Pomodoro e Basilico

Time for some culture injections. I think it's a good moment to explain some of the weirdness that is Dutch Music. I'll try to steer clear of the details of the major Dutch successes in Global Rock and Pop History. What? Dutch successes? Yes, there are a few. And anyone who has ever spoken to a Dutchman for over 20 minutes will undoubtedly recognize the following dialogue: Dutch: "So do you know some Dutch Music?" Undutch: "Ehm?" Dutch: "We are very famous for our music!" Undutch: "Ehm?" Dutch: "Don’t you know any Dutch music, come on, you have to guess!" Undutch: "Ehm? Was Elvis Dutch?" Dutch: "No, come on, one of the most famous songs in the world is Dutch!" Undutch: "I thought Paul McCartney was from Liverpool?" Dutch: "The Golden Earring! The Golden Earring! The Golden Earring!" Undutch: "Ehm?" Dutch: "Come on! They are famous! You know, 'When the Lady Smi

Today’s the first Ctrl-VdG Friday. Just click to Leave a comment and then empty your Ctrl-V inside. No explanations needed. Mine is: Not in Support - Could be OSG or Finance?

The first Dutch Starbucks has opened inside Schiphol Airport. Price for a Grande Latte is €3,70. Price for a Grande Java Banana Chocolate Chip Blended Crème Frappuccino is €5,60. Now, quick, let’s make this blog interactive. Run over to your local Starbucks and use the comments to give me the price for these two items in your local currency. If they don’t sell the Java Banana Chocolate Chip Blended Crème Frappuccino, choose the thing that most resembles it. It should have at least some chocolate in it. Remember, we’re looking at the Grande versions.

The Flight Codex is in fact a rather large document. As many important life altering documents (think The Bible, the Harry Potter series or the Argos Catalogue), it goes into a lot of detail. It is also quite repetitive, to be completely honest, and not the best of reads. In it, the 6 major European Airlines have laid out the ground rules of Modern Day Air Travel. It offers a set of detailed instructions for airplane staff, airport personnel and assisting job functions. More importantly, it contains a complete glossary of all processes and procedures on which Modern Day Air Travel is based. The most important rule has been embossed as a watermark on the inside of the front and back cover. It reads: Air Travel will be as uncomfortable as can possibly be achieved under a shroud of inconvenient luxury The rule makes immediate sense to everyone who has ever taken a plane. It explains the following 'quirks' of air travel: Air Travel at first glance seems to offer considerable time s

Up until the mid 70’s, air travel was very limited. The planes were the same size, but there were simply a lot less of them. People travelling by plane were business men, rock groups or people going somewhere where no bus could travel. The large travel agencies were still very much focused on buses, trains and cars. Life on board of an airplane was almost like a Roman food orgy. More stewardesses than passengers, more food than one could chew and alcohol was flowing as if there was no tomorrow. Finally a transportation method where it wasn’t merely allowed to get drunk, no, the stewardesses spent all their time and energy in actually getting you drunk. Ok, you had to wear a seat belt when landing and taking off, but during the flight it was one big party. Cigarettes, cigars, wine, gin, vodka, it didn’t matter; air travel was all about getting to your destination in a cloud of alcohol and smoke. Then, we’re talking end of the 70’s, there was a change. A British travel agency, we’re not

Of course I'm aware that there will be people reading this blog who will take everything I write with a pinch of salt. I understand that. It is true that on occasion I may have incidentally bent the truth a little bit for a tiny little practical joke here and there. I even admit that there have been a few times where I may have accidentally exploited some good natured gullibility for the sake of a smile and a good story. Not so with this story though. I've done my research properly this time and have checked and double checked my facts. This Air Travel Master Plan exists and is very real. I'm going to go further than that and will simply put it out there for all of you to verify on your next travels. Once you're aware of the existence of this Master Plan, you'll suddenly put all the puzzle pieces together. I even dare say that you'll experience moments of clarity like you've never known them before. In airports, of all places, which in my view, is an excelle

As I’ve spent about 10 hours in planes the past two weeks, and many more in airports, I can obviously only talk about my experiences in the air. TJ’s aside, there is another matter that I’d like to raise which has the word WHY? written all over it in a bold 48pt italic font with curly edges. It’s the Trattoria question. Now, for those of you unfamiliar with KLM food, Trattoria is the brand name of the food they serve in economy class nowadays. Or, well… food… sandwiches to be precise. Or… well… miniature sandwiches to be preciser. Don’t worry, you get two in a package, so it definitely meets your needs after travelling for 2 hours to get to the airport, 2 hours waiting for your flight and the 30 minutes you’ve just spent taxiing with the airconditioning turned off for your convenience. Also, it perfectly complements the 5cl of orange juice you were just handed in a tiny plastic cup, so tiny it apparently is very difficult to fill it more than half way, even with non fizzy drinks. Might

Okay, today I just had to ask. On my flight back from Nice, with KLM, everyone started to order Tomato Juice again. Just like on the flight over. And on the flights to and from Stockholm last week. This time I paid more attention. Of the 25 people around me (3 rows in front, my row and the row behind me) 17 people ordered tomato juice. Now, people can tell me a lot of stuff about coincidence and how it rules the universe, but this is just too odd. It defies all logic. “So what?”, I hear you mumble, “ever heard of a Bloody Mary? That’s what all those people on the KLM flights are mixing themselves”. True, I did think of that. However, the ‘potent’ ingredient of Bloody Marys was not handed out with the Tomato Juice and on the, in my eyes, very disturbing question of the stewardess “Would you like pepper or salt with that?” all 17 people answered with a definite “No, just plain Tomato Juice please!”. I deliberately choose not to go into the entire concept of mixing alcoholic beverages wit

It's time to talk about Bruce. Of course the Bruce thing started way before our stay in Ireland, some time in the early 80's. When it was still hip to wear huge earrings and Don Johnson was the hippest person alive. Rolling up your sleeves was essential. Those days. Soon, those days will be back, so start wearing sweat bands again and you'll be a trend setter. Anyway, Bruce. The Irish Connection is Bruce in Concert. Three times we managed to meet the guy. Well, see him from a distance. Three concerts, three different styles. Not just a little different, I'm talking difference like Cliff Richard is different from Keith Richards. Different. I'll explain, of course. First there was the RDS concert with the E-Street Band. This was an exhausting experience. People not being able to stand on their feet, the audience begging the band to finally stop playing, people actually mind melting to speed up the time it took for the sun to set. Serious dehydration, muscle aches, I&#

We're talking 2002. Our first couple of months in Ireland. Damien Rice is HOT. And when I say HOT, I mean HOT! People are carrying his CD 'O' everywhere they go. You go shopping and the ladies behind the counter show you his CD. Taxi drivers have the CD on display, dangling from their rear view mirror. Damien Rice is everywhere. Okay, okay, you think, give it a few weeks, months maybe, and the fellow will disappear to wherever he came from. Not Damien. No, no, no... this one song, 'Cannonball' was played every morning on the radio for the entire period of our stay in Ireland. I'm not even exaggerating. On average we spent 20 minutes in the car each morning on our way to work. Without exception we've heard 'Cannonball' every single morning, between 08.30 and 08.50. Random radio stations. Some days we were lucky and we were treated to the 'Damien Double': 'Cannonball' in the morning and 'Cannonball' in the evening. I can tell

I'll try and talk about a few things that I took from Ireland. No idea what I'll come up with, since the effects of the 4,5 years we spent in Ireland may only show after considerable time. I'll start with some music related effects... First up is David Gray. He's English, I know. But before we moved to Ireland we had never heard of David Gray. He was simply not known in the Netherlands at all. During the time we spent in Ireland, Mr. Gray has also managed to get some success in Holland, but I clearly remember hearing 'Please Forgive Me' on the radio in a Dublin taxi and being very impressed by the song and especially his voice. It took some time to figure out who this unknown singer was, but ever since, David Gray has been a constant on my iTunes playlists. Anyway, here's his 'Babylon'. In all honesty, I had never seen any music videos of the guy before looking them up right now. To be completely honest I didn't even know what the dude looked lik