Bob was Here

My good friend, Bob, was here for give days. He's actually leaving today - or has left. I had another friend visit, but it was not the same. Bob is free and easy. He likes seeing and doing things. The other friend, GW, is much more "been there, done that." So the idea of any kind of touring around is always met with, "I saw all that years ago. But if you all want to do that, it's fine with me." Sort of takes the air out of the balloon.

Seeing Bob really made me realize how much I miss him and other friends in NYC. I just wish some of them would get thier asses over here and visit. I would also love a little visit to NYC to see some of them.

We had a wonderful canal tour in a small boat supplied by a guy I know, Rod. I paid him and all, but he was a really good tour guide. He usually charges ten euros per person, but he said he would give me the "friends rate" of 25 euros for the boat load. So I gave him 50, with the second 25 being a sort of tip. When I told F, he said, "Are you crazy?"

I said, "Five people in a boat for an hour and a half. How much should I have paid him?"

He shrugged and said, "I guess you're right."

When the boys - Bob and then the other two, Jack and Lloyd - paid for our fabulous dinner that night, I felt like the boat ride money was money well spent. Sometimes the Dutch money thing - some call it "cheap" - is just plain non-sensical.

I liked having Bob here, too, because we did a lot of walking around. (We call that a secondary gain). With him here, I got to talk about Amsterdam and tell what I know. That's nice.

Bye, Bob. I miss you already.