If you’ve been in Amsterdam to celebrate King’s Day, you’ll know it’s an experience if ever there was one!
I had the pleasure a few years ago when I stayed with my best friend, Chris, at his home in Rotterdam.
King’s Day, or Koningsdag, is celebrated on 27th April to mark the birthday of King Willem-Alexander and it happens all over the Netherlands. People dress in orange – the colour of the Dutch royal family – and there are street parties up and down the country. Chris had bought me a small orange hat to wear – he, in his ever extravagant fashion, wore an orange bunting around his neck!
We took the train to Amsterdam along with plenty of others making their way there to celebrate the day. Amsterdam is busy at the best of times, but the streets were heaving with people everywhere. We were making our may to meet up with some of Chris’ friends who lived in the city.
Along the streets there were pop up bars and food stalls, the atmosphere was fabulous.
Once we’d met up with Chris’ friends, we stayed with them for a while enjoying the music and dancing on the street.
We walked around the city some more and joined in with all the street parties that were going on.
Everywhere you looked, there were friends all together enjoying the party atmosphere. There were even parties on the passing boats.
It was so much fun!
King’s Day is not just about celebrating the king’s birthday, it’s about different people coming together in harmony – being with friends and loved ones, having fun together and making memories. There was a lot of laughter and music to lift the soul and, let’s be real, everyone could do with a bit of soul lifting now and again – and this is the perfect day to do that!
Tiger Lilies and Roses are two of my favourite flowers, so I was very happy when I received them for Valentine’s Day a few years ago.
I think these beautiful blue Tiger lilies are bold in their form, their energy leaps off every petal and stem. The colour blue is indicative of calmness and quietness which reminds me how I like to live my life.
Blue Tiger Lilies are not found in nature, they are created by dying the petals, but they are striking nonetheless. This makes them different from the naturally occurring pink and orange varieties and being different is OK. OK to bloom and to shine in their own way.
Like the lilies, rainbow roses are created artificially rather that naturally, but they are eye-catching and colourful and instil joyful feelings. When I look at these roses and see the different colours, I see a mirror of myself – many hues, many stories, all woven into me and I embrace who I am.
There’s something soul-raising about these roses, each vibrant petal a reminder that life doesn’t have to be ordinary, that colour can return even after darker days. They inspire me to create and to have the courage to shine brightly.
In Every Petal, a Little Light. In Every bloom, a Brighter Day.
Every year, our town has a balloon festival when lots of hot air balloons take to the sky – weather conditions allowing – and bypass overhead. From my balcony I get a brief but beautiful glimpse of them as they rise above the rooftops and slip quietly out of sight.
There’s something incredibly calming about the way they move – quiet, steady, and peaceful. It’s like the world has stopped to watch them pass.
Quiet, steady, and peaceful is how I live my life and seeing this balloon flying passed reminds me of that.
A couple of years ago, my friend and I visited the British Ironworks Centre in Oswestry, Shropshire. The centre says:
Each sculpture has its own unique message and aims to educate our visitors on global issues and spread our motto:
Art With Conscience
It’s a cool motto I think and such a great way to get the message across.
It’s a great place to visit – there’s lots to see and do from a sculpture park and grounds to explore to shopping and creative workshops. The first thing I explored was the ladies toilets where I met this fellow taking up one of the cubicles – could have shut the door!
There is a garden full of scrap metal sculptures you can buy.
In the grounds, there are all sorts of sculptures.
You can walk around the Extinction Trail which features endangered wildlife.
This close up photo of a Komodo Dragon sculpture shows the individual components of the whole piece.
There are some interesting figures as well as mythological and well-known pieces.
And ones that make you want to look closer.
All of the sculptures have more information about the individual pieces, but better yet, go and see for yourself! I thoroughly recommend it.
Since I took a break from writing for talkingthailand, I haven’t been sitting idly staring out of the window in my free time. I’ve been busy with other projects and one of those was a second book in my Flying Solo series. It didn’t start out as a series, but I wrote Still Flying Solo and I’m currently working on Only Flying Solo. Who knows if there will be more – how much flying solo can I do? My mind is full of ideas bouncing around at all times!
still Flying Solo. memories to be treasured
I sometimes wonder how I have come to be living in my hometown again after spending so many years living in Thailand. I sometimes think I was living my best life, especially when I returned to Thailand in 2014 and made Bangkok my home.
But, we make choices in life and my choice was to return to the UK. Everything happens for a reason, right? And my reason was I wanted to be closer to family and friends because living halfway across the world from those you love means I missed out on so many things.
My life in Bangkok was great and I never thought I would see the day that I started to think of leaving, but a conversation with my best friend, Chris, was what set the ball rolling for my move. If we had never started talking about it, both of us wonder whether it would have actually happened – me moving back home and him moving to Rotterdam. Who knows, but we must accept the choices we’ve made.
I’ve been home since 2019 and I feel settled. I have a job I love, I get to see my family and friends as often as I like, but I often think about Bangkok and all the special times I had there.
My new book is a compilation of memories and stories of the wonderful years I spent in the city I called home for 4 years.
Still Flying Solo: Memories to be Treasured is available to buy on Amazon and Amazon Kindle.
Today, I’d like to share my ‘Images of Australia’ from morrisophotography!
Images of Australia
February 4, 2024
I love Australia and these images bring a smile to my face as I fondly remember my trips to visit my family in Queensland and South Australia, exploring Noosa National Park alone, and visiting Lake Hart as part of a 6-day tour. Fabulous Memories!
Something that has turned into an annual thing, my tales serve as reminders of my life through the years. Here is my 2022!
January
I started the new year with healthy habits, cooking good food, getting back into regular exercise and going out for walks. I discovered a marina which I’d never seen before in all the years I have lived in my hometown!
Marina
February
It’s always such a joy when you come across wildlife, and so close to home too!
March
The lovely All Saints Church on Church Lane, Little Billing has a Saxon front and built around 1100 – I just had to take a photograph.
April
I love taking photos of animals in all their shapes and forms, but photographing smaller creatures has its challenges. For once, these beauties stayed long enough for me to capture them.
May
I love taking photos of flowers. So many varieties and colours, they really do brighten up your day!
June
In June, I travelled to Leicester to meet up with some of the guys I used to work with in Bangkok. It was a really fabulous afternoon – we chatted over food and drinks and it was like I only saw them yesterday.
Bangkok Reunion
Also in June, capturing the sunrise one morning at 5 am. Just look at those colours!
July
The Washlands in Northampton is always good for photo opportunities.
I also took a stroll around Abington Park.
I published my first calendar ‘Out in the Countryside’ – an 18 month calendar (July 22 – Dec 23) featuring images from Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Getting out in the countryside is a great way to get some fresh air, to feel healthy, and to feel alive.
August
What a wonderful August I had. I got to spend two glorious weeks on holiday with my friends. And where better to go with them, than to one of my favourite places on earth – my old home of Thailand! Plus, we spent three days in Singapore – a new destination for me.
Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore
Marina Bay, Singapore
Soon enough our time in Singapore was over and we headed to Phuket in Thailand. In all my time living there, I had never been to Phuket, so it was nice to see somewhere new. The views were epic!
Mai Khao, Phuket
We took a trip to Koh Phi Phi. I had been there in 2008, so it was nice to see it again.
Maya Beach, Koh Phi Phi
Back in Mai Khao, we were right next to the airport and every day – many times a day – we watched planes take off over the water – what a thrill!
Sunset over Mai Khao
September
I was unhappy in my previous job and I have always said that if I am not happy, I will do something about it. So when I was offered a new job on the spot, I could not have been happier!
Take action. Find a new path and follow it until you can see the wood from the trees – Gill Morris
Sometimes, the paths we follow are not the right ones for us, but I came to realise that we will eventually reach a place of joy once more!
“Every experience makes you grow.” Anonymous
My mantra has always been that everything works out in the end and it usually does!
Everything works out in the end
October
I can’t resist taking photos of the vivid colours of nature while out walking.
November
This Pink Fuschia is from my parent’s garden, always blooming in the summer. When I go to see them, I always spend a few minutes taking photos of their beautiful flowers.
Pink Fuschia
When I go to see my best friend, Chris, we always make time to have drinks at Cafe Steijn -one of our favourite haunts in Rotterdam
Cafe Steijn, Rotterdam
December
The weather changed for the worse in December and we had snow on the ground.
But, whatever the weather, I am grateful for all the special moments and experiences I had during 2022.
I finally published my photographic book – A Book Of Photographic Images. A collection of my photos with matching quotes. I matched the photo with the quote.
Book of Photographic Images
February
I left one job for another. I was not happy, so I found myself working for Mencap. I was so relieved and was looking forward to it. Little did I know then, that this new job would be more stressful than the one I’d left. It was all part of my journey.
March
I finished another painting – a colourful African Savannah.
African Savannah
April
I added a new cookbook to my collection. Dishoom is a beautiful Indian cookbook with lots of delicious recipes, stories of how the restaurants came to be and a map of traditional cafes and restaurants in Bombay. The Chicken Ruby has to be the most delicious curry I’ve EVER had!
Dishoom
I also took a trip to the stunning Everdon Stubbs to see the forest carpeted with bluebells and views across the countryside.
Everdon Stubbs
May
I treated myself to a lovely lavender plant – one of my favourite plants for it’s luscious smell and beautiful colour.
Lavender
June
Couldn’t resist this photo over the rooftops of the interesting cloud formation..
The skies over the rooftops
July
The best things in life are free, so they say, and July proved that because my BFF, Chris, came to stay. We had been talking about getting together as soon as we could, but COVID stopped us. Then, things started to open up and Chris wanted to visit his family in Looe, Cornwall, but he still had to self-isolate for 10 days. We came up with the idea that he could self-isolate with me and then travel down to see his family. So, that’s what we did. We literally did nothing because we couldn’t! The only thing we did was to take a walk to the post box to deliver his COVID test. Although we couldn’t go out for dinner or drinks, it was just lovely to spend some time with him.
Chris and I
August
I love visiting historical places and I can add Warwick Castle as one of the best places to visit. It was great exploring the castle and its grounds.
Warwick Castle
September
I went to Birmingham for my sister-in-law’s hen do. We had bottomless brunch, played bubble football and crazy golf and drank a lot over the weekend, but it was a fabulous and fun time together.
My sister and I
October
My brother and sister-in-law got married and we had a brilliant day celebrating.
Trev & Julie
November
I managed to get to Rotterdam to see Chris in November. Despite having to pay extra for COVID tests to go there and upon my return to the UK, I was desperate to have a change of location and to spend time with my best friend. It was just what the doctor ordered! And the views weren’t too bad either!
Windmill on Voorhaven
December
My December was full of family, food and getting out into nature.
I always get excited when I see beautiful sunrises like this one.
Frosty views across the Racecourse.
I love real Christmas trees and mine was up at the end of November!
A 7.5 mile jaunt around Pitsford to blow the Christmas cobwebs (and overindulgence of alcohol) away.
The time goes so fast, but my 2021 was full of happy memories.
Abel Tasman National Park is located at the north end of the South Island of New Zealand and is named after Abel Tasman who was the first European explorer to sight the country in 1642.
Back in 2008, I visited the park with a fellow traveller. We started our hike on a deserted beach, picking up a coastal trail which took us inland around headlands and lush forest with so many different species of trees. There are gorgeous beaches and estuaries which showcased the diversity of the place. And, as this was July, and the low-season in New Zealand, there was nobody else about, so we had the place all to ourselves, which was a very special experience.
