One of the things I hate about reading law is that you often encounter paragraph-long sentences containing 100 words or more. This is especially the case with tax law, where the author tries to describe the law, the exemption and the exception to the exemption in the same sentence. It becomes an difficult exercise in logical comprehension.
posted by James 11:01 am
Wayne, a friend of mine from New Zealand, visited me in Tilburg, on Friday night. He has been travelling around the Benelux countries and will travel further, in the UK.
I am always pleased to meet a friend from New Zealand. I was a little tired after a day’s work, but I felt refreshed when I met Wayne on the platform at Tilburg station. We spoke about his trip and The Netherlands as we waited for the bus to Hasseltstraat.
My original intention was that we would later go into town. But, my fatigue caught up with me, so we decided to stay back at the house. Wayne and Agnieszka chatted as I prepared my dinner. We later had a few chilled beers and ordered takeaways. When the food was delivered, we were given free cigarette lighters! A nice reflection of Dutch culture, I think.
On Saturday, after going with Wayne to the train station (he was going to Belgium), I did some research for my post-traineeship travel plans. I intend to go to St. Petersburg, but as my confidence about my finances increases, I am tempted to add other destinations. I am considering going to Portugal to see Jose. If I manage to do that, I would have been to four very different places in Europe – The Netherlands, Croatia, Portugal and Russia. I would be satisfied with that.
I bought myself a rather cool-looking (according to my peculiar standards) hat for winter. It is woollen and mostly red – my favourite colour.
Agnieszka goes back to Poland, for Christmas, on Monday. I think she is in a "killing time" mood, because I walked downstairs and found her cleaning the kitchen floor. There is no longer a "lake" in front of the fridge and we are certain that its source is the (damned) washing machine. Agnieszka cleaned the bathroom too!
Lia and I had planned to play squash on Sunday but there were no courts available. I went for a nice Sunday run, instead. The run out was cold due to light rain and wind. But, the run back, after the wind had dropped down, was much nicer. I like running after it has just been raining. It seems warmer somehow.
Agnieszka and I went to see Lord of The Rings (The Return of the King) in the evening. It lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes, including a typically Dutch intermission of 20 minutes halfway through.
posted by James 5:01 pm