... I just can't stop saying 'amazing'.
And this time it is because something surprising but really positive happened...
Since I have made this decision to move back on the nest and work for BAC Holland instead of UK I have been very worried about what that would mean for my nett salary and as an effect if I would be able to pay my mortgage and all other costs that I don't know yet but of which I know they will come out of the woodwork.
See... in the UK you pay a lot less taxes/social security moneys than we do here in Holland and it has always been clear that the overall cost on the BAC shouldn't get higher just because I want to change the country I live in. Of course, in my brain that could only mean one thing, I would get nett a lot less than I get nett in the UK and I was terrified I wouldn't have enough.
I don't quite know yet, mind you, what enough or not enough is since I have no idea what euros mean here, I have no idea what somebody in my position 'should' earn and what I can buy for any amount of euros since last time I used money in Holland in a serious 'I live here' way was when they still had guilders (oh.. how I miss the guilder...)
Anyway... I have requested this move in February and it has taken a long time but finally today I was able to resign in the UK and will be rehired per the 1st of September in Holland.
That in itself was a huge relief, that finally this is going to happen for real, paid in real Dutch money will make me feel properly Dutch again, nice ;)
And it turned out that my fear has been unfounded, somehow they have managed to not only get me the same as I have now but even a bit more!
Talking about exceeding expectations... I have been gobsmacked all day running around alternating saying 'thank you' to nobody in particular (well maybe Eric) and 'amazing' because I had imagined that I would have to put up a huge fight and maybe even had to look for another job which I really would hate doing since I absolutely love my job and the working from home perk that comes with it.
So today was a GOOD day...
Of course I had to take K to dinner in the Brasserij again (staple place for a good sateh to celebrate any good news or life in general)
Amazing.... absolutely amazing....
Now.. that mortgage... I wonder how quick I can pay that off ;)
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Things are getting worse - send chocolate
I have seen a postcard with that sentence all the time I worked in the call centre, it always made me titter but it has never sounded more appropriate then at this point in my life!
Remember I told you about the toilet? The hanging/floating toilet as we call it here? Well.. Normally what happens is that there are big bolts in the wall and the rest of the toilet is supported by the wall behind the toilet.
In my last post you can clearly see where the toilet needs to go and how you see the saw marks of where they cut the wall out to be able to get to the pipes. Well.. the pipes are all done but the wall behind has suffered and as I have now found out not JUST the tiles.
See .. this is what happened to it after I used the toilet a few times.
I noticed a creaking sound before but the more I used it (and sorry, I like to SIT on my toilet) I felt I was sort of sliding off it because it started to press against the back wall and since that was only just cut out and glued back (supported behind it by only a small bit of wood) it is giving way!
Oh no... I had visions of it breaking off the wall and water spouting out everywhere so I thought of a workaround, that is the upside of working this long in BAC, you get REALLY good at workaronds!
So.. I don't mean to be rude but... I stuffed Simon Cowell under my toilet!!!
Remember I told you about the toilet? The hanging/floating toilet as we call it here? Well.. Normally what happens is that there are big bolts in the wall and the rest of the toilet is supported by the wall behind the toilet.
In my last post you can clearly see where the toilet needs to go and how you see the saw marks of where they cut the wall out to be able to get to the pipes. Well.. the pipes are all done but the wall behind has suffered and as I have now found out not JUST the tiles.
See .. this is what happened to it after I used the toilet a few times.
I noticed a creaking sound before but the more I used it (and sorry, I like to SIT on my toilet) I felt I was sort of sliding off it because it started to press against the back wall and since that was only just cut out and glued back (supported behind it by only a small bit of wood) it is giving way!Oh no... I had visions of it breaking off the wall and water spouting out everywhere so I thought of a workaround, that is the upside of working this long in BAC, you get REALLY good at workaronds!
So.. I don't mean to be rude but... I stuffed Simon Cowell under my toilet!!!
Friday, July 27, 2007
All
VERY exciting....
Yesterday I heard that the mending of my plumbing would only be planned 3 weeks from now. Which for neighbours below me was not very nice. Since they had tested the coloured water in my bath/shower I thought to be nice and not use the shower/bath as much or long as I would normally do.
So, a few days I even just washed at the basin to not flush the neighbours but felt a little bit miffed because 3 weeks is very long to feel you can not have a long long shower!
So, even if apprehensive, I was over the moon to hear that TODAY would be the day it would all be made better. Also very scary because they can only know how dramatic it is going to be once they have it all open.
So.. toilet off and cut a big bit out of the back wall to expose the pipes... In the picture you can see a top pipe (bath) and a lower pipe which turned out to be from the basins in both my toilet and bathroom. The same basin I used instead of the bath to not flush the neighbours...
Turns out that the bottom pipe was the culprit, it had a 20cm rotted hole in it! Amazing:
Which of course means that instead of helping the neighbours I was flushing them even more! The bathwater that I used mostly went right down only a bit flowed back into this rotted bit.
We also found out that ALL people above me using water flushed the neighbours and they didn't even know they had to stop using water - OOPS :)
Anyway... it meant that they had to discard that pipe totally and do a bypass from the basin in the bathroom and the basin in the toilet and connect it directly.
Which doesn't exactly look like the most beautiful solution in the world as you can see:
But... apart from that, only 1 broken tile which is a lot LESS dramatic than I feared, hooray!
Took them the best part of the day though, started at 7 and it is now 1800 and they are still at it! Definitely getting there now though!
So.. 1900 and finally they are gone and I can conclude it is NOT very nice just now.
Sunday K is coming by to help me paint the bedroom so I think we will also have a go at that pipe to see if it can be made a little bit less in once face ;)
Life is very interesting at the moment, to say the least!
Yesterday I heard that the mending of my plumbing would only be planned 3 weeks from now. Which for neighbours below me was not very nice. Since they had tested the coloured water in my bath/shower I thought to be nice and not use the shower/bath as much or long as I would normally do.
So, a few days I even just washed at the basin to not flush the neighbours but felt a little bit miffed because 3 weeks is very long to feel you can not have a long long shower!
So, even if apprehensive, I was over the moon to hear that TODAY would be the day it would all be made better. Also very scary because they can only know how dramatic it is going to be once they have it all open.
So.. toilet off and cut a big bit out of the back wall to expose the pipes... In the picture you can see a top pipe (bath) and a lower pipe which turned out to be from the basins in both my toilet and bathroom. The same basin I used instead of the bath to not flush the neighbours...
Turns out that the bottom pipe was the culprit, it had a 20cm rotted hole in it! Amazing:
Which of course means that instead of helping the neighbours I was flushing them even more! The bathwater that I used mostly went right down only a bit flowed back into this rotted bit.
We also found out that ALL people above me using water flushed the neighbours and they didn't even know they had to stop using water - OOPS :)
Anyway... it meant that they had to discard that pipe totally and do a bypass from the basin in the bathroom and the basin in the toilet and connect it directly.
Which doesn't exactly look like the most beautiful solution in the world as you can see:
But... apart from that, only 1 broken tile which is a lot LESS dramatic than I feared, hooray!
Took them the best part of the day though, started at 7 and it is now 1800 and they are still at it! Definitely getting there now though!
So.. 1900 and finally they are gone and I can conclude it is NOT very nice just now.
Sunday K is coming by to help me paint the bedroom so I think we will also have a go at that pipe to see if it can be made a little bit less in once face ;)
Life is very interesting at the moment, to say the least!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Meet Ghorak
A fantastic dish made with chicken, apricots dates and all sorts of other amazing ingredients.
If you ever want a nice special place to take tourists, go to Rotterdam and try Bazar, it is fantastic.. nice ambiance, great food with magnificent use of spices and also very close to the centre of Rotterdam. Y and M definitely LOVED it and we were stuffed.. good thing we had a nice walk over a few big bridges in Rotterdam (When visiting Rotterdam one has to do a few bridges)
I can't tell you how nice it is to be able to do this again, to just jump on the metro and within 15 minutes be in the bustling centre of Rotterdam...
Love it!
If you ever want a nice special place to take tourists, go to Rotterdam and try Bazar, it is fantastic.. nice ambiance, great food with magnificent use of spices and also very close to the centre of Rotterdam. Y and M definitely LOVED it and we were stuffed.. good thing we had a nice walk over a few big bridges in Rotterdam (When visiting Rotterdam one has to do a few bridges)
I can't tell you how nice it is to be able to do this again, to just jump on the metro and within 15 minutes be in the bustling centre of Rotterdam...
Love it!
Friday, July 20, 2007
The Joys of Ones Own Property
There I was, fresh out of the shower (sorry for that mental image) still slightly dripping when the downstairs doorbell rang.
So... me, chipper as always hoping that finally the box with goodies that John sent me would have arrived, answered 'Hello?'
'Hello, this building manager here, did you just use water?'
Erhm.. well.. erhm.. yah.. just had a shower... (frantically thinking better put something on if he wants to check my water)
'Oh, ok then I will come upstairs shortly because we think somebody on the 5th floor has a problem because of your connections.'
So.. he came up with a bucket and some green colouring.. threw a load of water through the bath and on his walkie talkie asked the neighbour 2 floors down if she saw anything and she said 'green water'.
Boohoo!
Turns out that this is a known issue in these flats. The connections to the main wastepipe from the toilet, basin, bath and kitchen is getting really thin after 40 years and causes leaks. Every week there are about 3 people with the same problem but of course I wasn't aware.
It means they have to break my lovely tiles in the toilet, bathroom and kitchen and only when they open it do they know how big the wreckage is going to be. Upside I suppose.. as far as upsides go in these kind of situations.. the community pays for the wrecking, they repair the pipes etc. but the repair afterwards is the owners responsibility. And well.. of course.. the tiles are old and there are no spares at all so I would have a nice repaired pipe but a wrecked toilet!
So.. of course I was in tears and called 911 (John ;-)) who of course talked some sense into me and told me to call my brother to share and then my insurance person to check if it is covered by my contents insurance.
Did both which made me feel better when my brother said 'poor sis!!' and the insurance guy that he would check it out.
Now.. 3 days later it turns out that it IS covered under my contents insurance, upto 4000 euros even, although only upto 1000 euros I can get away without an expert coming around.
So.. now it is waiting for the plumber to come and do his deed and tell me what it will cost me to revamp my toilet!
I tell you, these are exciting times!
So... me, chipper as always hoping that finally the box with goodies that John sent me would have arrived, answered 'Hello?'
'Hello, this building manager here, did you just use water?'
Erhm.. well.. erhm.. yah.. just had a shower... (frantically thinking better put something on if he wants to check my water)
'Oh, ok then I will come upstairs shortly because we think somebody on the 5th floor has a problem because of your connections.'
So.. he came up with a bucket and some green colouring.. threw a load of water through the bath and on his walkie talkie asked the neighbour 2 floors down if she saw anything and she said 'green water'.
Boohoo!
Turns out that this is a known issue in these flats. The connections to the main wastepipe from the toilet, basin, bath and kitchen is getting really thin after 40 years and causes leaks. Every week there are about 3 people with the same problem but of course I wasn't aware.
It means they have to break my lovely tiles in the toilet, bathroom and kitchen and only when they open it do they know how big the wreckage is going to be. Upside I suppose.. as far as upsides go in these kind of situations.. the community pays for the wrecking, they repair the pipes etc. but the repair afterwards is the owners responsibility. And well.. of course.. the tiles are old and there are no spares at all so I would have a nice repaired pipe but a wrecked toilet!
So.. of course I was in tears and called 911 (John ;-)) who of course talked some sense into me and told me to call my brother to share and then my insurance person to check if it is covered by my contents insurance.
Did both which made me feel better when my brother said 'poor sis!!' and the insurance guy that he would check it out.
Now.. 3 days later it turns out that it IS covered under my contents insurance, upto 4000 euros even, although only upto 1000 euros I can get away without an expert coming around.
So.. now it is waiting for the plumber to come and do his deed and tell me what it will cost me to revamp my toilet!
I tell you, these are exciting times!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Kevin 22
My goodness.. how old does that make me!!!
And how nice is it for me to live here now... only 10 minutes cycling away which allows me to drink a few glasses of wine and still get away with 'driving'
Having said that.. apparently IF I would be stopped by the police and caught with too much alcohol I could still lose my drivers license, interesting I thought. I did decide though that I was a lot less dangerous on a bike than in a car after 3 glasses and I would probably make less of a dent should i hit a car.
It is amazing how quick I am getting used to being here, it is exactly the same as I remembered but then better! All the things I used to take for granted I now appreciate so much more.. (like 5 different shopping centres to cycle to ;-))
The blue-ification of my house is continuing as well, I go this from my mum and I can't stop looking at it, it is brilliant, the light shining through the blue centres of the flowers is gorgeous.
And I bought a couch!
I always wanted a pilot leather couch but I couldn't find one I really liked and IF I found something that I liked it was so expensive I decided against it! Then I went into one of those furniture shops and saw my perfect couch in pilot leather and couldn't believe the price only about 700 euros! Turned out of course that it was make believe leather and actually fabric in the nicest softest form. Of course no idea how it will hold up but I thought for 700 euros I could take my chance!
Not bad I say, nice and chunky and so tactile!
Well.. I am well aware that this blog must be so boring, my apologies for that but I can't stop being so happy about my new house :-)
And how nice is it for me to live here now... only 10 minutes cycling away which allows me to drink a few glasses of wine and still get away with 'driving'
Having said that.. apparently IF I would be stopped by the police and caught with too much alcohol I could still lose my drivers license, interesting I thought. I did decide though that I was a lot less dangerous on a bike than in a car after 3 glasses and I would probably make less of a dent should i hit a car.
It is amazing how quick I am getting used to being here, it is exactly the same as I remembered but then better! All the things I used to take for granted I now appreciate so much more.. (like 5 different shopping centres to cycle to ;-))
The blue-ification of my house is continuing as well, I go this from my mum and I can't stop looking at it, it is brilliant, the light shining through the blue centres of the flowers is gorgeous.
And I bought a couch!
I always wanted a pilot leather couch but I couldn't find one I really liked and IF I found something that I liked it was so expensive I decided against it! Then I went into one of those furniture shops and saw my perfect couch in pilot leather and couldn't believe the price only about 700 euros! Turned out of course that it was make believe leather and actually fabric in the nicest softest form. Of course no idea how it will hold up but I thought for 700 euros I could take my chance!
Not bad I say, nice and chunky and so tactile!Well.. I am well aware that this blog must be so boring, my apologies for that but I can't stop being so happy about my new house :-)
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Mothers
There are some things only a mother can say...
Like.. "Tanja why do you hang your toiletroll in such a way that you can't see the nice pink things on them."
"Because that is the way I like to hang my toiletroll mum"
Next time in a supermarket after she came to visit for dinner "Well, I still don't understand why you have your toiletroll hanging so strangely so I switched it around"
Whoehahaha :-)
I forgot about the level of interference one incurs when moving back 'home'
Love it :)
Like.. "Tanja why do you hang your toiletroll in such a way that you can't see the nice pink things on them."
"Because that is the way I like to hang my toiletroll mum"
Next time in a supermarket after she came to visit for dinner "Well, I still don't understand why you have your toiletroll hanging so strangely so I switched it around"
Whoehahaha :-)
I forgot about the level of interference one incurs when moving back 'home'
Love it :)
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