Steve_Bamlett_blog

There is something rather neurotic about daily blogging. Well, there you go. I am free at last. WordPress has, or had, a function by which it congratulated people each time they increase the number of days of continuous daily blogs. You were given a streak number corresponding to the number of days you continued your ‘streak’ of blogs. Two days ago, my accumulated number was 528, and that represents a lot of daily blogs. But it becomes obsessive. There were times when I could not think of a topic or bear to try and find interest in the prompt questions the company offered.

As my spring break came up, I even worried about how to keep up the number since my provider [EE] does not give automatic roaming rights for data in European Community countries. My plan was to set up blogs early and publish them on the day. I thought I would try that plan out yesterday. I found the company treated preset blogs, however, as the product of the day that you started, not published, them, so yesterday’s blog broke my streak. Even adding one today did not establish a new serial count, of which that would be number 1.

Amd after feeling some obligatory despair and then paranoia about WordPress, I suddenly realised I was no longer bound to a schedule of someone else’s making. I could now enjoy my short break in Amsterdam  without worrying about whether I could blog or not. And that feels great.

Hence, I began to take stock of my upcoming trip with my husband. Daisy in the kennels for 5 days from tomorrow morning is a definite downside, but thence we drive to North Shields to pick up our stay overnight en route to Holland. We travel by Kings Seaway, the name of the DFDS ferry, having dinner, and then relaxing in a cabin before breakfast the next morning, arriving at 9 a.m.

From the port there is transport to central Amsterdam. We have booked our stay at the The Bilderberg Garden Hotel – where we stay quite near to both the Van Gogh Musuem on one side, the Rijksmuseum on tne other [see the map].

If we have time, we will take a canal trip later, fo on Wednesday, we have a dual ticket for the Anselm Kiefer exhibition organised by the Van Gogh Museum, and for the Van Gogh collection. I cannot wait

The next day, we go to the Rijksmuseum.

No doubt, Amsterdam will please. I have never been there before. Back to the King’s Seaway on Friday afternoon and docking at North Shields the next morning. And then to Daisy.

And no compulsion to ever do a blog again. At least not daily.  That’s liberty. And if I can’t use a smartphone in Amsterdam,  so what!

Bye for now

Love Steven xxxxxxx