friends Marty and Cheryl with us. Some pictures of the madness, the relaxing, the family, the friends, the ex-students and all the babies we visited, are available HERE. But here is an impression:

English Christmas

2007-01-17T17:46:00.000Z

Click HERE to see more pictures from Christmas in England!

Derk & Marieke

2007-01-17T17:16:00.000Z

Right before christmas, Derk and I were able to find a day we would be in the same country. After only have waved at each other on Schiphol Airport, we finally met in person again! Marieke has spent the last 6 months in Sheffield and, as you can see, Derk was very excited about being around her again. There was licking, leg humping and of course I got involved with empty wine bottles... it was a wonderful night.

Do you like good music?

2006-12-22T10:34:00.000Z

Yeah yeah! Sweet soul music!

I am now in a band, called Junction 2 (click on that name to go to the site). My task is background singer, so lots of doodoodoo's and aaaaaaaah's. I joined them for my first gig last week and we are playing on a wedding this upcoming Saturday. I LOVE it and it's a great excuse to dress up like a tart and look very English and slutty.

Abi (saxophone), Joanne (vocals) and me!

More Amsterdam

2006-12-22T10:22:00.000Z

After the party, we had two whole days left in the Dam. Soooo... time to have dinner with Mum, Dad and Schwester.

Daves imitation of a cat's bottom.

Papa and me.

Nina licking Dave, just like the good old days.

How artistic.

Nina and mum.

Finally, I made some time to visit my old school. Here is me and the girls from 1E & 2E (now third graders).

From left to right: Reshma, Felicia, Angenie, Iris, Anne, Josje, Lis, Jade and Lianne. The moving girl in front: Manolya!

Boas

2006-12-22T09:55:00.000Z

And then I fell in love. The new love of my life is calles Boas Raoul Ignacio and he is the new born son of Annemarie and Julien. He is gorgeous and Annemarie is a great mother - and a damn sexy one. Boas is extremely observant and smart for a 3 week year old and he made my overaries shoot out eggs like an automatic gun.

Dr. Simis

2006-12-22T09:11:00.000Z

Stefan is now known as Dr. Simis and celebrated his promotion with a very very cool party with a band, snacks, drinks and a herd of Fins. Photo's can be found here and on: http://www.flickr.com/gp/33532660@N00/HK648b

Dinner with Renske and Jorgen before the party.

Anne and Dave at the tapas restaurant.

The girls at the party.

Marianne en Marja, the sanest Finns of the bunch.

Stefan and me, in a very blurry picture. Well, it was at the end of the party....

Marja (lovely composed Finn) and Damien (crazy loud Englishman).

Maarten, Anne and Annemieke.

Leontien (Dr. Simis' youngest sister) and Marit.

More Finns. In front: Marku, my dance partner for the evening.

Work!

2006-12-18T19:59:00.000Z

I am now on the Interactive Skills Unit's website! Wanna see me? HERE I am!

This funded studying I'm doing is very, very pleasant. I actually love doing research (didn't expect I'd love it this much), as I can spend my days reading in the library, analysing my pilot transcripts, transcribing tapes, going to classes, writing articles, working on a project with my supervisor, designing new modules... and I am my own boss! So I can sleep as long as I want, I can work whenever and wherever I want. My professor is happy and the topic is great! I have also done some teaching (communication skills) in the medical school, to med students in years 2, 3 and 5. In other words: I am having a good time.

By the way, we need a new name for the Interactive Skills Unit. Something with Clinical Communication? Research and Teaching? And we want to be a Centre rather than a Unit.... any ideas? Send them to me! The best one wins a prize!

The Children's Hour

2006-12-18T19:51:00.000Z

Two weeks ago, I was in a play called 'The Children's Hour'. I played a nasty strict old lady who wants two fire two teachers because her lying granddaughter has said they are lesbians. It involves speaking in an English 1930's accent and putting lots of talcon powder in my hair. Not easy, but it went well and it was fun.

The cast of 'The Children's Hour'. Bottom row: all the 'school girls'. Upper row: Leonie as the funny dramatic Mrs. Lily Mortar, Rachel as Karen Dobie, Lewis as Dr. Joseph Cardin, Annabel as Martha Wright, Madeline as Agatha the housemaid (my humble servant) and myself, also known as.........

Mrs. Amelia Tilford

Friends!

2006-12-18T19:10:00.000Z

David, Caroline and Helena at the pot luck party!

Victoria (Weiqun) making a wish before blowing out the candles on her birthday cake, and her giggling daughter Julia.

Indy (in the middle) needs to make a picture of himself at the party. We are all laughing because he needs to take the picture 'for his government' apparently!

Fumiko and Ollie enjoying the grub.

Anne and Erie at The Jam House.

Yassu, Anne, Garry and Maria (the Corpus Linguistics classmates) at The Jam House!

Anne and Yassu. Cheers!

Dave and JanWillem.

Karaokeeeeeeeee

2006-12-18T17:36:00.000Z

Henske en Renri were here. We had a wonderful time shopping, admiring the funky architecture, getting tested by the scientology church, eating out millions of times... On Saturday, we took them for some greasy Thai food and some Karaoke singing!

This is my new friend Caroline, who is (as is written on the piece of paper she is holding) a 'karaoke virgin'.

Renske and Dave.

Meena, her friend Kat and me, going wild singing 'I swear'.

My friend and PhD-colleague Rachel and her other half Pete:

Me and Henri.

I love you with every beat of my heart I sweeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaar!!!!

At the end of the night I could even sing this!

United Nations

2006-11-12T18:17:00.000Z

Marianne was here! We had a nice, very relaxed weekend. We went to the Ikon gallery:

We did some good shopping and Marianne bought every mustard coloured item of clothing and mustard coloured accessory in Birmingham. Here she is, happy on a bridge and extremely pretty:

Drinks in The Old Joint Stock:

That evening our friend Marty cooked for us. We, the humble representatives of Canada, Finland, The Netherlands and Great Britain, solved all the world's problems.

After dropping Marianne off at the train station, Dave tried on some pairs of glasses. What do you think?

New photo's!

2006-11-07T10:44:00.000Z

Rico was here and made some kick-ass pictures. See them on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricotijsen/sets/72157594362402172/

The Brophy boys after a night in the pub:

After having dinner with our new Canadian friends, having consumed 4 bottles of wine and half a bottle of port between three people, I thought it would be a good idea to cut my own hair.

Dave reading some heavy literature.

Marty, my new Canadian friend, who I picked up off the street.

Meena, after we went out for sushi.

And eating chocolate cake at our place for a tv night.

Yasu, Garry and Maria in the pub before we went dancing in the Jam House.

We are family

2006-10-25T18:04:00.000+01:00

Mijn oma, mijn oma, mijn omaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
....... werd 90! Ze ziet er piepjong uit, is nog gezond en snapt alle grappen van de grofgebekte kleinkinders. De foto's van haar feestje kun je hier zien:
http://www.mijnalbum.nl/Album=FUGZEBOG

En nog meer familiezaken: nicht Ginny (van de pindakant) is dit jaar in Laos de Nederlandse juf aan het uithangen. Samen met vriend Ed houdt ze een website bij met prachtige foto's van hun nieuwe Aziatische leven. Ze noemde mij op haar website, en tja... ik kan natuurlijk niet achterblijven, dus kijk snel eens hier: www.blablablaos.com

Ellon

2006-10-19T11:10:00.000+01:00

Ellen was hier! Ze was snipverkouden en heeft me aangestoken, maar we hebben desondanks goed kunnen winkelen, lekker kunnen eten, fijn kunnen dansen, heerlijk kunnen kletsen, relaxed kunnen niksen, enzovoort enzovoort (bijwoorden zijn even kwijt in mijn ongeinspireerde snothoofd). Kijk, hier zijn we op zaterdag voordat we uitgingen. De dikke en de dunne:

We hebben ook nog otters gezien:

Brophy's everywhere!

2006-10-19T10:48:00.000+01:00

We went out for dinner with Dave's parents:

Dave likes to cook, this was a wooonderful Rainbow Trout:

Dave and I like going out to find new pubs and clubs. So here is me getting ready for a night out, trying to look more English by straightening my hair (it lasted about 5 minutes before it was curly and wild again):

Fietstocht naar Uni

2006-10-19T10:20:00.000+01:00

Iedere dag (ongeveer) fiets ik naar de Universiteit, langs het water. Eerst kom ik dan langs The Malt House, een mooie pub:

Dan worstel ik mijn weg door de ganzenmassa, die vaak op de weg staan en het concept 'aan de kant gaan' niet helemaal snappen. Of ze doen het natuurlijk expres. Geese are evil.

Dan langs The Mailbox, een nieuw gebouw met drie verdiepingen vol restaurantjes:

Dan volgt er een heel idyllisch stukje (op de foto zie je de voorbijrazende trein aan de rechterkant niet):

Dit meer ligt in The Vale, waar alle studentenwoningen zijn. Is wel even anders dan Uylenstede!

Mooie boom op de campus:

I AMsterdam

2006-10-05T13:49:00.000+01:00

Wat een weekend! Vrijdagavond kwam ik aan in Nederland. Derk en Sandra hadden heerlijk voor me gekookt en de rest van de Passeviters sloten zich in de loop van de avond bij ons aan...

Nina was er ook en hielp Sandra met het opmaken van alle drank.

En dat merkte ze die nacht. Nina was de ideale gastvrouw: een vers bedje voor mij, een kadootje, fijn ontbijt, een kopie van de sleutel. Het enige nadeel was het kokhalen op een halve meter van mijn hoofd vandaan.

The day after the night before, lunch met vaders:

Ellen, vlak voor ze naar het 'Randstad blauw past bij jou' feest ging:

En toen!!!! Naar Renskes feestje! Jeuhhhhhhhh!
Stefan en Renske zien iets vliegen.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh...........

Renske werd 30, maar op de foto kunnen we alvast zien hoe ze eruit ziet over 25 jaar!

En wederom, de morning after the night before...

Doe maar lachen.

Lach dan... cheese!!! Cheese! Clitoris!!!!

Meneer Hilbrands was er ook. sgoed, sleuk!

En verder, naar Annemarie & Julien en Kindje!

Helemaal uitgeput van het weekend nog even met mama spare-ribs eten.

Weekend in Wales

2006-09-17T14:50:00.000+01:00

After my first two weeks in glorious Academia, it was time to freshen up body and mind with some country air. So we filled up the car and went to wonderful Wales.

We arrived in the dark. Wales is very, very dark at night. Extremely dark. And at night, Wales is pretty darn cold. Brutally cold actually. Freakishly cold. Wales is also unbelievably quiet. The noisiest thing at the campsite was the wing-flapping sound of the red kite flying half a mile over our heads. Bastard. Anyway, there we were. 8 o'clock. Cold, dark, quiet. There was only one thing to do: get hammered at the only pub in the village, a hotel where all the locals were drinking. There were about 7 men in there, two women and a priest. Yes, a priest, I kid you not. The priest walked in and one of the fat guys asked, in a very Welsh accent:'So, what team do you play for?' Need I say more? We had a great night. Walking back, you could see soooo many stars and even the Milky Way. Dave decided he wanted to be a star nerd ('It's called astronomer, Dave') before we rolled into our tent.

The morning after:

After an excruciatingly cold and short night - we had been awake since stupid o'clock -followed a wet wet morning. Luckily, the wetness was only condensation and after an hour or so, the sun reached us:

A view of our tent, the car, the campsite , the view:

The place where we were is called Ponterfynach, which means the bridge over the river Mynach. But in English, it is called Devil's bridge. We went for a walk around the waterfalls. It was quite a hike, the steps were supersteep and wet. But the views were looooooooooooooooooooooovely.

Lesson learned today: when you get up early, the day is really long! It felt like late afternoon, but it was only 11, the sun was shining and we were happy.

So we had enough time to eat an ice cream in Aberytswyth, a seaside town with a farmer's market, quaint shops and a nice boulevard:

That evening, there was a party at the old station in the village. On the road to the village these two were looking over a hedge:

The Mir Mynach party had all kinds of events for kids, followed by a barbeque (byrgyr or hotdog, love?), live music and lots of drink. There were maybe 100 people, 'everybody in the area has come for the party!'. After a folk music band with a funky violinist, there was a rock band consisting of three awkward, tall, shy boys that couldn't really play. Then, a raffle, organised by the head mistress who's boobs were nearly falling out of her top while she was screaming out the numbers of the winners, all in Welsh. And then, the grand finale, a karaoke singing entertainer that made some locals go 'the full monty' (including Full Monty soundtrack - tadadadadadadadadaaaaaaaaaaa). We were soon adopted by the villagers and after 5 beers, I had a little boy dancing on my lap and people were calling us 'their new friends'. We weren't cold at all that night.

newsflash

2006-08-28T19:45:00.000+01:00

The last few weeks:
* Sandra was here, and in AnneSandra style, we managed to do a million fun things in two days, we watched all the episodes of Little Britains first series and we cooked a WONDERFUL meal (OK, San did).
* Annemarie and Julien were here. They were very relaxed, very pregnant and very fun. It was great seeing them again and giving them the chance to catch up with a load of sleeping ;)
* Rietje was here. As a real mum, she helped me get the bedrooms reorganised, cleaned the kitchen and took care of all our neglected plants. We also read a lot, relaxed a lot and went into more charity shops than thought humanly possible. She went home with 16 (yes, sixteen!) new items of clothing.

Latest discovery:
Music at the Glee club. A lot of good singer-songwriters play here live, lots of them go on to be quite famous... People that are playing there over the next few weeks (click on the name, see the website and listen to their music!): Teddy Thompson, Thea Gilmore, Mundy, Liam Frost and the Slowdown Family

First significant moment in the De La Crophy household:
We have done archiving. All our documents are now cozily resting together in a very grown up Ikea thingy. And we didn't even have a fight!

Thoughts and feelings regarding PhD:
I will start next week. It'll be fun, but it's also very, very scary. It's all so new! And settling on ONE research topic is quite hard for me....
I have had this moment:
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=82
I've excperienced this one:
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=83
I'm now in the middle of a series of these:
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=84
But after a day at Uni last Wednesday, I felt much more confident. Nice colleagues, very interesting classes and so on. It's gonna be cool!

Other developments:
* We had dinner with a Dutch girl and her English husband
* I ran 10 mile!
* I booked my first flight home
* Next wednesday, there is a training day at Studley Castle
* I will get my digi cam fixed so we can put pictures on this site

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The biking Dutchy

2006-08-07T17:17:00.000+01:00

People here don't really bike, and if they do, it's on one of those racing bikes and with a helmet. The first time I got on my bike here, I was helmetless, trying not to get killed by cars, trying not to kill pedestrians, looking in all the wrong directions and stopping at roundabouts to try and figure out what the hell was going on. I was seriously struggling to get on the wrong side (not the OTHER side, sorry Dave - it's just so not right!) of the road. All of this happened with lots of murmering under my breath, a mix of desperate and agressive facial expressions, with a map in my hands. Also, I was on my Dutch bike with my new birthday bicycle bags, which look a little something like this:

Uh-huh! Anyway, I must have looked a bit freaky to the Brummies. They were staring at me like I just landed from outerspace. So the whole biking-deal wasn't as relaxed and fun as I expected.

But I biked to the University Campus today and it was a much more pleasent experience. It takes about 15 minutes alongside the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. So no cars, no maps, no roundabouts and just one side, which is always right! It's a really nice route, lots of narrowboats, ducks, fishing kids, people walking dogs, joggers, etc. The only downside is that sometimes the geese don't get out of the way for me. And the weird fear that people will push me in the water when I pass them...

Some pictures of the canal I found on the internet:

Ich liebe meine Schwester!

2006-08-01T11:51:00.000+01:00

Nina was here!!! Dave had to work, we slept very long, the weather was nice, we watched a lot of dvd's, there was one night of unstoppable giggles, one explosive fight, and it was a lot of fun. And... she brought presents, like this 'traditional Dutch' (or 'massively gay') apron and an oven glove for Dave.

On Centenary Square there is a really good open air exhibition of Steve Bloom's nature photography called 'Spirit of the Wild', which really promted our acting skills. See below for our own exhibition: 'Lost in Imitation', or 'Spirit of the Mildly Insane'.

Some pictures of Nina in sunny Birmingham... WITH HER NEW SHOES!!!

A selection of Nina quotes about Birmingham:

'It really reminds me of Barcelona!'

'It's like a beach boulevard!'

'It's just like Hengelo!'

And then we went to a comedy club with a whole group of people. But strangely enough, it's mainly Buzz on the photo's. Hmmm. Maybe it's something to do with the cowboy drinking game we played, Mr. Buzzini? Yee ha! Ho down! Hey barn! Hey down! Ya hoo.... Down barn... hey hoooooo... whatever..... *hiccup*

'Nina, the fashion show'. Ladies and gentlemen, Nina is wearing a striking combination here, consisting of wonderful red new shoes, which she chose to combine with a red bag and a red belt. Very much this year, this classy, yet funky and modern look. (Please note that the people around Nina in these pictures are mere props and accesories.)

Thanks for everything Nien, it was fun. And remember: I will cut up and burn your new red shoes - with your feet still in them - if you don't give me my clothes back soon.

The sweatiest birthday ever

2006-07-26T18:37:00.000+01:00

The first week in Birmingham felt like a proper holiday: lots of doing nothing, consuming and.... sweating like a pig in a gym.

Oy! It was supposed to be shitty weather over here! Rainy and windy so that all cute Hugh Grant look-alikes look like drowning dogs (in a sexy way). But no, it is hot. Very hot. On my birthday it was even 37 degrees - the hottest July day on record in the UK.

Max was here to help us settle in. He couldn't help himself and had to have a few siesta's. In between the snoring and drooling, he also helped me with the lounge in our new place, and we got to know the lovely area around my house pretty well. Dankjewel papa!

Our couches. Super big, super ugly, but super comfortable. And look at Betty in the corner!

It was soooo hot, but we still managed to do loads. Our living room felt like home right away when we put my shelves up.

Max in a beer garden, telling us about the size of Jesus' feet (it would have been impossible to have crucified him, apparently, considering him walking on water and the structure of water molecules) .....

Birthday tapas with Max, Dave and Daves parents! Max is showing off his new trousers.

Daves mom, Penny

Max and Dave in Tamworth, before we went to a pub quiz where I kicked ass!

Brindley Place, a 5 minute walk from our place. James Brindley was the brain behind the canal system in the Midlands. Brindleyplace is a reasonably new development with some shops, some offices and loads of restaurants and pubs by the canal.

Victoria Square, where we were not allowed to jump in the water :(

The Big Move

2006-07-21T11:03:00.000+01:00

An empty room, a full transit van. All done within an hour, thanks to our happy helpers Machteld, Michiel, Marianne, Stefan and the dads. The hard work was followed by a lot of drinks with a lot of friends and a very short night's sleep.

My life in a box. Erm... bus.

And then.... road trip, dude! It was like... totally awesome, man.

Het hoe, wat, waar, wie, wanneer en waarom

2006-06-30T11:54:00.000+01:00

Hoe?
Vrolijk. En een beetje dronken. Met lekkere hapjes. Op de maat.

Wat?
Ons feestje dus.

Waar?
Op het Olympiaplein. In het oer-Amsterdamse kroegje De Hut, omdat het oudbolliger en knusser is dan Sing Sing. Denk aan truttige kleedjes, een jolige barman, vaste klanten met fantastische bierbuiken en een hoog Skihut-gehalte. En later misschien de stad in (Bitterzoet? Paradiso?). En tussendoor ergens eten (De Hut? Snackbar? Annes huis?). En voor de fanatiekelingen nog voetbal kijken (wedstrijd om de 3e en 4e plaats).

Wie?
Jij dus en je vriend(in) en iedereen die zin heeft om te komen.

Wanneer?
Op 8 juli. Vanaf 3 uur 's middags tot wanneer het niet leuk meer is.

Waarom?
Omdat Dave op die dag jarig is!
Omdat we op 16 juli verhuizen!
Omdat ik op 19 juli jarig ben!
Omdat we aandachtsjunkies zijn!
Omdat we geobsedeerd zijn door de verhuizing!
Omdat we tranen willen zien!
Omdat we nog 1 onvergetelijke nacht uit willen in Amsterdam!
Gewoon, daarom! Zeik niet zo.

He's gone

2006-05-13T11:04:00.000+01:00

Dave is no longer a Dutchy. The Joostification of Mr. Brophy has ended. Holland is Davidless.

Now Dave is in the UK, the moving has officially started. I have lots of boring and stupid stuff to organise (insurance! bank accounts!), lots of things to move and people to see before I leave... which is sad and scary and fun.

It's not shit!

2006-04-13T15:26:00.000+01:00

Birmingham is known as a very industrial city, it was voted 'rudest UK city' last autumn and the silly Birmingham accent is called 'Brummie'... BUT! Birmingham is not shit. To prove this, there is a very funny website called 'Birmingham, it's not shit',
I can recommend the English to Brummie translator!

Nice things that originated in Birmingham: Cadbury's chocolate, Ocean Colour Scene, UB40, Ozzy Osbourne (?), Dexy's Midnight Runners, James Watt (what?), Duran Duran, Tolkien.

To look at some nice pictures of the different areas in town, you can go to 'Virtual Brum'

And finally, those interested in our new jobs, you can look at these sites:
for Dave's job: Doncasters website
for Anne's job: Interactive Skills Unit website

A picture of Brindleyplace, a 5 minute walk from our new place.
So yaouw be'ah all cum an' visit us!
(So you better all come and visit us!)

Daves got a Job

2006-04-10T21:17:00.000+01:00

Well People it's true, some fool in the UK thought i was worth employing. I'm really looking forward to it now, things are moving fast for Anne and I. If anyone wants a trip to Birmingham i will be there from June onwards. I'll need some help getting it ready for Anne big entrance later in the year. So if anyone is handy with a paintbrush you can drop by whenever.

Love nest!

2006-04-10T09:50:00.000+01:00

The move from Masterdam to Brummingham is getting very real!

Anne has a new job,
Dave has a new job,
and now... after seeing some weird and wonderful apartments, we have a new house! It's close to the canals, Broad Street, the shopping... for the exact location, see HERE