The word is out! In last week’s blog, I wrote that we were about to find out where the Eurovision Song Contest was going to take place next year. Well, it’s a week later now and we know. Liverpool it is, making Glasgow the unfortunate city that has to accept that the opportunity of a lifetime has not been granted to them. Between us, I kind of had my hopes up for Glasgow. I really don’t have anything against Liverpool, but Glasgow just happens to be the city I’ve been to regularly as one of my best friends is living there. Hence, it’s a city that has a special place in my heart. But I have absolutely no single doubt that Liverpool, music city par excellence being the birthplace of the Beatles, is going to put up an absolute amazing song contest next spring.
Whenever I told Italian man I am Dutch, they used to respond almost by default with “Oh, Johan Croif!”, “Roed Goellit!” and “Marco van Basten!”. Nowadays however, that has changed to – with a mix of admiration and frustration in their voices – “Ah, Max Verstappen…”
It was last Friday that this news was announced, and with that, the weekend was already upon us. It would turn out to be the weekend in which Max Verstappen became world champion for the second time, much to the delight of the Dutch, but at the same time resulting in slight disappointment among my Italian friends, who will always stand behind ‘their’ Ferrari. I have to say that he really does put the Netherlands on the map, that Max Verstappen of ‘ours’. Because whenever I told Italian man I am Dutch, they used to respond almost by default with “Oh, Johan Cruijf!”, “Ruud Gullit!” and “Marco van Basten!”. Nowadays however, that has changed to – with a mix of admiration and frustration in their voices – “Ah, Max Verstappen…”. And so, despite the fact that I am really not a Formula 1 fan or whatsoever, more than once he has proved to be a popular topic of conversation with the Italian locals I get to meet in the coffee bars on a Sunday morning.
It was a week in which I could share the feeling of excitement and anticipation of what is to come with the people who are closest to me
And that’s how the first full week of October flew by. It was a week with important news in both the music and sports world, but also a week that – for me personally – was all about friends. About long walks in the radiant October sun to catch up and about delicious lunches and homecooked dinners; for the first time in my life, I prepared a risotto alla Milanese. With success, I dare say. A week of going to the gym together and catching up on the treadmill, of having coffees with friends and of long overseas telephone conversations. A week in which I could share the feeling of excitement and anticipation of what is to come with the people who are closest to me. Something I will also share with you here in the weeks to come. So, in short; to be continued!
Can’t believe it’s mid-October already!! 😟