It's a good thing I didn't have any readers, 'cos if I had, I would have lost them by now. ;-)

I was in Amsterdam most of last week, without much in the way of 'net access. Back in London, I had another client visit, then a day off.

This week, I've been in Madrid, again with dial up access only. (That's dialling the UK, so I've not been using it much!) On Madrid, just this - I hate the place: it's far too hot (mid to hight thirties), people work too long, and I can't find anyone able to understand me. Unfortunately, I'm back there next week. :-(

Straight from Madrid to Amsterdam last night. It felt like coming home. Pleasantly cool, friendly, I know my way around and how to order a meal and a beer.

What I want to know is, if the Dutch are as relaxed as they seem, how come the trains are always on time?

First me, then David Beckham. What a trend setter!

In Amsterdam, with friend & colleague Tulna, at a different client with limited dial-up 'net access. Later.

Sun & Zend push scripting for Java

Is this related to JSR 223: Scripting Pages in Java^TM Web Applications (Via Aaron Johnson)?

My question is, what does this add to what Jython already gives us? You can already use Java classes in Jython, or subclass them, use Jython classes in Java, write taglibs and servlets in Jython, you name it.

See jPublish for a nice example of what you can do.

... and a hearty breakfast, and I feel like a new blogger. I'm not limping any more, either!

Only one, but when has that ever stopped us?

From the Lightbulb Joke Warehouse.

Fore those of you who find metaclasses just too simple, check out the How-To Guide for Descriptors

I'll find the time to digest this later. Right now, I'm just saving the link.

Via the suddenly hyperactive Python Daily URL.

Buy me one of these, and I'll feel better - What do Python programmers like?

Via Slices of Py.

At somewhere around five in this morning, I woke up with hideous cramp in my left calf. Really painful. I waited until it subsided, then went back to sleep.

The alarm call came at 6:45 - 15 minutes early. I made the fatal mistake of letting my head touch the pillow again, and BANG, suddenly it's half past eight.

I jumped out of bed, only to discover that my left leg isn't working. The cramp must have pulled something. I really must remember to warm up and do my stretches before getting cramp next time. Anyway, I hobble to the shower.

I make it to my client's office, limp and all, by nine. (No time for breakfast.) Only to find that I've left my mobile, its charger, and crucially, the power converter back at the hotel.

Ever had one of those days?

Another good night out.

I went to the Leidseplein again, 'cos I was especially keen to go to Bourbon Street and the Wednesday night resident band, The Bourbon Boys. Of which, more later.

As I did yesterday, I got the tram to Fredericksplein, and walked from there. But rather than walk along the main road, I dived into the back streets. Many of which were, in fact, canals. Amsterdam really is a lovely place. Green, quiet, elegant old buildings. It feels rather old-fashioned, in a good way - people were sitting outside their houses, playing badminton. (That bit wasn't a canal.)

After some rather un-memorable (and rather overdone) pasta, I went to Bourbon Street. The reason I was particularly keen to go last night was that Tom, a Solaris sysadmin at the company I'm visiting, is on drums there on Wednesdays. I was also meeting his flat mate, Ingrid, whom I've met before, and she brought along another nice chap whose name I couldn't remember if you put a gun to my head.

Excellent band. The first couple of sets were blues, mostly covers, mostly Eric Clapton covers, in fact. A couple of nice original numbers, too. Then a set of rock, old and new (from Chuck Berry to Robin Williams via the Beatles and the Stones, amongst others). Then, one more blusey set before oh-shit-is-that-the-time.

The rhythm section was tight and pacey, driving everything along nicely. I couldn't take them entirely seriously when they did some high-pitched backing vocals, though - you want skinny girls in tight dresses for your backing vocals, everybody knows that. And it's not like Amsterdam is short of skinny girls... The Pianist was fairly jazzy, but it seemed to work. The guitarist and singer (an ex-pat Londoner) played awesome slide and lead, and had a gravelly voice, which probably ended his operatic career, but which suits blues and rock just fine.

For some reason, they played this gig under the name 'Bourbon Street Unplugged'. I can't think why. Acoustic guitar and bass, yes, but wired for sound. Even the Piano was well amplified, which makes a nice change. The only thing that was unplugged was the decibel monitor.

Yes, a really good night, on the whole. A bit on the late side for me, though - I'm used to pubs which close at eleven. Two and three on consecutive nights is not what I'm used to. Things didn't start to go pear shaped, though, until I got back to the hotel...

Am I nerdy enough to think it's funny that I'm in hotel room 404? Damn right I am.

This could be handy - RegExLib.com.

Also handy if you are working with JavaScript - Test Your own JavaScript regular expresssion.

I had a very pleasant evening yesterday.

Amsterdam is a very nice city to walk through, on the whole. Green, plenty of pretty canals and bridges, nice little bars. There are very few cars on the roads, (to a Londoner's eyes,) so it's very quiet.

Deceptively so - there are plenty of bikes and trams, too quiet to hear, but more than ready to run you the fuck over if you don't watch where you are going. And looking where you are going isn't all that easy, either - there are lots of pretty girls in Amsterdam. I wonder if all those fine bottoms have something to do with the fact that everyone seems to ride bikes everywhere...

One niggle though - Amsterdam seems to have too many people in the digging-up-roads-and-pavements department, and not enough in the putting-the-roads-and-pavements-back department.

Anyway, I had an excellent steak at El Rancho just off Leidseplein. They do know how to cook a steak - wipe its arse, and show it a candle, as Steve would say. A good vet could have had it on its feet again. (Where is that line from?) In most places in the UK, 'medium' means cook it 'till you run out of gas, and 'well done' means cook it 'till the North Sea runs out of gas.

I then went to the Jazz Cafe Alto. The Hein van der Gaag Trio were playing, and they were very good indeed.

A bunch of loud-mouthed Americans came in for a while, which took the shine off, but they didn't stay long. (Don't take this as an anti-American rant - there were plenty of other Americans there. It was just this one group which irritated the living shit out of me. As for my attitude to Americans, well, I agree with Mil Millington's view of Americans. I could have written that. If I could write.)

Tonight, Bourbon Street.

I took a rather earlier flight than usual, and the sky was clear, so I had a fabulous view out of the window of the plane.

We flew just north of Mersea Island, and I was on the starboard side. Odd to see a place I'm somewhat familiar with from such a radical angle.

We were too far north to see much of London. I spotted Canary Wharf, and i think I spotted Tower Bridge. But that was about it.

Good view of the Channel, too. My God, it's like the M25 down there! Well, OK, perhaps not that bad, but those ships are a lot harder to stop, and a lot harder to steer. I'm surprised that there aren't more collisions.

Ageism hits Generation X? Well, that explains a lot.

That's my home.

Here I am again in Amsterdam. I'm here for the rest of this week, then back again for the first three days of next week. Thursday and Friday I may be home, or I may be in Madrid. Sigh.

You get bored of Hotel rooms very quickly, I can tell you.

I flew business class this time. The extra legroom was nice, 'cos I'm pretty tall, but on the whole I'd consider it a bit of a waste of cash, especially for such a short flight. A packed lunch and a 'free' drink are hardly worth the extra money. The 'quick check-in' queue was longer than the economy check-in queue! Still, if I were flying a long way, the legroom factor might swing it. Especially when on expenses. ;-)

BTW, I'll be visiting the Bourbon Street Blues Club on Wednesday. Anyone in the area? Fancy a beer?