Arrival

Well, it's been a year in the planning and now it's underway. What started as an idea to get some well-paid work in Irish pubs in Denmark has become a tentative reality. We have about 17 nights of gigs booked over about 5 weeks, with some more possibilities to sort out as we go. Even at this late stage it is looking like a pretty aggressive agenda which we've already dubbed the "Careful what you wish for tour". Principally, we are on the bill for the Halkaer Kro festival that I have played twice previously with the Chaps, and this is where we start.

Anna and I are travelling with her daughters, Madelief and Jasmjin, and they will holiday with their Grandparents in Holland. After a tortuous first leg that saw us at Dunedin airport at 6:30am, two flights to Auckland and then 12 hours to Seoul, it was a welcome layover in a plush hotel. A good night's sleep, a hearty breakfast and the next (12 hour) leg to Amsterdam didn't seem nearly as bad.

We all met up with Anna’s parents, Joop and Edna and brother Seb at Amsterdam Airport and had a relaxing time there for an hour or so before Anna’s daughters left with Oma and Opa by train to Haaksbergen.

Anna and I went with Seb to his home in Amsterdam where he treated us so well, buying dinner and drinks and giving us his car and many other generosities.

Seb is a leading light in international banking in Holland, specifically in the trade of carbon credits, Kyoto compliance and supporting environmental projects. Just google Seb Walhain and you'll get the idea. But being a high-flyer in the world of finance does not make you immune from some of the more tragic, ordinary things of life. There had been a fire in his lovely Amsterdam apartment, or at least in the apartment upstairs. The destruction and the water damage was still plenty visible and the photos of the aftermath were, to say the least, depressing. There was stiff the insidious smell of smoke in one room (which now was completely exposed to the room above) which will serve as a palpable reminder long after all the parts of his home life are put back together. It is from this backdrop of generousity in the face of calamity that we drive off the next day into the Dutch hinterland towards Anna's childhood hometown.

Mike