One of those weeks

I've been all over the place this last week - literally and figuratively. Following my rather close relationship with gravity and tendency to embrace concrete too warmly (see previous post), I've been nursing my bruises carefully and taking life rather cautiously. That said, I've been very busy with work so my blogging rounds have been interrupted and I see I have a whole list of them to catch up with.

Just as a round up, I had to go to Amsterdam on Monday to teach at the university there. This is something I do regularly, but not often (if you see what I mean). The courses I teach for UvA are mostly online, so I only do the first session face-to-face, meaning I only need to be there about six times a year. Anyway, as I was walking from the station, I had to follow one of the lovely grachten (canals) that the city is famous for and I thought of Jenny Woolf, who asked me about the houseboats in Amsterdam a few weeks ago. So, here are a couple of photos to give an idea of what it's like there.

Looking through a typical granny bike at the canal

One boat that doesn't move very often, I fancy

An old hull with a practical build-up

On Tuesday, I was back in Rotterdam, starting a new course at Erasmus MC, the largest hospital in the city and an important part of the university too. I am teaching a group of HR staff there who have to help people from all over the world, so English is the common language. It's fun and they are lovely, so we all have a good giggle. They liked it especially when I took out my Swiss St Bernard's rescue dog pencil case. Always an ice breaker.

Then on Wednesday and Thursday I was back at the main Erasmus campus, but this time teaching academic writing to PhDers, so as I said...all over the place.

In between these sessions, I've been prepping for lessons, but also trying to work on the Vereeniging. You may remember that earlier in the year I posted some photos of the woodworm effect in the floor of my little back cabin. 

Since then, I've been keeping the bugs at bay with regular doses of anti-woodworm spray, but I realised I'd have to remove the floor after all - it really was way too far gone. However, this was a task far easier thought about than done. I've got most of the honeycomb-that-was-a-floor out now, but there are still two planks I can't seem to budge that will take more drastic measures. Once I have them out, I'll be installing a new floor made from thick plywood. Apparently woodworm don't like it, so it's the safest option, even if not very authentic. I shall paint it, though, so hopefully no one with a critical eye will notice. I'm also doing some more renovations inside, so watch this space for the photos.

So that's been my week! I'm back in Zeeland now and have Hennie Ha jobs to do too. As they say (and I've said too) koop een boot, werk je dood. Well, there are two in our family...my days are numbered, I think... what about you?