Sun, Oct 3 - Dropped bags A’dam, 2pm Zoetermeer Wim, Take out dinner from Japanese

MB asked politely whether I wanted to use the shower. I said I’d showered last night and wasn’t planning to shower this morning. When she came out, she apologized for taking so long; she does her exercises in the shower to stretch her arms and shoulders. Then she apologized for creating a tempest in a teapot last night; she’s over-tired. I said of course I know that she chooses her friends on their merits, and see that Aad and Gies are real fighters (as in: against the odds). She lamented not having seen Elisabeth van Tuinen and Souad Khoury, her real friends. She asked to be reminded to call them.

I packed my bags and left for Amsterdam shortly before 10am, to drop them off around the corner from Alec’s while I still have use of the car: 2 of my own, and 2 with things to take along to Pieter’s on Tuesday. A brilliantly sunny morning, and balmy. Cows sharp-edged in the light against the green pastures, where you could almost see the blades of grass. Groene Hart Nederland and the three windmills – one traditional, two turbines – 15km north of Rijswijk. I hope I can take a photo tomorrow on the way to the airport. A4 all the way to Ring West Amsterdam, then exit S106 to the Suriname Plein and then the Overtoom.

Tota & Paul, Joya’s grandparents (they must be in their early 60s, I suppose), live in the Reyer Anslostraat, one street over from Alec’s. Paul has a meubelwinkel at the end of the Saxonburgerstraat, and built and installed Alec’s kitchen. They worked closely together designing it, and became friends. So when Alec was concerned about squatters in his empty apartment, it made sense for Paul’s grand-daughter and Felix’s sometime babysitter, Joya, to move in. Tota is a small walnut of a woman – slight and wiry, olive skinned (or tanned), shoulder-length black-brown hair with a straight fringe. I heard her say ‘Oh shit’ as she came to open the front door, cigarette in hand.