Reunited (and it feels so good...)

Applying paint to the walls of the guest room

A long time no posts on the blog...I have been busy painting my new apartment in Groningen. It's a nice place, spacious (which means more walls to paint) with a guest room (so everyone's more than welcome to visit) and with a view of the Martinitoren from the living room.

The Martinitoren in the back, with the tower of the University in front and the Reitdiep (canal). Shot from my balcony ;-)

The paintjob would not have gone so well without the help of my friends Bastiaan, Simon and my sister Liduine, who let me kip in het apartment for the duration of the work. After the painting a pro has laid down a floor and tomorrow finally the moving company will deliver my stuff and I can stop living out of the bags I took on the plane early August or the bag that I took on my bike. As I hadn't cycled for over two weeks (I wanted to ride last sunday but the weather was so bad I couldn't get of my butt) it was high time for a ride, this time to bring Scotty from my parents' place to my new apartment. A short ride, some 65 km, with nice weather - balmy temperature and a bit of sun. Of course pancake flat but with some nice small roads lined with trees and typical Dutch farms.

The green 'board' on the roof behind the chimney is typical for the North. Called an "ûlebord" it provides a hole for owls to enter the farms' barn to make sure mice don't like hanging out there.

Three more things -
first: the winner of the distance bet is Lukas Kromer, who bet about 200 km longer than I cycled in the end, but still he won against some fierce competition. Lukas - you'll get your price when I return to ITQB!
second: the amount of money donated on my personal page is still rather pathetic. Come on people - I made it! Open your wallets - I did ;-)
third: This blog will continue - I will occassionally post about my sporting activities or the activities of others that I like to comment on.