Boxing Day 2010

Full of sniffles, I nonetheless headed west with my father today, to visit my sister and her family in a town some 20 miles east of Amsterdam. The train took us there in good order, although I cannot imagine that the ICE passengers alighting at Utrecht were very pleased at their 90 minute delay. And being taken there on an old NS [Dutch Railways] rattletrap. My sister was waiting at her local station and took us to her house. She had a new addition to the family, a young dog. Not a small one by any description: he is a St Bernhard cross. The animal is only 8 months old, and still requires training. We had scones, jam and cream, followed by a session of what is called here "gourmetten" [Google Translated, beware]. Difficult to translate - you have a set of small (handsized) pans, which sit on a hot plate. You fry small chunks of meat or fish and serve it with various garnishes. We returned east by train, and reached home at 10.45pm.


My sister's family cat 7 feet up - he wanted to go there himself


Waiting for the bus along the Schelmseweg [Scoundrel's Road]