On a wet day in Amsterdam
December 7, 2006 at 2:12 PM
by Ashleigh
Today, on the first real wintry day we've had this season, I venture into Amsterdam to visit the dentist.
I arrive soaked through from the top of my black pull on cap, through my supposedly waterproof black coat, through my black woollen gloves, through my 'WarmUps' stockings which are supposed to keep one's legs warm and do, except when they're soaked. Through my boots. The only bits of me that are dry are my underwear.
I realise something as I walk in the rain. If I accept that I am getting wet and there is nothing I can do about it, it's strangely comforting. The world seems peculiarly insulated, a sheet of grey between me and them.
I see no bicycle traffic on my walk through the Jordaan, a rarity in Amsterdam at rush hour.
I see a few intrepid pedestrians, mostly battling with umbrellas that kept turning inside out. I feel more stoic in my hooded coat with the water streaming off the tip of my nose. A pioneer.
Later, as I watch the rain stream down the tram windows I think about James and Kati Kim.
How their story just became everyone's story.
Then I think about how we all star in the story of our life and I wonder what my children's stories will be.
I watch the people on the tram.
The portly, headscarfed Italian woman in front of me who asks a gay Dutchman for directions and he is so kind and courteous that I end up smiling just listening to him offer to serve her a coffee 'on the house' if she comes past his shop later.
The Australian grandmother talking on the phone behind me trying to settle a case of paternity between two countries. Quoting Australian law that she has researched on the internet and becoming frustrated at the lack of understanding from the person on the other end of the line.
The bunch of rowdy Italian footballers talking loudly about where they wanted to go. Slightly unwashed, wildly hairy and gesticulative.
The tightly curled perm of the middle-aged, middle class, middle-England couple wanting to go to the Rijksmuseum and stepping off the tram in their matching sneakers and waterproof jackets.
She saying 'cor, blimey that's cold' every time the tram doors open and the rain sweeps in.
The man with the silver grey locks and handlebar moustache, looking like a worried extra from the Dutch East India Company corps. Just add a uniform and a sabre.
The two young women and the baby talking about the length of their false nails and which manicure they should get next. The mother trying to counter her friend's disinterest in her baby by alternately cooing at the baby and then switching her attention back to her friend. Me looking at the length of those gilded nails and wondering how you can change a nappy with nails that long.
Everyone looking at my swollen face and the trickle of blood which seeps out of the side of my mouth regardless of how much I try and stop it.
I wonder if they're wondering what my story is.
Comments
Jeez, Ash, what the heck did the dentist DO to you??? Bleeding from the mouth after a dental appointment? (At least, I'm assuming that's the case!)
Your writing is lovely. Just scared me there at the end.
Thursday and Friday were miserable days to be out, and I can so relate to this post about getting soaked and people-watching. I was huddled in a bus shelter in its only dry corner, standing so close to a stranger that I worried I'd have his baby before it was all over. I've never seen so much horizontal rain in my life...Sigh. At least I wasn't heading to the dentist....
Ash,
Thanks for a great piece of writing. I really love the part about the man who offered the woman coffee it she stopped by his shop. What a kind person! Little acts of kindness do matter. I hope your teeth (tooth) is better and that you don't catch a cold.
December 7, 2006 7:41 PM