Nethernetherland...

A rundown of our road trip to the Netherlands for the Lowlands Festival by special guest contributor, Monsieur Shane Balzan...

I feel it a great honour to have the privilege of being Guest Contributor to the OS-borne blog; even with the threats from Jeannie that I should keep it short, and that my work may suffer censorship. I don’t know how I can compress two weeks into a couple of hundred words; but I will try.

We spent the first few days easing into the eagerly-awaited Conspiracy Weekend; a marathon of DVDs intended to inspire conversation and debate on topical issues. We eagerly watched Supersize Me, OutFoxed, Control Room, and a Michael Moore double feature; and followed up each documentary with generally non-raised voices.

On the Sunday, a day-trip to Germany (for which I take full and total responsibility), in search of lederhosen, oompah music, sausages and beer, ended up finding us in a plain, outer suburb of Cologne (Rodenkirchen). After a substantial meal overlooking the Rhine, we managed to escape a severe downpour by taking shelter under an umbrella in a small pub’s beergarden.

Germany Slideshow Germany Thumbnails

I planned a pub crawl of inner-city Brussels whilst Jeannie and Jamie were busy learning French at home; and then received very little praise in managing to find Brussels’ very well-hidden ‘death’ pub (a very dark room, basically), which charges 7 Euros for a glass of beer (it was Jamie’s round!).

Finally, it was off to the Netherlands, and after short ventures to Amsterdam (Jamie and I spent a night there [thanks Dave D.!] and caught up with Bellamy and Neus for dinner/drinks. They should be [happily we hope] resettled in Barcelona by now. JMO) and Utrecht, it was off to the Lowlands festival, with our Dutch hosts, Esther and Jeroen. The festival site is actually 6 metres below sea level, in some reclaimed land. Whilst many of the locals (and even Jeannie - having seen one in her tent! JMO) tried to disagree with my theory that mosquitoes are not found below sea level, I never once reverted to my insect repellent. You would have thought there was a UWA Alumni stall at the festival, what with Kate Hairsine and Sarah Haynes in attendance as well.

Utrecht Slideshow Utrecht Thumbnails Amsterdam Sildeshow Amsterdam Thumbnails Lowlands Slideshow Lowlands Thumbnails

I spent the last few days of my trip back at Chez Osborne recovering from my Lowlands’ excesses, as well as nurturing relationships with Max, Lucy and Oliver. Uncle Shane was quite a hit with the kids, and introduced a little meat into their vegetarian diets. I had a lovely time catching up with Jeannie and Jamie, and apart from having to drink the disturbing, green tea and mushroom soup fermenting in the laundry, they are perfect hosts. Thanks for all the fish!

Uncle Shane Slideshow Uncle Shane Thumbnails