Prelude to Amsterdam

At this juncture, I would like to thank Tim, Mel, Trish and Em for kindly putting us up in their comfortable home in Fulham whilst we were in London this time around and earlier in the year (we popped over for NYE 2004).

First thing we did was to drop off our bags and head for the Slug ‘n’ Lettuce in Parson’s Green to meet with our good friend Karen who moved to the UK six months earlier. Karen was without sleep having attended Gods Kitchen in Birmingham the night before. We managed to down a few Fosters and enjoy the surprisingly good weather. Not sure how Karen does it!

We also managed later to catch up with some of the usual suspects, including Martin, Adam, Sam and Pete for a brief drink before the latter made his usual early departure leaving the rest of us to enjoy a Thai dinner in London with Tim, Karen and Jennifer (a friend of mine from HK days). Sophie made a late appearance, and it was great seeing her again after so long.

The week leading up to our foray into the Netherlands was thankfully quiet, but for an afternoon at Camden markets with Karen. Louise and I had made an early reconnaissance of the district before Karen finished work, and left it to Karen to arbitrate on the funky attire we were considering for the upcoming dance festival. We both ended up with some respectably trendy strides and tops (and yes, Louise’s top is meant to be red – not sure about all those holes though). Camden market is the kind of place where you feel underdressed if you are not a walking canvas of body art and have a multitude of piercings. Cool place.