gevulde koek

First of all, my apologies for not updating the blog the last few days; the only excuse I have is that I've been pretty busy lately.

Sunday the weather was bad, so I stayed at home. No photos.

Monday was the first day back at work after the two week holiday. The morning started with shaking hands with ±250 colleagues and then working like mad to get the bid book finished; it had to go to the printer today to be ready to be mailed by registered post tomorrow. I got the last bits and pieces around 13:00. By 14:00 it was uploaded to the printer's server.

Monday was also the day the mail order company was supposed to bring my home trainer bike in the evening. They didn't show up.

Tuesday I worked my butt off to do the layout on a number of articles for the Annual Report. I also received a box with a few bid books; the printer had sent them by bicycle courier. Just in time for the post.

Both Monday and Tuesday I had forgotten to bring my camera, so no photos.

Tuesday I phoned the mail order company to ask where my home trainer bike was: "we tried to deliver at 14:00, but there was nobody home". I said that my preferences stated "delivery in the evening". They said they only did that for small packages and the bike wasn't small. When I asked if I could make an appointment to have it delivered on Wednesday during the day they said they would phone me back.

Update: In the evening I helped Joeri understand her new MacBook. I had to brave the cold and the dark, not to mention the 40 pirates who live in the cave under the bench in the Oosterpark.

Wednesday morning I woke up early and saw my doctor. I'd been a month without the diabetes medication and he wanted to see what my fasting glucose level was after the days of gluttony holiday season. When he jabbed me for a drop of blood I said I hoped he would measure a 'gevulde koek'. He looked nonplussed. I explained that if the glucose levels were good, I had promised myself a gevulde koek at Hartog's.

The level was 5.1; smack in the middle of the normal range. He told me to go and get a gevulde koek. I was now officially non-diabetic again! I raced to Hartog's.

breakfast at hartog's (the clock didn't work)

Walking back from Hartog, the sun had risen and the snow (did I tell you it had snowed?) was looking white instead of grey. Only in the children's playground on Krugerplein the snow was red from the firecracker papers that were still there a week after New Year.

snow

In the evening I walked to Mulligans; Margot was in a foul mood because of things at her work and needed cheering up so I got marching orders to go to Mulligans and cheer her up. Mark Gilligan was playing with Paul Martin. That didn't particularly cheer her up, but the pint of Guinness I bought her seemed to do the job.

stopera at night

Today the world was wrapped in fog. I walked to work and on Kruislaan you couldn't see the buildings across the road.

kruislaan

I did more work on the annual report. Monday we're having out editorial meeting with the first review and I want to have as much ready as possible.

The mail order company called in the morning to make an appointment for delivery of the excercise bike. They've got it planned for next week Wednesday; four weeks after I'd ordered the bloody thing! Why didn't they ask me when delivery would be optimal when I ordered?

I left early since I had an appointment with the dietician of the diabetic support. She was happy to see my weight loss graph, and even happier to hear I was taken off the medication all together. We discussed the problems I'm having with the diet: hunger and cold. We agreed that it could have to do something with not eating enough and temperatures below −10° C…

I walked back through Oosterpark where kids were ice skating on the pond. When I made this photo, the kid on the left had just made a fantastic crash landing. It took him a while to get up again; he legs kept going everywhere…

skating in oosterpark

For dinner I got a roti with beef from the Surinamese place down the road. I asked for two bags of their hottest sambal, but they must have changed the recipe because it wasn't all that hot. I ended up throwing some sambal oelek on top.