I had been back for a month, and it was definitely time for a holiday. Noriko had gone home after a highly charged 3 day visit and almost immediately afterwards Iain and Anri, Tokyo psychonauts and professional party animals, arrived. At the same time Mat and Charlotte had separately headed off leaving me alone to look after the house for the weekend, so I enlisted Anri's help to leave Iain free no doubt for an emotionally charged reunion with his family. For three days we relaxed in central London splendour, and it was very relaxed for the whole time. We went to Camden, checked out the cyber-trance stylings in the Stables Market, and the psychedelic stylings in the Lock Market. We returned a few days later when Anri had moved back in with Iain, and she suggested we all go to Amsterdam, at her expense! Would we like to go, she asked.

Well, duh. Of course. And this is just another example of the amazing timing that seems to have followed me back from Japan. Iain and Anri arrived about an hour after Noriko left. That same weekend Mat and Charlotte were away. While we were out there was a Red Arrow flyby, followed by a shock of bright lightning and a giant clap of thunder just as we got home. Anri suggests a holiday just as we all have spare time to go. Then, on the morning we are due to leave, I am buying tickets to fly when the recruitment agent calls me up and tells me I have got a job with Sony that Noriko introduced me to and which I really wanted to get! An which stripped away the last shreds of doubt I had about going leaving me free to enjoy the holiday with no worries whatsoever. The only shadow on the whole affair was that Iain didn't feel fit enough to travel (he had a lingering sickness since visiting Tokyo Disneyland on a microdot and something like acid called bosh) so it was just me and Anri, but that wasn't so bad ;)

And on to Amsterdam. Sadly, a blow by blow account would take too long (har har) but I'll say this: the people are so relaxed, the atmosphere is liberating and I think it's the perfect place for me to go on holiday, right now. So much so that we rather greedily extended our stay by an extra two nights and have moved hotels 3 times! Today I'm feeling rather frazzled (yesterday was a heavy day in every sense) but it's all so much fun I don't want to stop until I have to. It's all good, basically, and I'll be working for Sony when I get back, in Golden Square. Awesome.