February 8, 2000

customers and a castle

More customers. Another gas station lunch. My colleague who is on this mission from my office (a thirty-something) will mention that there have been no women in our sessions. I've only noticed because I was looking for sartorial guidance, not because I'm surprised or not accustomed to it. Of course, that extra fifteen years of working life means that I've seen plenty of all-male meetings. Doesn't bother me. But it does seem more so here.

After the day is done, we go to a new hotel. (I will soon be very weary of packing as we will check out every morning from now on.) The hotel dates from the fifteenth century, they claim.

A colleague from England has checked in earlier. We raise him in his room (listening to classical music, nice providing a CD player and some disks) and have a meal in the bistro restaurant. The menu is in Dutch. Our Dutch colleague translates. I have wild boar paté and venison. We find nothing on the printed wine list actually available but a handwritten list is produced and we pick a credible one. Waiter seems to speak neither Dutch nor English. We discuss business. We get smarter as we drink.

I haven't been in this country for a couple of decades. Might as well still not have been for all I've seen.

"Things bygone are the only things that last:
The present is mere grass, quick-mown away;
the past is stone, and stands for ever fast. "

Eugene Lee Hamilton, Roman Baths

a bit of nostalgia