Tell me how you're feeling

And so we're back, dear reader, from our adventure to one of the most beautiful cities in the world - Amsterdam!

It was blazingly hot the whole time we were there - Saturday hit 37C! - and needless to say our room on the third floor of the hotel [The Anco - an old, charming building in the Red Light District, with the inevitable step-ladder-steep stairs and distinctly unmodernised windows - no air-conditioning] was more of a sauna than Thermos (RIP) ever was. Nothing bothered us hardy travellers however, and we wandered the grachten, had drinks in outside bruin cafés and visited our favourite gay bars as usual. Well almost "usual" - masks had to be worn around the rabbit-warren of alleys in the Red Light District and in the main shopping streets, some bars were doing temperature checks, seating was arranged to comply with social distancing and in some places contact details had to be given - but all of that is understandable. Everywhere and everyone was friendly and welcoming, and we were just ecstatic to be there at all...


Tarts on tour again

...but what did we miss while we were away? Obviously, the world is still reeling from the vile COVID - and several countries (even neighbouring Lowlands ones such as Luxembourg and Belgium) were removed from the UK's "travel corridor" list [the Netherlands by contrast has had a very low incidence of new cases so far]; the endless post-Brexit negotiations with the EU and other countries hit some bizarre stumbling blocks - over scallops and Stilton, apparently; following the devastating explosion in Beirut, its government resigned en masse; Belarus experienced mass rioting after the dodgy re-election of their dictator president; Trump is still mad, as is Putin; and a naked sunbather in Germany was pictured chasing a wild boar that stole his bag...

...we missed celebrating Patti Austin's 70th birthday, the 60th birthdays of both David Duchovny and the lovely Antonio Banderas, the 95th of Miss Arlene Dahl and the 97th of Miss Rhonda Fleming, two of the last surviving actresses of the "Golden Age of Hollywood"...

... and Our Princess Kylie released the official video for Say Something!

Kylie Minogue - Say Something

Sparkle, Kylie, SPARKLE!

Is it good to be back?

No.