Blessed by Buddhism

 

Wednesday 30 July 2008

Oh to be blessed by someone who is into Buddhism, a guy at the Heineken Bier place on the corner of Waterlooplein and Amstel?. We stopped for an ale and lemonade but as the bar woman couldn't do a shandy, we asked for lemonade - which brought a perplexed series of options so we said "You choose." What Barb got was Apple juice and I had a glass of beer with a bit of a head on it. We sat in the part shade but, as the sun crept round to the south, I was continuing to cook in the sun on my left arm at least. So we moved inside to pay for the drinks and decided to stay in for another ale and this time a coke. Twasn't the branded Coca Cola but I guess it did the trick. There were steep steps up to the next level (almost as steep as the Anne Frank House) and we sat up there sipping and observing.

Sitting outside with our first drinks we were blissfully unaware of the glass cleaning procedure but inside we were high enough to observe and think perhaps we won't be going back there again. What they did was hold a used glass upside down and swirl it in this soapy water then place it to drain on the bench without even rinsing it. The bar woman placed her glasses at end by the sink but the manager placed his straight down at the front of the glass stack – ready for the next patron. Barb said the colour of this rinsing water looked pretty dark and murky!

This guy sat on the steps to drink his beer and turned to us and said something. My "pardon" brought a "Good evening" response. Later he turned to us again and asked what we were doing in Amsterdam and where we were from etc. He thought about the Penal Colony history of Australia and asked that wasn't us was it? After some more small talk he brought his palms together in prayer mode and said he was into Buddhism and wished us well.