We have jobs!!!!

Dear Diary,

It has been a big few weeks for us here in the Netherlands. As luck would have it there was a sufficent amount of red tape we had to chomp down to be able to work, still we have stuck with it and gained our working permits. The next step, the job hunt! After many many pleading phone calls, eventually someone gave in and we are now working in a hugmungous flower bulb distribution factory - Fred.de.meulder exports.

As it is the season for dispatching the bulbs all around Europe, we are working some huge hours too. Emilie very kindly leant her house to us, and as we didnt know anywhere else for the first four days we decided to commute. This has meant leaving at 4.30am on our single speed bikes, to ride as fast as possible (were talking pursuit style eye watering speed) for 40 minutes, to catch a train, to catch a bus, to walk, to praise the coffee machine at 6:45am, to start with our first shipment at 7am!! We then work till 9pm with a few decent stops, one including dinner which they give us (who eats kip ´´chicken´´ every night??) then do the reverse!! The job itself is classic, Michele a now seasoned speacialist in overlly expensive bulb packaging, and myself a basic grunt in the wrapping and hauling line.

As we are earning Euros, and jamming so many hours into a week after a month we will be back into full time travel ... either that or we will declare ourselves bankrupt!

So with a month ahead of us we are looking for closer accomodation, and after a bit of searching, it seems the best thing to do is buy a camper. So tomorrow, with luck on our side we will pick up our 1988 VW Transporter, complete with all the bells and whistles, like an ice box, cd player, bathroom and camp toilet, cooker, and touch wood the diesel motor that comes inside it will continue to run!!!

In between all of this we also had a visit from Ryan Marshall. We met him in Amsterdam and did our best to jam as many Dutch sights and food in in his 3 day stopover. We even ate Herring - raw small fish ... apparently a delicacy but i beg to differ (photos to come).

So as we move over the halfway point in our Netherlands stay, lets see what tales we have about driving on the wrong side of the road, the wrong side of the car, on the freeway where everyone likes to go 120km/h, in our 4 speed bug!!

Will write more and add some photos when we have some time, thanks for all the messages from home, keep them coming.

McDuff
Tristan and Michele