A happy day! The bike really, totally, actually did come today!! Around 12.30 a man came with the above bus. Which contained ** the bike ** !! And which took scooty away again. Sadly. In spite of everything, I had gotten a bit attached to her. The man who brought ** the bike ** had me sign a few papers (stating, for example, that ** the bike ** will always remain property of the government. Something I tend to forget after one day) He showed me which keys to use for which lock, and assured me he'd never seen anyone so incredibly excited about something from Medipoint before. :) Yeah I couldn't stop my oohs and aahs and was practically jumping up and down the road. I decided to celebrate the coming of ** the bike ** by inviting all neighbors to come drink (very cheap) "champagne" and inaugerate it. I should've advertised it better, only a few showed up. BUT! It was a lot of fun. Sad stuff has happened recently - a neighbor died, we have to leave our houses within the somewhat near future, I had my 'seven year brain hemorrhage mark' this last week... How beautiful to celebrate good things, too!
3 Comments
The new bike still hasn’t arrived. Tomorrow it's 11 weeks. 11. Weeks. People. Decorating scooty, wearing a Christmas hat and playing ‘jingle bells’ was fun until... different small catastrophes. Last Monday, when I wrote the last blog right, I expected the new bike to come. Then I was told it was coming Friday. And Friday I was told... another two weeks or so. Unless... it’s Christmas, which ah! It is! Last Saturday scooty stopped working. This morning someone is *supposed* to come to fix scooty, although I personally would think... to me it seems it would make more sense, to put a little speed in the whole bike thing! Alas. You don't go and bother people with this kind of irrelevant logic.
Seriously, this intermediate organization Medipoint that I'm constantly dealing with is enough to make the blood boil. Customer service, a personal approach - totally foreign concepts. I've thrown toilet rolls in angry outrage (you want to do something with little cleaning up, and no worried neighbors right), I've cried my heart out. The effect so far has been minimal. In the meantime, I use another type of transport: additional public transport (aanvullend openbaar vervoer). For the long distances, I go with Valys. You might have heard about it from grandpa or great-aunt. :) For the short distances, I used to take RMC. Now with the above bike drama, it's become Transvision. Where with RMC (and Valys) you pick up and drop off numerous people before it's your turn, so that rides could possibly take over twice as long as you had imagined, with Transvision you're supposed to go straight from your house to your destination. Kind of a personal (cheap) taxi. This could possibly be amazing. The first time I didn't know you had to say this on the phone though, so we dropped off four other passengers before it was my turn. The second time I was slightly stressed, being at the pool, showering and changing, hoping they wouldn't be early and come already. Still, possibly amazing. Yep, it's Monday. Remember, the bike was coming today. (oh wow, I'm totally blogging more often these days, haha) SO. The new and improved green flash, which apparently is going to be a black flash, was to come. I got up early enough to be totally ready at nine. And waited. Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, one... Between nine and one 'they' were supposed to come. After some (slightly frustrated) phoning, someone came around two, a time right in the middle of my siësta. But for a new green flash, you're willing to sacrifice some sleep right. Well. At two a mister came, with some parts for the new bike. But... with no bike. "Isn't it here yet?!" Apparently another organisation was supposed to have brought it, and they just simply... didn't. Without informing anyone. It's coming on Friday. Supposedly. On the down side, I am SO dependent on this bike, and these switches in plans are very difficult to handle. On the bright side, that means I can bring some more Christmas joy to Amsterdam with my scootmobiel.
But the picture :) Just like last year, I looked for some empty glass jars to decorate and place a small candle in (waxinelichtje). Advent. Commemorating that the Light of the world stepped down into darkness. As a means of living more consciously towards Christmas. It's special to know that the Light of the world understands the above kind of frustration. Because He stepped down right into it. But oh, this is easier to write than to feel!!! I have been having fun with my scootmobiel. Of course, it brings somehwat bizarre situations with it as well. Such as going somewhere the other day where I needed help from everyone around to lift the heavy thing UP over the huge difference in height. Inside I lunged forward and crashed into a cute little group of vases. Twice. Thankfully the lady behind the counter couldn't stop laughing (neither could I). Or being at a market-y place and wanting to go a leeeetle bit backwards, when ZOOF I lunged back and knocked over the sign. This morning I decorated scooty with Christmas stuff, which isn't all visible on the photo. I have a music card (in my hand) which plays 'jingle bells' for waiting at the traffic light, possibly somewhat annoying. The Christmas lights in the back unfortunately don't flash on and off. But then you can't have everything. Especially if you have to give the thing back on Monday. YES!! Can you believe it. With totally unexpected speed, I'm getting a new bike on Monday! So long scooty, and so much for annoying hundreds of Amsterdammers.
The good thing about biking, however, is that you actually pump yourself warm. With a scootmobiel you just sit and sit, and you get colder and colder. This last week I was scootmobiling somewhere, and it was raining. And I got colder and colder. "It could always be worse!" I thought. "It could be hailing!" When... yes... it started hailing. So at this point I lost my eternal optimism and got angry. "God couldn't you ward off the hail while I was outside?!!" I yelled up. UG!!! But somehow? I just really can't explain it. Somehow I had been losing my trust, and somehow this hail renewed my contact. Be it angry contact!! But as I was yelling, somehow it became ok. I was cold, and wet, but God was with me. Not solving my problems, but still with me. That was enough. I could trust again. |
Mattanja OosterhuisHaving grown up in diverse places on earth, I suppose I've learned to make the best of what comes my way. Such as a hemorrhage. After this bleeding in my head occurred in dec. 2010, my life has come to look different. On my blog I write about some of this. Archives
March 2018
|