Let's give lagatta a great big send-off!

[Debra]

Glad to hear all is well! Take care of that knee.

[skdadl]

Great to hear from you, pussycat!

But yes, be kind to your knees for a day or so -- perhaps the long plane trips irritated them. Is it possible to rent a bike in AmDam? Watch the canals!  :D

And have fun.

[lagatta]

The long flight seems to have irritated just about everything - I had a rash on my neck and red eyes, though both irritations are better now. I do have drops for my eyes.

Yeah, there is a bicycle I can borrow but I won't try riding it for a couple of days to let the knee heal. Dutch stairs are tough enough - they are extremely steep, like stairs on a ship (and I live in an old house in Montreal - an upper in a triplex). There is also a hoist in front of every building to move house and to bring in and take out merchandise -

[skdadl]

Dutch stairs

More Dutch stairs

One of the sites where I found those pics says that the Dutch tax houses by width, which is why they are so narrow and tall.

When do you have to start work, lagatta?

[lagatta]

Tomorrow evening; from about noon your time.

[skdadl]

And from where are you communicating? Are you in an internet cafe, or do you have a machine with you?

[lagatta]

From the centre where I'm working.

[Nikita]

I hope you enjoy your trip lagatta!  :)

Those Dutch stairs would kill me.  Or, rather, I would clumsily and awkwardly trip and fall to my untimely demise.  I've got huge feet (I wear a dainty size 10 1/2 shoe).  Hm, maybe a jaunty side-step all the way down?   :wink:

I lived in a fairly old house growing up, old by Saskatchewan standards anyway (built before 1910).  The stairs were pretty narrow and steep but as a kid it wasn't too bad.  I was back there about a year ago and after taking a tour of the upstairs, tripped on the way back down and landed on my bum.  Skinned my elbow in the process too.

[deBeauxOs]

... Those Dutch stairs would kill me.  Or, rather, I would clumsily and awkwardly trip and fall to my untimely demise.  ... Hm, maybe a jaunty side-step all the way down?   :wink:

I've been in heritage houses in Montréal where access to the third floor (the servants' rooms back in the 19th century) is just as frightening.  If I owned a house that had a narrow stairwell I would install a firepole for descending.  Wheee!  

[Debra]

ala Bridget Jones?

[deBeauxOs]

:oops:   most certainly not à la Showgirls!!   :shock:  I am after all, a very decorous klutz.

[skdadl]

Maybe à la the Naked Chef? Whazzizname? Did you ever watch him swing down his ever-so-industrial-chic bannister to let his guests in the front door? Very industrial chic. If I had been younger, and single ...   :wink:

[Nikita]

most certainly not à la Showgirls!!  I am after all, a very decorous klutz.

Haha so was Bridget.  That's one of my favourite scenes, btw.  :mrgreen:

[lagatta]

Actually, size 10.5 feet are not unusual at all in the tall, tall Netherlands and I see elegant women's shoe shops announcing shoes up to 42 - bigger sizes are available through catalogues etc.

Ha! I bought shampoo, conditioner and leave-in glop for "uncontrollable hair" - none of them euphemisms one usually sees ...  :shock:

Can't imagine the flaxen native Dutch would need such a thing, but this is a most cosmopolitan place.

[Boom Boom]

Very hot and humid here, unusually so for Amsterdam.  

Heat and humidity - neither of which I can stand much of.

ps: just got my phone line connected this morning. :D