Spring is here

As always, I can hardly believe almost five months have gone by since my last post.  Winter has gone and already some of the bulbs we planted in autumn have come up and some even have produced flowers.  Two weeks ago, I showed our 4,5 year old granddaughter round the garden to admire the many purple crocuses and some white ones that she  helped plant.  And as ever, she was very enthusiastic and excited.  Since then, more daffodils and some tulips have come up.  I’m very excited about the tulips myself, as I don’t really remember which colours they are. 

The garden is still looking good, although I will have to remove a bit of weed as soon as it is a bit warmer during the day on a weekend.  I mowed the lawn for the first time this year after work last week and washed my car the following day (also for the first time this year I’m a bit ashamed to admit).  It is the Easter holiday and it is sunny and getting warmer, although we had some very cold nights with some frost even.  Unfortunately the weather wasn’t so nice last Saturday (it rained !) and on Sunday we went to one of our grandson’s birthday party, very nice to see all of them, but that meant there was no time left for gardening.

We have had a rather mild winter.  We had a couple of nights and days with some frost, but no snow.  A lot of rain though, but we are used to that.  Of course we live under the influence of the sea that makes our climate, in winter but also during the summer, milder than inland, and we are hardly ever without at least a slight breeze making the warmer summer days more agreeable. Some weekends in March were sunny but quite windy.  A couple of weeks ago, I took a Friday off to do some thorough cleaning.  I guess I suffered from a bout of spring cleaning fever.  I used to laugh at my mom when she did what we call 'big cleaning' (grote kuis in Flemish literally translated).  I scrubbed the kitchen floor......on my knees no less.  My husband said it reminded him of episodes of 'Upstairs, downstairs' where the maids would scrub and polish floors on hands and knees. 

With the weekend gone, the weather is improving again.  Just my luck ! I have to work of course. I’ll have to take care of the weeding after work tomorrow I guess.  I didn’t feel up to it today as I’m not feeling very fit.  I didn’t get much sleep last night, but I’m sure I’ll make up for the lost hours tonight.  Our holiday is coming nearer.  We’re going to Jamaica with our friends from Antwerp.  I’m hoping to get a little bit of a tan before we go (and lose some weight again).  Still have some time left for that, but the older I get, the more difficult it is (the weight that is).  I should exercise a bit more.  I still go to the pool every week with the granddaughter, but as I said before, I can’t really swim with her.  We just play around in the kids pool.  She can’t swim yet but she’s like a little mermaid.  She’s not afraid to have her head under water. 

Less happy things have also been part of my life the last few months.  I visited a former colleague, friend really,  that is seriously ill.  She seemed to enjoy the visits, so I'll certainely go see her again.  I also found out that two others have serious health problems.  Kind of confronts you with your own mortality.   All the more reason to do the things you enjoy most.  Easier said than done I know, but I'll sure give it a try.

So you can see why I don’t spend much time writing and there still is so much to do around the house.  Hope summer will be good (for you too).  Keep our fingers crossed.  

All's well that ends well.

The year is drawing to a close.  I have another birthday coming up soon.  Not much has changed in my life in the past year really.  I'm busy as always with  the usual stuff : work, theatre, italian, children and grandchildren.  We had 3 lovely days in London with Niels, our youngest son, and Fauve, Niels' girlfriend 2 weeks ago. The weather was mild and agreable for the time of year. It was even sunny when we arrived so we went to Potobello Road Market as planned.  It was very nice to stroll down the streets past all the colourful stalls and we enjoyed the tappas we had for lunch outside in a little square nearby.  We went to the British Museum and Tate Modern, crossed the Millenium Bridge, saw Saint-Paul's Cathedral and Admiral Nelson on his column and the fountains in Trafalgar Square.  We went to see a Musical, The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre, and were overwhelmed by the costumes and the performance and impressed by the stage, colourful sets and stunning effects.  The building is a piece of art on its own dating from 1834 with a balcony overhanging the circle, rebuilt and richly ornamented in rococo style in 1904.  We also did a spot of shopping and as it got darker were able to admire the Christmas decorations in the shopping Streets.  I was surprised to see how different Carnaby is from 30 years ago.  We all had a great time and lots of fun.  So much so that we decided we may go on holiday together to Tuscany next year. I have started taking the eldest granddaughter to the swimming pool every week.  She likes it a lot and  I must admit: so do I.  I don't get to swim much though, so after the performance of my theatre group in January, I will take up swimming again, at least once a week, to get some dire needed exercise.  I am proud to say I did accomplish a couple of important things this year.   I don't want to go into too much detail, as it not only concerns myself, but I managed to take care of something that needed to be gotten out of the way with and I did it on my own, saving a lot of money.  Time and effort well spent.   And now things can move on.  The 'guest rooms' still need redecorating but one of the rooms is almost empty and I hope to start on that one in January.  The other room is uncluttered and clean and has already welcomed one guest, hopefully not the last.  With Christmas and New Year coming up, I am already busy planning for the dinners and thinking about which presents to buy, especially for our grandchildren.  And so: all's well that ends well and I hope you all enjoy your family and other gatherings the coming weeks and  I wish you all a healthy, prosperous and wonderful 2015.

Mermaid reverie

I wish the sea would swallow me

Body and soul entirely

free and unchained eternally

One with my final destiny

No pain or sorrow burden me

No love or friendship tie me down

My salty tears

The sea has drowned

 

Meanwhile

I know, I haven't even been on here for 5 months ! Meanwhile we were in Aruba in May and had a wonderful time.  I did manage eventually to lose some weight before we went there, unfortunately I put some kilos back on during our holiday.  It wasn't too bad though and not as if I hadn't expected it with all the good food and drinks I enjoyed having, but since then I put on some more.  I am still 1 kilo under the weight I was before the diet.  Small consolation I know.  IWe're going to London in 4 weeks time and I am would like to do some serious shopping there, so as you may have guessed : I am on a diet, again ! We're going with our youngest son and his girl friend so the shopping will be nice.  I haven't been in London for more than 10 years and I'm really looking forward to it.  Our son's girlfriend has never been to London and it will be nice to show her round.  We're going on the eurostar and have 3 full days.  I am taking care of the planning.  We want to see Tate Modern and the British Museum and go see a musical one evening.  It will be the beginning of December so all the Christmas decorations will be up.  I was there so many times when I used to work for the ferry company although I never had a lot of spare time to walk around or do some shopping. Feels like a previous life now. The summer has been very nice. The weather agreable most of the summer and September and October were better than average. Sunny and warm.  Today was a wonderfully warm and sunny 1st November .

Meanwhile, during the past months, we finally got some work done in the garden.  All the hedges, the rose bushes and the apple and pear tree nicely pruned. Some repair work was done on our garden shed.  I planted a lot of flower bulbs together with our granddaughter.  She will be so thrilled to see all those lovely flowers coming out next year in spring.  I still plan to redecorate the 2 rooms upstairs during the winter.  Since the beginning of September the rehearsals with my amateur theatre group have started for the play in January and the Italian lessons also, keeping me busy 3 evenings a week.  I should however start swimming again. I don't move nearly enough.  But with the theatre and the Italian and my Saturdays busy with the grandchildren, it is kind of difficult to find the spare time.  November will be a busy month : 2 of our grandchildren have their birthdays, we're going to take part in a school quiz and there is a grandparent afternoon at one of our grandchlidren's school.  Apart from that I still hold a full time job and I'm not quite ready to retire just yet, and if our government gets their way, I still have 7 years to go. That doesn't really bother me except I'ld like to have some more time to travel.  December will come and go at the speed of light with the trip to London and the holiday festivities and my own birthday, so I guess it may be some time before I will be writing here again. 

How time flies when you're having fun !

Lots of fun with the grandchildren and doing all kinds of stuff.  I am again amazed at how long it has been since I last wrote anything about my daily life.   My weekly routine still includes going to work every day and taking care of some of our lovely but very lively and energetic grandchildren during the weekend.  The weather is getting better so we sometimes go to the playground where they can run around.  One of them is incredibly fearless for a 4y old; she climbs and jumps and runs like a real tomboy. I have also thaught them to blow away the seeds of dandelions and the 4 year old can't walk past one without picking it and doing just that. The sheep are back so we go see them, but the youngest granddaughter is afraid of them.  The last time we went, there were no lambs yet but today I noticed a couple while I was busy in the garden. It is a sign that the new season is well on the way. Driving to work I enjoy seeing the horses and cows quietly grazing. One of these days I must remember to take my camera to take photographs of the beautiful foal I've seen. It's an early spring and temperatures are agreable.  Today is Labor Day so I was off work and I did some gardening.  Mowing the lawn and trimming hedges.  No grandchildren here today so I got a lot done. That's the fun I had today. Just as I finished the last hedge it started to rain. Weather permitting,  I intend to pot some plants this Saturday and the grandchildren can help me.  I'm sure they'll love it.  The weather forecast is for a rather chilly but dry sunny day, so I guess it will work out fine.  Meanwhile our holiday is getting closer.  I would like to look a bit slimmer on the beach so I have been on a 'alternate day' diet for almost 6 weeks now.  I have managed to lose almost 4 kg. It is very hard to get rid of the extra weight.  Much harder than it used to be when I was younger, but I am very determined so I am sticking to it and with a couple of weeks to go, I hope I will fit in some of my old outfits again. I'm in no doubt I will have to get rid of some re-gained kilo's after the holiday, but that won't keep me from enjoying the lovely food and drinks in Aruba.  We also bought an e-reader to replace the heavy books in our luggage, actually we bought 2 of them. Last year we had to rearrange our cases at the automatic baggage check-in at Schiphol, the Amsterdam airport, to divide the weight over both suitcases evenly.  To avoid the same predicament this year, me and my husband will both take our e-reader replacing the 10 odd books we usually take on a 2 week holiday.  That will also result in lighter suitcases, an added benefit.  E-readers are not that popular here yet.  A lot of people have asked me if it was a small computer.  At the hairdresser's one girl had never heard of an e-reader before.  At the library they only just started up a project with e-books.   I must admit it is very handy, but I do think I will still by books.  For now anyway.  Well that's it for now.  I guess the next time I'll be writing about the holiday although there won't be a lot to tell.  All we do is relax, swim read, eat and drink; oh and sleep obviously and maybe meet some nice people. Looking forward to all of that for sure.

A year to remember

Another year has gone by and a lot has happened.  My parent's house was finally sold and we managed to clear it out on time for the new owners to move in.  Since my last writings my children and grandchildren have prevented me from getting bored.  I have been decorating at our youngest son's new home.  Stripping wall paper, removing old paint, painting the ceiling and doors, putting up new wall paper ....that were the main activities on my Sunday programme for about 6 weekends in a row. The whole house had to be redecorated except for the bathroom.  That kept me from mischief.  The Saturdays were spent looking after 2 or 3 grandchildren that are in motion all the time except when they are asleep and I would have loved to take a nap too but I couldn't. You can imagine that, between the redecorating and the grandchildren I am a very fit granny now, I even developed some arm muscles. Not that I mind.  Meanwhile, I have made a start clearing out the two rooms in our house we want to redecorate.  One of the rooms is even a presentable guestroom now.  The fact that my brother considered staying the night on New Year's eve meant that I had to get the room ready, clear out all the clutter and have it thoroughly cleaned.  A bit of time pressure is always welcome in my case and extra motivating  Still a lot needs to be done before I can say the rooms are ready, but I seem to have more energy and hopefully I will feel like this for some time to come.  It was fortunate that I was energetic these past few weeks.  We had a small party on my birthday with the family and a couple of our youngest son's friends as he and his girlfriend were going on holiday the next day and so they could not be with us on Christmas eve. With all 6 of our grandchildren here and 11 adults it did get a bit crowded and it was a very full house indeed.  On Christmas Eve, the family again came tot our house for dinner.  And on New Year's eve, my brother and  sister and her 3 children had dinner at our house.  My weekday evenings are still partly spent with the amateur theatre group, rehearsing 2 nights a week.  The performances are on 24 and 25 January and the week of the performance we rehearse every evening.  And 1 night a week I am still learning Italian.  So in case you have been wondering why I hadn't written on my little blog for a while, you now know what I've been up to.  We also almost booked a holiday tot Uganda, with friends that I have known since school.  The trip included going tot watch  gorillas.  But we decided not to go, for various reasons, so we have no holidayplans as yet.  There will be though and I would love to take a trip to London again, or Paris and maybe some friends can come over and stay with us now that we have a guest room.  Things to look forward to in this New Year.  I do hope you all have good times coming your way in 2014 and wish all of you a healthy and happy year.

No rest for the wicked

Why am I writing this on a Sunday evening you might wonder.  I have been rather busy these last weekends and during the week I am working.  It has been the most wonderful summer.  Sunny and warm.  Almost every evening, I could still sit in the garden when I got home from work.  Some weekends, we took care of some of our grandchildren, while their parents were working in their future home.  We had a plastic inflatable pool in the garden and they loved that.  Those of you who read my previous scriblings know that houses play a big role in my life at the moment.  My parental home is now officially another family's property and concern. The deed was signed last Thursday.  We spent some Saturdays clearing out the house.  It took 3 of us 2 full days to clear out the garage alone (that has a cellar).  Not as bad as the attic but almost.  Saying goodbye to the house was not that emotional for me.  My childhood home is actually the house we lived in with my grandmother and was actually her house, untill we moved to the house my parents had build when I was ten.  My childhood to me, are the years we lived in the small dead end street.  There were less cars back then but because it was a cul-de-sac, almost none came into our street.  Many children of about my age were living there so we played outside on the street most of the time.  It was even safe enough for roller skating; The old ladies would sit outside on chairs on the pavement in front of their houses when the weather was good.  They would be watching us, chatting and knitting.  We would sometimes go visit them and play card games.  I spent a lot of time with my grandmother and I have fond memories of her.  She was in her late sixties when I was born, so I had an old grandmother.  I guess I spent so much time with her because I am the eldest and it was normal for me to be with her when my younger brother was born and later my sister. But I remember I really liked being with her. She sometimes cooked for the 2 of us and I would have dinner with her and not with the rest of the family.  My grandmother died when I was 12 at the age of 80.  I remember the funeral and clearly remember it made me sad to realise I would never see her again.  I can only hope to be in my grandchildren's hearts as she still is in mine. I do have good memories of te house we just sold, but somehow I don't consider those childhood memories.  The next step now is our youngest son moving house tomorow.  I have taken off some time from work to help out a bit with the decorating;  All this physical activity does have an added value.  I am getting fitter and I am actually losing weight without strict diet.  On the days that I was not working in one of the houses, I spent some time with the grandchildren. Yesterday we spent the afternoon with 2 of them.  I enjoy that immensely and they are so energetic that I don't have problems to sleep well at night.  A busy time is coming on at work too and the rehearsals with the theatre group for the play in January have started 2 weeks ago, aswell as my Italian course.  No rest for the wicked as the saying goes.

Sunset in Paradise

A pure white sandy beach, the blue ocean, the sun, a sea breeze, it's nice and warm and tranquil, I am reading and somebody (our neibours on the beach !) just brought me a strawbury daiquiri with crushed ice, just like that.  What else could I want ?  There are a number of things I could think of, but it's near perfection to me, for a while anyway.  And those glorious sunsets ! Every evening any number of hotel guests would be on the beach trying to catch it on camera.  We did have a great holiday in Aruba.  The 10 hour flight was well worth it.  I actually could have stayed there for another fortnight, soaking up the sun, reading, eating drinking (!), swimming and enjoying the relaxing atmosphere.  Now that summer seems to be seriously delayed on our otherwise very nice seaside, I realise even more how lucky I am to have been able to be in the sun for 2 weeks on a wonderful holiday.  The hotel was super and everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves, even the Arubans who were working.  Most of the other guests were from the U.S., some were South-American and so we kept forgetting that a large number of the staff also spoke dutch.  Aruba, although it has its own government,  is still a part of the Dutch kingdom and dutch is still taught at school.  So very often when we were talking amongst ourselves they would immediately say "maar jullie spreken nederlands !' (you speak dutch) and I guess they liked speaking dutch for a change. They even knew some programs from our flemish TV channels.
So I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I read 5 and 1/2 books, and apparently, people do notice what others do on the beach, unlike myself because when I'm reading I am like immersed in another world except for the times I'ld be asleep or swimming or watching one of the pelicans diving for food, a remerkable sight.  The friends we were travelling with, met a couple from Philadelphia (well actually 'near' to as they lived at about a 2 hour drive from Philadelphia) and when they joined us for dinner one evening, they said : 'Oh, you're the ones that are reading the whole time.'.  It is funny how relative distance is : they said they lived near Philadelphia (2hrs away) and they asked us if we lived near to each other.  Our friends said no, but I said : 'We don't call it near but to you it would be, it's 'only' 1 1/2 hrs drive .'
So summer is on hold here.  It rained all night last night and now it's grey and cold for the time of year.  I am writing this now on my lunch break because it's too cold to be out.  I would much rather be outside right now, with my book, I am on my own at work all day, kind of boring but it has its advantages.  But still, a bit of a chat now and again is a welcome intermezzo most of the time.
Meanwhile a lot has happened even in the month since we got back from our holiday.  Our parental home is as good as sold, so we will have to empty it out now in the next 2 or 3 months.  A bit of pressure is always good.  Our sons are both moving house after the summer.  Not into the same house obviously ! The eldest and his wife have bought a house but a lot of construction needs to be done before they can move in.  I have been looking after their 3 children 2 Saturdays in a row, while they were clearing it out.  The previous owner and the tennant had left so much junk in the house and garden that it has taken them 3 weekends already of moving the stuff out to be thrown away and still the house isn't empty yet.  Last weekend I didn't have to babysit the children, so I went over to help them.   I am even more determined now to start clearing our attic of any stuff I don't have a use for anymore.  Not that it looks anything like my son's house but still, I will do it.  Our youngest son and his girlfriend are also going to move to another house after the summer, probably October, meaning that for the next 4 to 5 months I will not have a lot of time to read, but that's not too bad.  It will keep me busy as always.  This saturday it's Ophelia's 3rd birthday and according to the weather forecasts, dare we believe it, the weather will improve from then on.  Keeping my finges crossed as our joint birthday present, a trampoline, does require a day without rain and we would like to have a small family BBQ, can you believe for the 1st time this year. 

Springtime

Springtime, should be sunny and fresh and green and hopeful.  That is how I expect spring to be anyway.  This year really is no spring at all. On monday morning, there was ice on my car again and it's almost May.  As I am writing, I am trying not to pay too much attention to the weather forcast on TV.   We had a couple of nice,  sunny and invigorating spring days so far.  last Thursday was really wonderful, sunny and around 20 ° C, but Friday morning it was foggy, chilly (8 °C) and raining. This weekend was sunny, but still too cold for the time of year. I am really looking forward to our holiday in less than a month.  We are going to Aruba.  That will be the most exotic holiday we ever took, but hopefully the first one of a series I am intending to take.  Meanwhile I am still trying desperately to get rid of some kilos.  I refuse to buy bigger size clothes.  That is an advantage financially.  Every down side, has an up side ! But I am very determined I will succeed, so I am sure somehow I will lose weight.  Well somehow means obviously I have to cut down on sugar and fat and eat more vegetables an fruit.  But hey, it is spring or is it ?  My parental house is still not empty and we haven't been able to sell it yet.  You probably think not much has happened apart from the holiday bur that is not entirely true.  Untill the end of March I had 2 rehearsals every week with our theatre company, and I am still following an italian course. I have been doing that for 5 years now, and this year we went on a weekend trip to Milan together.  We were a bit unfortunate in that the weather was more wintery than spring like - it actually snowed  while we were there!  The 'primavera' as the cycling race Milan San Remo is called, that was cycled on the Sunday we went to visit Bergamo, had to be interupted due to the snow and cold.  But otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed the sights, the atmosphere, the food (yes, it is no wonder that I have trouble losing weight), the people there and the company, and the art.  I am defenitely going back someday.  Yesterday I got some work done in the garden.  I bought lots of plants and filled many a terracotta pot so even though spring  is a bit late, I am hopeful and ready for it.  The previous weekend I managed some spring time cleaning around the house.  That should be the start of another project that has taken form in my mind.  I keep adding projects to my to-do list, I know, but I do have more energy than I have had at the beginning of the year, although with my hobbies, the family and work, I should not complain about a lack of energy.  The project I have added is renovating the rooms that have been standing emty for a while now(we have become 'empty-nesters').  The rooms are really in need of redecorating and when that is done, we can finally offer nice lodgings to friends or family visiting with us. So, that is what I have been up to, next time, I will have been on holiday.  I am still hoping to get some sun before, otherwise I will need some heavy sunscreen, at least, that is the ecpectation.

Looking back and ahead

I wasn't aware 2 months had past since my last scribblings. As you can guess, I have been very busy.  First I spent so much time contacting my former colleagues from North Sea Ferries and put up old pictures on the facebook event page I set up.  This started out others going through their photographs and even looking up stuff on the internet and I really enjoyed seeing new facebook friendships grow and everybody connecting again and I really felt good about this.  Many of you probably saw some of the going ons on fb.  After my last post here I kept going.  At first I was a bit worried that it would not be a succesful reunion because  it took some people a long time to confirm their attendance,  But 2 weeks before the event some 70 had confirmed, some couldn't make it on the day, so we were 63, and 46 of us actual ex NSF.  On the day of the reunion, I was very nervous.  But there was no need for that.  My sons and their friends did a splendid job serving the food and drinks and it was such fun to see everybody in a great mood at renewing friendships and catching up on what everyone had been up tosince 2003 and how their children were doing and if they had grandchildren.  It was great and there was not nearly enough time to talk to all of them.  They all brought so much Potluck, I still have some chips and nuts left, even after I gave away half of it and used some myself on my birthday and at Christmas.  One of my dutch friends, and it was great that so many of them drove all that way to join us, had prepared a wonderful power point presentation with lots of pictures and videos from 'the good old days'.  It is amazing that even after such a long stretch of time, you immediately feel at ease again with old friends.  Afterwards I realised how I had missed this familiarity, and it is maybe a bit sad but on the other hand : it was great back then and I have all these funny and happy and some sad shared memories.  After the reunion I did still spend time posting pictures and mailing pictures to the ones that are not on fb.  A lot of time spent on my computer but rewarding.  After that, I was looking forward to the arrival of our American friends.  They arrived on the 20th December and I collected them from the airport. It was great to see them again.  On my birthday, 21st December, the supposed Maya end of the world, I took them and son Niels and friends that helped out at the North Sea Feast with POtluck out for dinner to thank them for helping me out.  We had a wonderful evening with them.  I had some offtime from work and Christmas dinner to prepare.  I did a lot of cooking, and eating I might add, over the past 2 weeks, but enjoyed having all the family here even though we had to move some furniture around and 3 champagne glasses were sacrificed. On New Year's eve we went to my brother and had a great dinner and evening there.  Wednesday our American friends had to go back home.  And now well : I am teary eyed and snotty nosed, not from crying but from a cold I seem to have caught.  The New year comes with new challenges, losing some kilo's I seem to have gathered over the last month or so (that is not really a new challenge), selling our parental house (that may not prove to be the biggest challenge - emptying it of all it's contents will prove far more difficult I'm sure) and last but not least : planning a holiday that is a bit out of the ordinary, but I guess nobody woul call that a challenge but rather a wonderful propect.

Nostalgia

I haven't been writing here for a long time.  I have been thinking about the past quite often recently.  I finally took action and I am organising a get together with my co-workers, friends I should say, from  North Sea Ferries.  So I went through old photographs, to try and spot faces and try and put names to the faces and try to find their address, email, phone number whatever, to get in touch with them.  I found it really surprising that some people seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth.  You would expect that with all the social media, we have all lost our privacy.  Some people clearly have not. Before everybody had a cell phone, most people had a phone in their home and if you had their name and knew the name of the town they lived in, you could find their phone number and home address.  Nowadays, most mobile numbers are not listed.  I find it even annoying at work that a lot of persons emailing omit their contact info from the mail and you have to mail them back, even if a phone call of 1 minute would be enough to explain, or ask something.  I guess I am kind of "old school" in that I find writing mails or even texting more cumbersome.  I started out with a list of about 50 contacts and it grew to 150.  And still frequently a name or face pops up that I had not thought of before. Some are very enthusiastic and others don't even acknowledge they have received the mail.  For some it is difficult to join in, especially for our friends from the other side of the Channel, but even the dutch colleagues have to travel a long way.  Still some of them think it is worth the effort and I really look forward to seeing them again.  No doubt a lot of funny, some sad and more than 1 embarassing story will be told that night. In the same time frame I went to my parent's house.  We already spend a day clearing out part of the attic.  I can assure that there was and still is a lot of stuff in that attic.  I found clothes I didn't know my mother had kept.  A suede jacket that I bought when I was 16.  Dresses, coats  and trousers from the same decade so from 40 years ago.  We found sunlight soap and 'union match' match boxes.  Vim powder, used for cleaning, anybody under 40 probably doesn't know what i'm talking about.  My school books were still there, and my brother's.  There was a diary my dad wrote during the war. I haven't read it yet, but I will.  So if I do feel a bit nostalgic, I have good reason to be.  Still, I am looking forward to seeing my old friends again.  Nostalgia does not mean I am only looking at the past with regret, I am remebering the good times and trust there are a lot more good times ahead.

Ferry Good

The summer, or should I call it that, has almost come to pass.  I don't think the past months will become one of the finest summers this decade let alone this century. I have been very busy getting in touch with old friends and colleagues and family, but also had some difficult times when my sister was in hopital and I had to take care of her and took on all her household tasks. Last weekend I met up with a former colleague I hadn't seen for 9 years as she lives in France, and we had a great day in Bruges talking about the good old days and our lives since 2003.  Meanwhile I still enjoy spending time with my grandchildren.  Our granddaughter Ophelia is such a cute and very actve child and when she comes round I always dance around with her.  She is always dancing and jumping and skipping around, it's a lovely sight and she always wants me to join in.  So all in all I am Ferry Good.  'Ferry good' was actually de baseline to North Sea Ferries when I started to work there in 1978. During my first years there, the small ferries, Norwind and Norwave, that sailed to Hull from Zeebrugge, often arrived late due to stormy weather.  On one of those occasions, the ferry arrived in the evening about 10 hours delayed.  The crossing was overnight, the ships leaving at 6 pm and arriving around 9 am.  Not only did the ferry arrive late, she was supposed to depart again the same evening, but we already knew she would stay in Zeebrugge for 2 days because  some of the cargo had been damaged,  All pasengers and freight that were booked on the cancelled sailing had to be contacted and offered alternative ways to travel : catch the ferry from Rotterdam, a 3 hrs drive away, get a refund and travel via Dover, or stay the night and go on the ferry the following day.  Most of the time there weren't too many passengers so we had no problem getting things sorted.  Our office and the berth were located on a dock seperated from the tides by a lock.  When the ship was in the lock, we could see her but only standing on a a chair, or the window sill.  My boss was an impatient man and the first time I saw him getting up on the window sill to check wether the ship had already gone into the lock, I almost burst out laughing.  After that first time, I found it quite normal for him to be on the look out.  Whenever anything went wrong and we had to deal with delayed or cancelled sailings, he would always be around to see how things were going, and offering us his assistance.  But he was such a nervous person that nobody would ever ask him to help out, a fact he knew and often he would sense that his presence was not required and quickly say "I'm gone already" and hurry away, back to his office.  One of the things that I will  never forget is the blockade of the french ports of Calais and Boulogne in August 1980.  It was the heigth of the summer season and lots of British passengers were returning from their holiday on the continent.  All of a sudden our small terminal that was only meant to accomodate 249 passengers at the most was swarmed by 5 times that number.  On the first day of the blockade, 10 full coach loads of passengers turned up out of the blue on a Sunday.  The Normandy Ferries ships, with names that seemed a bit strange to us (Leopard, Lion, Panther) that were not stuck in the blocked ports in France came to Zeebrugge but that was not nearly enough for the large number of passengers and cars or the number of trucks hoping to get accross the channel.  We did part of the handling but some of the french staff came to Zeebrugge. But somehow they were more relaxed than we were, and even managed to disappear for a 2 hr lunch break, much to our dismay as we worked almost round the clock.  The people waiting to get on the ferries were lined up on the road into Zeebrugge and food and water distributed by the authorities.  The passengers at our terminal used our facilities for washing and even doing dishes.  People were almost prepared to fight to get a place on one of the ferries.  The whole thing lasted 2 weeks and although it was a very exciting time, we were all happy to have our small terminal back to ourselves when it finished. And the blockade ended with another anecdote : a  Spanish truckdriver, poor man, had driven to Zeebrugge on the day the blockade had been lifted, only to find that the Normandy Ferry ships no longer departed from there and he had to return to Boulogne.

Memories of the good old days

The weather being as it is I have some time to write again.  I'm having a really lazy Sunday although in a way I have been busy doing some paperwork. I finally took action and contacted a lot of former colleagues from my ferry days for a big reunion.  I had set a date in September, the weekend before I'm off on holiday, but as many of them seem to be out of the country at that time of year I have changed the date to November.  That does give me some extra time to get things sorted.  Not a bad idea seen that I will be very busy at work in August and the first half of September.  Some of my friends were in doubt if this is a good idea but fortunately a lot were really full of enthousiasm to get back together again.  I knew before I set out on this task that this is how people react so I'm not too bothered. I'll just carry on and see how things turn out.  In the process of trying to contact as many NSF colleagus as possible, a lot of memories came back to me.  I suppose this has to do with my age.  Some names seemed to be burried very deep and I had to do a lot of digging and to my disappointment there are still faces I haven't been able to match with a name.  I am trying to get the ones I have been able to get in touch with to help me out.  You would think that it should be fairly easy to get in touch with people nowadays, but some people just can't be found.  Not everybody is on facebook or linked in or google and I guess most must have a mobile phone but with an unlisted number.  One of my colleagues was actually saying that there not are only happy memories and quoted (I don't know who) that 'the past is never where you think you left it'.   Ofcourse over a period of 25 years there have been many happy, but also many sad occasions.  That's just life.  The ship sailed out in the evening and arrived in the morning.  When I started working there, the small ships only carried a maximum of 249 passengers but when I left the company the ships from Zeebrugge could accommodate a 1000 passengers.  It was a night crossing and there were restaurants,shops and bars on board.  Everything that happens on land can occur on board.  There was a birth once on the ferry to Rotterdam.  That was a very happy occasion.  Unfortunately there were also fights, deaths and even suicide or passengers gone missing. In the early days, the ferry often arrived late when there were gale force winds and some passengers joked that NSF meant Not So Fast.  We had problems with strikes, but the Iron Lady put an end to that and one of our ships was requisitioned by the British government for troop transport during the Falkland war, leaving us with a chartered vessel for 6 months.  I saw new ships being launched and named.  Some people may believe we should let the past be the past, but the future is built on the past so even looking ahead means leaning on the past.

Life as a hostess

When I was studying tourism - I know that sounds funny - I lived in Blankenberge and had to take the train to Bruges every day.  A short trip, less than 15 minutes.  But even then we played at cards for the short trip.  You were still allowed to smoke on trains back then, so we did that too.  Arriving in Bruges, I often noticed a couple of girls in navy blue uniforms waiting on the platform to catch the train to Zeebrugge.  They were hostesses working for a ferry company, but I didn't know that.  In winter they wore a cape.  I was only 17 and for some reason or other I loved the uniform and often saw myself wearing one.  That was a bit odd for me because I hardly ever wore a skirt or dress, jeans being the 'uniform' of the day. When a Lufthansa stewardess came for a talk about her work I was at first very disappointed to learn that I wasn't tall enough to qualify as a stewardess. So when I graduated and had to work at the ferry as a trainee for 2 months, I  was over the moon.  But to my grave disappointment, I didn't have to wear a uniform because I would not be working at the check in desk, but on the reservation department.  I still remember my first call with my boss to be.  I had to make an appointment with him to introduce myself and to learn what the job would be like and what would be expected of me.  At the end of the phone conversation he said : 'I will see you then, okidoki'.  I thought it very funny that my future boss used such a funny word "okidoki" and told everybody what a weird person he must be.  Rememeber this is 35 years ago when working relationships were a lot more formal than is the case now.  Fortunately for me, it was a very informal company.  All the staff on the passenger department were in their early twenties, like me, and some were married but none of them had children yet.  The Manager was just 10 years my senior and his assistant 6 years older than me.  I enjoyed my 2 months there very much and was a bit sad to have to leave.  I found a job doing secretarial work at the casino in Blankenberge.  Some people may think that would have been rather more glamourous, but it wasn't.   Blankenberge isn't Vegas by a far stretch, and my boss there was a 60 year old, very formal and very conservative frenchspeaking man.  The only thing good about the job was that I got to know some nice people and my closest colleague became a close friend.  7 months on, my trainee boss called with a job offer, again on the reservation department (still no uniform) and that was that.  I hoped to be in that uniform sooner or later anyway.  At the time the company did not only operate a ferry service from Zeebrugge and Rotterdam to Hull (Kingston upon Hull), but also a jetfoil, between Zeebrugge and London.  The Jetfoils were something special, new and exciting because they were built by Boeing and they sailed up the Thames and moored at Tower Bridge. The crossing took about 4 hours whereas you already needed the same amount of time for the normal ferry crossing from Zeebrugge to Dover alone and you still had a long  train ride from Dover to London.  Many people wanted to travel on the jetfoil instead of  travelling to London by plane.  The crew 'flying'  the jetfoils and the maintenance staff were american and we spent a lot of time with them.  The only disadvantage of this new exciting way of crossing the channel was that they often broke down and then we had to transfer the passengers to fly from Ostend on British Air Ferries, who were very happy with the business we gave them.  Now and again we also had some celebrity passengers like the now Sir Cliff Richard and Golden Earring.  They were exciting times and oftenwe joked about how we would tell our children and grandchildre all our funny stories, or even write a book, changing all the names.  Perhaps I could tell some of those "fairy tales' here.

Change

This year seems to be starting off with a lot of changes for me.  It is a cliché that everything changes sometime, but at the same time a Greek philosopher once said that nothing is new under the sun.  I am not worried for things to come, whatever this year still has in store for me, although at 55 I was expecting some stability.  I have always embraced new experiences so I know I can deal with a lot. Will all this change be for the better or worse ?  I don't know yet.  For now, things seem to be going fine.  Our 6th grandchild was born on the first day of spring and everybody in the family is fine. I like my job and don't mind being alone in an office most of time as much as I had expected.  In fact I am getting used to it.  When I worked for the ferry, I could never work undisturbed on a weekday.  I shouldn't say undisturbed because I never felt disturbed.  I just happened to be person that was good at solving problems and it was my responsability, and I loved doing it.  It's just that sometimes at the end of the day I felt I hadn't gotten anything done except putting out small fires all day.  Sometimes I had to go in on the weekend and before helping out the hostesses at the busiest time at check-in, I would get some work done, all alone in a very large office.  Sometimes one of the hostesses at reception would call me with a question or other and than  would jump up at the sudden ringing of the phone in the quiet office.  And always I was so amazed at how much work I could do without interruptions.  So now in my new job it is the other end of the scale and I am actually enjoying it.  I have to get to grips with all aspects of my job on my own.  I have to figure out how the computer programs work, what's important and how things can be done efficiently, on my own. I don't mind that., It just means that I need some more time to learn it all.  But the advantage is, it's easier  to remember something you have had to figure out on your own then something that you'v been told.  So all is well on the job front.  There is some more change to come there : my boss is retiring in 2 years and in autumn he would like to start working part time.  Hopefully by that time there will be someone to replace him.  But as I said : that's fine with me.  I would almost say : bring on the changes, but that might sound a bit overconfident and  I dont want to taunt faith too much. So I will leave it at that and deal wth what's on my plate for now, just to be on the safe side.

Wordt alles anders ?

Al 2 maand verder of moet ik zeggen amper 2 maand verder en er is al zoveel gebeurd.  Mijn nieuwe job valt heel erg mee.  Aanvankelijk had ik eigenlijk een beetje reserves.  Nog nooit heb ik een job gehad waar ik gewoon zelf mijn werk doe en er niemand is die tussendoor een beroep op mij doet.  Ik heb er geen probleem mee om met verschillende zaken tegelijk bezig te zijn.  Maar nu word ik maar af en toe onderbroken door een telefoontje of m'n baas die iets komt brengen of de postbode.  Het grootste deel van de tijd zit ik dus echt helemaal alleen m'n ding te doen.  Vroeger ging ik bij de ferry wel vaker in het weekend werken en dan genoot ik er eigenlijk van om eindelijk eens door te kunnen werken.  Ik schrok me dan telkens een bult als één van de hostesses vanuit de receptie dan al eens belde met een probleem aan de check-in.  Ik moet zeggen dat ik het na 2 maand toch wel leuk vind.  Ik moet alles een beetje zelf uitzoeken, ook iets dat mij wel ligt en mijn nieuwe werkgever vertrouwt daar ook wel op, wat ik wel fijn vind.  Ik werd er zelfs al op uitgestuurd om een vergadering bij de wonen en al gelijk de vergadering te notuleren.  Dat is allemaal goed verlopen en dus zie ik het wel zitten daar in de Polder.  Anders maar misschien ook wel beter.  Maar daarnaast is er ook heel wat gebeurd.  De laatste maanden ging het niet zo goed met mijn moeder.  Sinds ze in september gehospitaliseerd was, ging het niet zo goed meer : ze zag almaar slechter en de oogarts bevestigde dat dit niet kon verholpen worden. Dat maakte dat m'n moeder meer moeite had om TV te kijken en te lezen, zowat het enige wat zij nog kon doen als ze alleen was. Ze klaagde ook steeds vaker over het feit dat ze veel alleen was en op het laatst zei ze zelf dat het misschien tijd was om naar een rusthuis te gaan, iets wat tevoren voor haar echt geen optie was.  Ze at ook heel weinig, volgens haar omdat niets nog smaakte.  De huisarts maakte zich op een gegeven moment zorgen over haar algemene gezondheidstoestand en vond het nodig haar te laten opnemen in het ziekenhuis.  Maar op dat moment was er geen reden tot paniek want ons tripje naar Hull konden we gewoon laten doorgaan.  Toen we terugkwamen was haar toestand zo verslechterd dat ik ongerust werd en een paar dagen later overleed ze 's nachts.  Haar hart had het begeven, dan toch nog een beetje onverwacht, want de dag ervoor leek het weer wat beter met haar te gaan.  En zo werden we ineens geconfronteerd met hoe eindig alles is.  Ons reisje naar Hull had ons daar ook al aan herinnerd.   Onze dierbare vriendin, de echtgenote van een collega, was vorig jaar overleden na een strijd tegen kanker van een paar jaar, en het was voor het eerst dat we onze vriend weer terug zagen. Hij liet ons haar afscheidsbrief lezen en er waren dus ook wel een paar emotionele momenten, naast het blije weerzien met hem en nog een paar andere vroegere collega's. Het was heel leuk om herinneringen op te halen van de goeie ouwe tijd en we hebben er dan ook van genoten en beloofd dit keer geen 4 jaar te wachten om nog eens terug te gaan.  En dan, nog geen 2 weken geleden, kwam ons zesde kleinkind Emilia ter wereld.  Goed gezond en alles goed met moeder en kind.  Grootmoeder zijn is iets wat veel vreugde brengt.  Vorige week kon ik dat nog eens ten volle ervaren toen Ophelia een dagje bij ons was terwijl de papa bij de mama en Emilia in het ziekenhuis was.  Ze mogen dat kind ieder weekend naar mij brengen.  En verder.  Een drukke week gehad 2 weken geleden met de laatste repetities en de voorstelling van de Revue van de toneelkring waarbij ik souffleer en dat was een groot succes. Nu wordt het dus weer even rustiger en ga ik dus vanaf volgende week weer iets aan mijn conditie doen en m'n voornemen voor een grote reünie eens in daden omzetten. Daarnaast moet er natuurlijk ook heel veel geregeld worden na het overlijden van m'n mama.  Ons ouderlijk huis zullen we allicht verkopen en dus zullen we het ook nog moeten leegmaken.  Genoeg om niet in een zwart gat te vallen zou ik zo zeggen.

A new year a new beginning ?

Although the year is already 2 months old, I am still having mixed feelings about my prospects this year.  Recently I had to explain to a dear friend on facebook, why I would consider a headstone predicting my death this year saying that I died 'for preventing the end of the world' to be funny.  To her it was a very morbid kind of joke.  In May last year while we were spending a very nice holiday in Italy, the world was supposed to end according to an American sect leader. I decided that the world shouldn't end during my splendid vacation so as a joke I 'forbade'  it.  The same funny guy then said that the end of the world would occur in October.  By that time my American friend and I had decided that if the world was going to end, it could only be on December 21st 2012 (12-21-12) as according to some the Maya calendar predicts.  As 21 December happens to be my birthday and I was born in 1956 and I am turning 56 this year, the prediction kind of appeals to me, and my friend and I are still debating wether I should forbid it or not and how much time I have to forbid it. So now I am wondering what this year will bring.  The year started out badly for me.  2011 did end with a positive financial note : I was paid out my unemployment benefit on December 31st, 3 months late but never mind that. So January started and I was still unemployed and with the economic crisis I did not think it would be an easy task to find a job I liked soon.  I did have 1good prospect : the birth of our 6th grandchild was coming nearer, always a happy occasion and I was, stll am,  looking forward to a new addition to our family.  But otherwise I had nothing to be very happy about.  So I got busy again going round employment agencies looking for a job and sending emails applying for whatever I felt would suit me.  At the end of January  I did find a new employer and so I started in a new job on February 1st.  It' a whole new world for me.  I have to send out tax bills to whoever owns property in an area called 'De Nieuwe Polder van Blankenberge'. The organisation I work for has to maintain all waterways in this area, vulnerable to flooding because it's just behind the coastline and below sea level.  Their budget is partly from the tax I have to make sure is collected and partly from local and federal government.  I am in an office on my own and the only other person in the same building, the size of a normal house, is my boss in his own office next to mine.  The location is a small village called Houtave. A challenge to say the least.  At first I didn't really know wether or not to accept this job.  I had never really worked alone. But it has been a month now and I would never have thought it but I am actually enjoying it.  Before starting in my new job, we helped our son and daughter in law with some decorating, getting everything ready for the baby due around March 15th. They were turning the attic into an extra bedroom and fortunately I don't have fear of height. We booked our holiday : we are going to Rhodes (again) at the end of September and our friends from Antwerp will be there.  We also did some shopping around to do some small changes to our home, a new front door, a new railing for our balcony.  February has however been an emotional month otherwise.  We visited some dear long time friends in Hull. We hadn't seen them for 4 years and it felt good to spend some time with them.  One of them had lost his wife last year, and it felt good to be able to show him our sympathy in person and talk about her while we were staying at his house. An then, my mother had to go into hospital. She had been a bit poorly and wasn't feeling very well, nothing dramatic.  But in the hospital, after about a week, she seemed to get worse and then suddenly she passed away two weeks ago.  It was sad but at the same time a happy moment.  She was 86, had a good life, didn't have to suffer and passed away quietly. And now a lot still has to be done.  Our parents' house will have to be sold.  We will have to empty the house and I'm sure a lot of memories will grab me by the throat or bring me and my brother and sister some smiles.  And the baby that will fill us with tenderness to come into this world in the next fortnight.  I guess you can see why I have mixed feelings about 2012, at least about the coming months. I am still new at my new work place so a lot is still unknown and therefore uncertain for me, but such is life I suppose.  I'll give it some time and when I'm back on track, I want to get all my old North Sea Ferries colleagues together.  That is my this year's project.

2012 een nieuw begin ?

Op facebook moest ik onlangs aan een vriendin uitleggen waarom de foto van een grafsteen van mezelf die voorspelt dat ik het einde van 2012 niet haal "om het vermijden van het einde van de wereld" eigenlijk grappig is.  Sinds mei vorig jaar, toen volgens één of andere Amerikaan de wereld zou vergaan en dat toen niet gebeurde omdat ik dat  "verboden" had omdat we op vakantie waren in Italië, maken een Amerikaanse vriend, die er toen bij was, en ikzelf voortdurend grapjes over het einde van de wereld op mijn verjaardag 21 december 2012.  Die datum zou volgens verschillende voorspelling, o.a. van de Maja's, cruciaal zijn voor de mensheid. Dat ik geboren ben in 1956 en dit jaar op die datum, voor de Amerikanen 12-21-12, 56 jaar wordt maakt het extra mysterieus.  En nu is de grap of ik het dit keer weer ga verbieden of niet.  Het zal ervan afhangen wat dit jaar mij brengt.  Het nieuwe jaar was voor mij niet zo goed begonnen.  Hoewel het oude jaar nog net goed op zijn einde gekomen was.  Ik kreeg op 31 december uiteindelijk toch het stempelgeld waar ik sinds 24 oktober recht op had. Ik ontdekte ook dat ik nog recht had op een extra uitkering van de RVA voor mijn 4 maanden in de chocolaatjesfabriek en ook als ik nog elders weer aan de slag kan.  Maar begin januari had ik dus nog steeds geen nieuwe job.  De rest van de vooruitzichten ? De geboorte van het zesde kleinkind komt steeds dichterbij en daar kijk ik wel naar uit.  En verder brengt de toekomst mij niet veel om vrolijk te zijn.  Ik ging dus door met het afschuimen van alle jobsites en het solliciteren.  Nog steeds leek er weinig beweging in het aanbod te zitten.  Maar uiteindelijk werd ik op 2 plaatsen uitgenodigd voor een gesprek en wonder boven wonder 1 van de 2 wilde mij aanwerven ! Vandaag ben ik aan de vooravond van mijn eerste werkdag bij de Nieuwe Polder van Blankenberge, als administratief medewerkster.  Iets helemaal anders dan ik gewoon ben, maar dat zie ik dan maar als een "uitdaging" om het met een cliché te zeggen.  Tussendoor heb ik de draad en het contact weer opgenomen met een paar oud collega's, vrienden eigenlijk van bij de ferry en het resultaat is een reisje naar Hull waar ik echt naar uitkijk.  Waterstones, voor wie het niet weet : neen het is geen schoenwinkel maar een boekenwinkel, Hull zal het geweten hebben ! We blijven er ook overnachten bij een vriend die we al jaren niet meer gezien hebben. We gingen ook helpen bij de oudste zoon die nog een extra kamer nodig heeft om plaats te hebben voor de baby half maart.  De zolder wordt een slaapkamer en die moest behangen worden, goed dat ik geen hoogtevrees heb, en er moest ook nog tapijt komen.  We hebben ook nog rond geshopt voor een nieuwe voordeur en balustrades voor onze balkons.  Dus jullie zien, ik heb niet stil gezeten.  En uiteindelijk hebben we ook al geboekt om eind september nog eens naar Rhodos te gaan.  Dus 2012 ziet er geleidelijk aan toch al wat beter uit.  En verder wil ik dit jaar nog maar eens een poging wagen om een grote NSF reünie te organiseren.  En morgen te midden van de Polder een nieuwe job onder de knie krijgen.  Hopelijk voor het laatst.

Chocolates and pigs

Animal feed additives.  I knew more about the subject than I had expected.  As I  am constantly battling to keep my weight in check, anything to do with food gets my attention.  When you're on a diet, you have to make sure that it is a balanced diet.  So I had already read a lot about what type of food contains all the vitamins and minerals and anything else a body needs.  Animal nutrition is an art.  The animals are destined for human consumption and food safety regulations are very strict.  Most of the 'premixes' as the mixes of feed additives were called, made at the plant were for pigs.  In no time I got the hang of my new job. I had to.  Within 2 weeks I had to be "operational" because  one of my colleagues to be had resigned leaving within two weeks and her replacement wasn't due to start in her new job untill 4 weeks later, another was going on a 2 week holiday coinciding with the departure of colleague nr 1 and the third only worked half time.  But I managed.  Many colleagues came and went during the 6 years I worked there and I should have realised that unavoidably my day to go would come.  As it was I didn't see it coming.  But before that time, I performed a great many tasks : the normal things like answering the phone, taking the orders, placing purchasing orders, but also making and serving coffee, doing the shopping,  and to top it of f organising fairs and a seminar and making flight and hotel reservations.  In the end I was fired.  I did not take it very well.  I felt betrayed as I knew they had been hiring my replacement behind my back and probably 3 of my office colleagues knew I was going to be fired.
There I was : 54 and back on the street.  I was so determined to get back at work that it only took me 2 and 1/2 months to find another job, taking a pay cut of about 600 € a month after taxes, but a job nevertheless.  And a good job it turned out to be; with great new very young colleagues, young enough to be my daughters.  They were, still are I'm sure, very dynamic, motivated and intelligent and even goodlooking !  I forgot to say that I started my new job in a chocolate factory ! Not really a chocolate factory but a Belgian chocolates factory.  So again I start from scratch.  But I enjoy it very much.  The girls are a litle crazy, but so am I.  They work hard but also laugh a lot.  It is very nice working with them and I really love it, even though it is hard work.  But it never rains but it pours.  It had not been a good year for me except for the new job, and now it turned out the company had financial problems and at the end of August a large dutch company did a bid and effectively took over the factory in Brugge.  Obviously they had to reorganize and some of my new colleagues and me had to be let go.  So sadly I had to leave my "daughters" and was out on the market again.  But I"m still in touch with  the girls and we meet up from time to time so my short passage in the world of chocolate has not left me empty handed, or rather empty hearted I should say.

Life goes on

I've continued my story, at least the story of my professional career, in Dutch but not in English.  I've decided to go on with the story in English for the fun of it and to keep up my English language skills.  It's for the readers, if any, to judge if my writing in English is passable. 
So I was fired in 2003, aged 46 with 25 years of professional experience.  I had always loved my job, even after the takeover.  The atmosphere was different afterwards and a lot of things had changed but our goals hadn't changed.  But now on to another job.  Me and most of my colleagues were jobless on May 1st.  By that time I had already found a new job : head receptionist and reponsible for group bookings and meetings and incentives at a hotel in Bruges; it was agreed I would take a month off before starting to work in this new environment.   Unfortunately it turned out my new employer was not as convinced of my intelectual and professional capabilities as the previous one.  As I was used to a great deal of autonomy, it was very hard for me to have someone constantly looking over my shoulder and criticising my every move.  After 3 months it was decided I was not the right person for the job.  I wasn't sorry.  I would have left anyway.  I was just sorry I had been working all summer and I think that was actually the warmest summer we had for the last 20 years.
After this debacle I took a couple of months for myself, doing lots of things round the house, for my mother, as she had been hospitalised for 3 months and was still recovering from that, and doing nice relaxing things like reading and going to the gym with a friend who had just lost her job.  After that I found another job near home : as a call center supervisor for a company with 4 holiday villages in Belgium.  Again this was not really what I had expected.  I lasted 6 months there and so in September 2004, I had to start looking for another new employment.  This time I didn't apply for jobs where I would have to manage or coach others, and so I found a job with a small company that produces additives for animal feed.  A somewhat controversial business at any time but just at that time, cyclists, even a very famous one,  in Belgium had been provided illegal drugs by a veterinary doctor.  Whenever I told my friends about my new job they always started making jokes.  And so a whole new world unraveled before me.  From tourism to the animal feed industry.  And this time it lasted more than 6 years.