The fellow from TV Drenthe came today.
It rained all morning. In fact it has been raining since Sunday and I don't think I have really left the house (Ok there was the mini-museum but other than that) for days. The light is bad for shooting, and I have been a bit despondent with most of the photos I shot and got back on Saturday because the lighting was uninspiring so the last thing I could do was shoot more film in the face of defeat.
The sun came out after one and I rallied enough to go to Meppel. I did several things I enjoy doing. I went to the Thrift Store briefly. I debated getting the Delftware stein that said "Heineken"on it because it was (still) 5 Euro. I like to drink black tea in a large ceramic vessel because I don't have the patience to fiddle with the stuff every 4 ounces or so, which I have to do here because the cups are small (at home I toss a teabag into a stein). I resolved a while back to get a large mug the next time I went to the store, and I keep balking at the 5 Eu price tag. Today they had a stein that was very dirty (50 E cents) and another stein that, while clean, had a Russian cartoon on it that didn't translate as funny, but it was only 1 Eu. I got 5 shot glasses with little stars on them.
Next I went to return the power converter Jason and I got when we first got here for use with the wireless router. Since the power supply I bought at the Thrift Store that same day for 1EU worked fine, I have been meaning to get back to that store under the 2 week limit and return the item, saving 12Eu, which I planned to use to buy a bottle of Havana Club Rum, which, being Cuban, you can't get in the States, and which, the last time I encountered was in San Francisco in 2000 on a big road trip. The rum happened to be in my friend's possession, and I happened to fall in love with it, and we happened to put the bottle to rest during my stay and I have always meant to replace the bottle, because it was A) good and B) mostly my fault that it didn't survive my visit. I went to a liquor store who only had the white, and who tried to sell me 6 different fabulous Rums, but since I wasn't in the mood I bailed when another customer made their selection. I went to another liquor store that did have the HC (all three: the White, the Anejo and the Especial. It's the medium priced one you want). I decided that because he lives in London he can probably get it all the time so I decide to check with him in case he preferred something different (like that lovely 15yo Methusela Rhum the other guy tried to sell me).
I agonized for a while over the bottle of Bols Jong Genever that comes in a Delft-ware gin bottle complete with a handle, a cork and a picture of a Windmill on it. I don't think I am much of a Genever man (I did get a bottle of Alt when I was going through Amsterdam on my way back from studying for the summer in Paris and fell in love with the two girls at the pizza parlor, but I don't remember liking it much) and the bottle was twice the price of the same thing without the bottle (and I just wanted the bottle anyway) so I didn't get it, but I thought it would make a nice souvenir of my trip to Holland. As if one couldn't have enough souvenirs, one had to have so many that one couldn't return home with them all and had to leave some memories behind for next time (maybe that's what turns the wheel of reincarnation).
I still can't tell if I will go back and get it.
