General
The Last Supper
It’s a warm Friday evening in Bangkok. The last evening the Three Musketeers will spend together. For the occasion, our team is complemented by one friendly ghost. The orange juice and lemonade comes with added salt instead of sugar. All of it adds to the alienation of this evening. Thai food, but please no lemongrass… … Continue reading
Lassie The Wonderdog On Fire
My very brave and very blonde pilot Robbie is not so very brave this morning. At breakfast he’s reluctantly chewing away on honey crackers instead of bacon & eggs, his watery eyes staring into infinity. I’m guessing he has come down with light flu. Logistically not a big problem, since the weather for today and … Continue reading
The Hypocrite
I’m having trouble coming back home after two months in Cambodia. In the beginning I could blame the jetlag. After more than a week nobody is buying that anymore. Everybody tells me that I’m so quiet. That I am lacking of my normal vibrant charm (sarcasm alert !). I can see that too, every morning … Continue reading
Djibouti Dinner
Two quick knocks on the door. Seven ‘o clock, dinnertime. Joining Jeroen (pilot, bright green Hawaii shirt) I walk to the elevator like every evening. At the reception I exchange a crispy clean one hundred dollar bill for a wad of filthy Djibouti francs. Pecunia non olet they say, except in Africa. Continue reading
The Anchor
Spring 2003 and the first beautiful summer weekend of the year. My girlfriend has announced a full weekend of gardening. Rooting wrist deep into the sticky soil. Planting truckloads of new greens and shrubberies. Countless hours pulling weeds only for them to pop back up the next week. This gloomy perspective leaves me no other … Continue reading
Love of my life
I was a boy, fourteen years old when we first met. I remember everything like it happened only yesterday. The careful first approach, the first eye contact. A shy touch and then, faster than I could ever have imagined, the first kiss. Ah, I remember it so well, there, out behind the school playground.
Superstition
Valencia, May 2002 – Fortunately, I’m not superstitious. I am writing this email being at ease and at the thirteenth floor of our Spanish apartment building. Young Master Jan (calls himself a pilot) has gone to the supermarket, so we have some time to spare. In the CD player a disk with a bunch of Partita’s, written by good guy Bach. Glenn Gould … Continue reading
Positive Thinking
Bangkok, March 2007 – Happiness is not something that you stumble upon by chance, nor is it dropped into your lap by divine providence. No. Happiness is a thing that you pry from the clutches of The Universe by force. It’s very much a cliché, but also a very accurate description of what I experienced today. … Continue reading
The Pumpkin Championship
Teuge, September 2008 – Once a year it is ‘Braderie’ in our village. It is a sort of a mardi gras where all the local shop owners install little stalls in the streets. In these you find fun little games for the kids and lots of watery beer in plastic cups for the parents. And the … Continue reading
Environmental Activist Avant La Lettre
Bucharest, May 2003 – A beautiful sunny Sunday morning in Bucharest, Romania. Casper calls to tell me that today we will not fly. We agree this is a nice opportunity go out and explore the city. We are to meet in the city center near his apartment. Taking my time I organize some things in my very shabby … Continue reading
