Is it weird that I want to give William Hague a hug?
So remember how I said I was off to Norwich last night? Yeah... as it turns out, not so much. I am usually very good at trains due to excessive practice, but when I fail it’s pretty epic. :( I am going today - practically now, in fact - instead, rather more expensively! I shall still be back in time for Violet’s birthday Thursday though. And then there shall be partying! It’s gonna be awesome.
Anyway, this way I get time to tell you guys about my life! I know you’ll be riveted. :)
I am terribly embarrassed by the post I made the day I left - I mean, in my defence I was incredibly stressed. But ARGH I saw that post again when I got back and was like OH NOES YOU HAVE TO GO TO A GREAT CITY YOU’VE NEVER VISITED AGAIN? AND YOUR PARENTS ARE PAYING? THAT IS SO TRAGIC. REALLY. If you read that post and thought ‘cry moar, emo kid’ I could not agree more. *embarrassed*
Amsterdam was fantastic! The first night I had Thai with katelimnr, we talked fandom and porn and wandered the city. Then we got stoned in a coffee shop showing the Antiques Roadshow on a little telly, possibly so visitors would think they were hallucinating. Tuesday I went to Anne Frank’s house with the family. I wasn’t expecting it to be especially affecting; I went in thinking how I hoped to remember the layout, because I read her diary over and over again as a young teenager and found it hard to keep it straight. Totally welled up, especially with the video clip they show in the very last room of her father Otto talking about finding the diary.
We did a canal tour which sadly did not include this barge my mum told us about which is a cats’ home. Apparently it is the cutest thing ever. Sounds it, although since my parents got engaged on a footbridge in Amsterdam my mother is an unreliable source. There was quite a lot of calf-eyes, and also quite a lot of bickering about which footbridge it was.
And then we went to the Van Gogh museum! Which was SO COOL and omgamazing. I love his work a lot. The next day Dad had an economic history conference to go to (the reason for the trip) so the rest of us went to the Riiksmuseum.
This is Amsterdam’s big, impressive, ‘history of the place’ museum, and it certainly was impressive. There was a lot of gorgeous art and relics and impressive things all around. I was impressed and interested - but I also felt a bit weirded out by the terribly patriotic vision presented. The museum begins with the seventeenth century - Amsterdam’s golden age of culture and commerce. They had paintings of Dutch ships defeating English ones, paragraphs on the wall about the shininess of them, and busts of two of the founders of the East India Company.
The East India Company, for those who don’t know, was a Dutch company (although there were versions from various nations, usually also called the East India Company) that did various bad, imperialistic things involving lots of exploitation, enslavement and starvation-causing. Now maybe I’m just sensitive to this because of Britain’s own imperial past but it seems to me that including the East India Company among all the spangled remnants of the history you’re proud of is somewhat problematic. You need to either mention the bad stuff along with the shiny trade or just focus on the good stuff. I vote for the former.
Then we went for ice-cream! I had amazing Haagen-Daaz limited-edition sorbet: cranberry, orangeblossom and mango. Om nom nom.
The next day I got the train to Paignton - worst train journey I’ve ever had, incidentally - and was off to see the relatives! And for all their issues, I actually had a great time. Lack of hygiene nothwithstanding. (Seriously, ew.)
Since I’m in the mood, brief politics thoughts: poor Hague. Jesus, I feel awful for him. Stupid internet rumours decided he was fucking his male, twenty-five-year-old advisor because they shared a twin room at a hotel during the campaign, which considering Hague’s a man of a certain generation who was privately educated means exactly nothing. His statement was really personal and talked about his wife’s miscarriages and made me wibble.
Also: right, I’m not of the opinion that Blair was lying as opposed to stupid/deluded when he told Parliament that Hussein had WMDs. I am of the opinion that Blair was in many ways an excellent Prime Minister. But I resent the idea, which I’ve heard from various people including Youngest Sister in recent days, that it is merely fashionable to despise Blair. That virulent middle-class dinner-party criticism of him bears no relation to his actual behaviour.
Blair did a lot of terrible things. Even separate from Iraq, the biggest of those things, he did things like allow rendition. He allowed kidnapping and torture to happen in Britain’s name and for our benefit; he repeatedly attacked historic civil liberties including the right to protest and habeas corpus; he failed to regulate business’ effect on the environment even as private households reduced their carbon footprint and showed they cared. People’s dislike is not just about Iraq and it’s justified.
That said, I imagine the pendulum is about to swing again... especially with the mutterings about the Real IRA.
I feel weird about the last line of a post belonging to the Real IRA because seriously violent republicans can DIAF. So I shall note that I am working on fic for the first time in AGES and it FEELS SO GOOD.
Now am off to update the masterlist at last. Deepest apologies, hd_remixer...
Anyway, this way I get time to tell you guys about my life! I know you’ll be riveted. :)
I am terribly embarrassed by the post I made the day I left - I mean, in my defence I was incredibly stressed. But ARGH I saw that post again when I got back and was like OH NOES YOU HAVE TO GO TO A GREAT CITY YOU’VE NEVER VISITED AGAIN? AND YOUR PARENTS ARE PAYING? THAT IS SO TRAGIC. REALLY. If you read that post and thought ‘cry moar, emo kid’ I could not agree more. *embarrassed*
Amsterdam was fantastic! The first night I had Thai with katelimnr, we talked fandom and porn and wandered the city. Then we got stoned in a coffee shop showing the Antiques Roadshow on a little telly, possibly so visitors would think they were hallucinating. Tuesday I went to Anne Frank’s house with the family. I wasn’t expecting it to be especially affecting; I went in thinking how I hoped to remember the layout, because I read her diary over and over again as a young teenager and found it hard to keep it straight. Totally welled up, especially with the video clip they show in the very last room of her father Otto talking about finding the diary.
We did a canal tour which sadly did not include this barge my mum told us about which is a cats’ home. Apparently it is the cutest thing ever. Sounds it, although since my parents got engaged on a footbridge in Amsterdam my mother is an unreliable source. There was quite a lot of calf-eyes, and also quite a lot of bickering about which footbridge it was.
And then we went to the Van Gogh museum! Which was SO COOL and omgamazing. I love his work a lot. The next day Dad had an economic history conference to go to (the reason for the trip) so the rest of us went to the Riiksmuseum.
This is Amsterdam’s big, impressive, ‘history of the place’ museum, and it certainly was impressive. There was a lot of gorgeous art and relics and impressive things all around. I was impressed and interested - but I also felt a bit weirded out by the terribly patriotic vision presented. The museum begins with the seventeenth century - Amsterdam’s golden age of culture and commerce. They had paintings of Dutch ships defeating English ones, paragraphs on the wall about the shininess of them, and busts of two of the founders of the East India Company.
The East India Company, for those who don’t know, was a Dutch company (although there were versions from various nations, usually also called the East India Company) that did various bad, imperialistic things involving lots of exploitation, enslavement and starvation-causing. Now maybe I’m just sensitive to this because of Britain’s own imperial past but it seems to me that including the East India Company among all the spangled remnants of the history you’re proud of is somewhat problematic. You need to either mention the bad stuff along with the shiny trade or just focus on the good stuff. I vote for the former.
Then we went for ice-cream! I had amazing Haagen-Daaz limited-edition sorbet: cranberry, orangeblossom and mango. Om nom nom.
The next day I got the train to Paignton - worst train journey I’ve ever had, incidentally - and was off to see the relatives! And for all their issues, I actually had a great time. Lack of hygiene nothwithstanding. (Seriously, ew.)
Since I’m in the mood, brief politics thoughts: poor Hague. Jesus, I feel awful for him. Stupid internet rumours decided he was fucking his male, twenty-five-year-old advisor because they shared a twin room at a hotel during the campaign, which considering Hague’s a man of a certain generation who was privately educated means exactly nothing. His statement was really personal and talked about his wife’s miscarriages and made me wibble.
Also: right, I’m not of the opinion that Blair was lying as opposed to stupid/deluded when he told Parliament that Hussein had WMDs. I am of the opinion that Blair was in many ways an excellent Prime Minister. But I resent the idea, which I’ve heard from various people including Youngest Sister in recent days, that it is merely fashionable to despise Blair. That virulent middle-class dinner-party criticism of him bears no relation to his actual behaviour.
Blair did a lot of terrible things. Even separate from Iraq, the biggest of those things, he did things like allow rendition. He allowed kidnapping and torture to happen in Britain’s name and for our benefit; he repeatedly attacked historic civil liberties including the right to protest and habeas corpus; he failed to regulate business’ effect on the environment even as private households reduced their carbon footprint and showed they cared. People’s dislike is not just about Iraq and it’s justified.
That said, I imagine the pendulum is about to swing again... especially with the mutterings about the Real IRA.
I feel weird about the last line of a post belonging to the Real IRA because seriously violent republicans can DIAF. So I shall note that I am working on fic for the first time in AGES and it FEELS SO GOOD.
Now am off to update the masterlist at last. Deepest apologies, hd_remixer...