Well I bit the bullet and asked a friend for dinner this week.
The resistance to entertaining has essentially been the rather primitive living conditions. While where I live is okay for breakfast, Covent Garden soup and pretty much anything that goes into a microwave – it really is not suitable to ask others to.
It was a spontaneous invitation after an hour of belting a squash ball at Queens. It would seem that I have found myself on the Judge Squash team for the MBAT. As an aside – MBAT is a sports competition held between the Business Schools at HEC, a french university which is not far from Paris. Goodness knows how that is going to go, but I am hoping it is all about participation rather than winning! Although as I type that sentence I realise quite how crazy it is to expect a bunch of MBA’s not to be competitive. These are people who can make trivial pursuit a blood sport!
Anyway, it was lovely to have visitors but my goodness there are some important items missing in the kitchen. We had salad served in a cake mixing bowl, using those big plastic spoons you usually see hanging in Sainsbury’s, bread and cheese on a plastic white chopping board and wine in some pretty massive glasses! All rather classy I would say..
No matter what happens at the end of this academic year – it will be nice to live somewhere that enables the sharing of meals with friends that is welcoming and most of all does not require drinking wine out a pint glasses!
The Lovemark, is quite a nifty thing actually. A Lovemark is something that creates Loyalty Beyond Reason. So for me it is all about 
Crazy may not be quite the right word but certainly it is a city of contrasts. Amsterdam is so picturesque the houses along the canals seem to be slotted together perfectly, and drip charm as each one is just a little bit different from the next.
women standing behind glass doors, disappearing for moments with Men who then either walk back out with a swagger or a look over their shoulder rather sheepishly… it is not this that really surprised me. It was the tacky tourists shops ability to put penises, naked women and porn on EVERYTHING. One moment you are there looking at a hat with Amsterdam printed on it and the next moment you are looking at… well…. shall we say some rather talented contortionists.
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