So here I am, I'm as surprised that this isn't the first thread of the kind in this section, as I am that I haven't noticed or worked that one out 'till today!.. Anyway, I wanted to share a memory, perhaps create a thread of 'have you ever' just so I could tell that story, but... ' that.. This diary idea seems fun, so I'm doing that. This is a random memory I have in Amsterdam, had just ventured out after checking in, fresh from flying in from London.. This was when I went last year. It was me and a good friend who also had visited Amsterdam before like me, but, this was the first time we ever went away anyway together, so this was us two last Summer in August 2020.. and the random memory I have of; getting told off by a local, in their native tongue. - To this day, I still don't know what she said to me. My God I've let myself go, gone soft, junk food, weezing, all of it, have got to get fit again.. The young Dutch lady in the middle of Amsterdam looked healthy, everyone did, but this was a local girl telling me off in Dutch. Why she was telling me off - because I didn't see some pedestrian crossing signal, she pointed at it, telling me off, standing next to me, crossing like I was trying to; I can remember, trying to work out how to cross the street; and; This was Amsterdam, me and my friend checked in, then got baked, then went on this walk, but we just flew in from London. I had next to no sleep the night before getting things ready/excitement/poor time keeping on my part; that flight for me was the worst; windy day; smallest aeroplane I ever went on at that point too to get there, I mean, it may look the same as one crossing the Atlantic maybe, but, it's smaller, I noticed that that day too. When booking, I let my good friend choose the seats on the plane, she likes to sit at the back of the plane... So we sat at the back; I've always sat near a wing; Windy day, smallest plane I ever been on at that point, sitting at the back, no real sleep the night before; the flight took me off guard as we took off and the plane went side ways as well as up that windy day and I felt it all at the back of the thing, and freaked myself out for a good half hour on a short flight that was 20 minutes early so we made good time and did it in like 40 minutes or something, but, I wasn't a fan of that flight, had very minor PTS hearing other flights above the skies of Amsterdam all day that day... So I'm there walking with my friend, showing her the big supermarket I knew that she knew from YouTube and I knew because I used it and it's right in the centre of that tourist district, near the hotels and dispensary/coffee shop I like to use near the train station.. I'm from England... So's my friend. ... We're used to looking right, then looking left, when crossing the street; so I was with my friend and we were trying to figure it out, and this Dutch lady starts telling me off in Dutch showing me the flashing sign, and she was standing next to me crossing the same way. Still don't know what the ' she said, because, I don't speak Dutch. My friend loved the flight, she bought her wine, had a good trip, when I freaked out, she asked the flight crew if they had Valium, for me. Love her, but, that's the kind of friend she is, she's awesome. I don't know if people's seen Brockmire on here. Brockmire is this TV show created by Hank Azaria; but what happened was, I showed my friend Brockmire, she got into Brockmire and binged watched them all with me, and even without me, which was cool because she knew I had already seen them all, but one night when watching it, she told me I fell asleep and she saw it all and thought it was good so she wanted to pick up where she left off which was a whole series/season she stayed and up and saw and enjoyed herself; she said, she liked how it was a different setting and story every season of that show but still the same people, so that was season 2, I think, or season 3; which is random as, we were into Brockmire around the time we went to Amsterdam and, the way she asked the flight attendant for Valium for me, bless her, reminded me of Jules, from Brockmire. I was polite enough about being told off, I didn't make a scene or nothing, as even though I couldn't understand a word this lady was shouting at me, telling me off; I was a guest in that country, so I just smiled and got the jist when she showed me that traffic signal I didn't see there. She must have thought I was a local, must have. This was travelling during a pandemic and there wasn't as many tourists in Amsterdam last year as I'm used to, so I'm not even fresh from the boat; I'm awake, excited, stoned/tweaking, same as my friend, but also sleep deprived and out of my element/UK world of drive on the left, look right then left walk on the right in print on my psyche that I am, crossing the road in a different country, or trying to, I should say. I was very well aware of public health messages about Covid from here in London from the UK government and all of that; I remember telling my friend on that walk, it felt like my brain was readjusting to the Dutch brain washing lol, as I was very well aware of all the Covid signing and rules in the NL in the middle of Amsterdam I suddenly had to deal with, That flight was short, I'm used to going by land,10 hours (An hour and half of that you're walking around on a boat ) through a tiny part of France as that's where the quick 1 hour half UK/France boat'll take you, then Belgium, and half the NL to get to Amsterdam from London - That was a quick flight. How was that local girl who yelled at me to know I didn't and still don't, know what the ' she was saying. I wonder, have you ever been told off in another country? Randomly remembering of the time I got told off by this lady in Amsterdam in Dutch. She was very pretty.
So I'm planning a tour of the UK, and went ahead and booked Belfast... Then I found out because of Covid, Northern Ireland needs negative Rapid Lateral Flow Tests, 1 taken before I leave for Northern Ireland, and one on my 2nd day there.. I'm only there for 2 nights, so I guess I'm meant to take the 2nd one on my way home.
