Tag: Arnhem

Day 25 of the Journey

GoBananaThe Journey

Day 25

Today has to start during last night with a text received whilst in a kebab snack bar in the suburbs of Arnhem.  I had spent most of the day sorting out small problems and visiting ships, boats and small marinas along the port inlet and quay where the larger cruise ships take on board their visitors.

Kings day, the King of Holland’s birthday is on the 27th of April and is an event celebrated with great enthusiasm.  Arnhem was setting up its carnival like stands and scaffolding for discos under the John Frost bridge, famous for the Operation Market Garden battle for the bridge and town of Arnhem itself.  The message was from Eelco; telling me that the freighter next to his house boat was illuminated and people were going on board.

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Day 24 of the Journey

GoBananaThe Journey

Eelco and Nicole live on the house boat about 1km along the quay from where the main dock is for the luxury cruisers tie up.  I have been stopping each night in a convenient parking place near where other ships and house boats leave their cars, bikes and motorhomes, so mine is nothing unusual.

Eelco works in the studio where I was ‘invited’ to record the one off, first take of the new Banana theme tune I composed whilst mucking about with my guitar.  Set to a new arrangement of the old Latin America la bamba, adding the lyrics ‘banana’ or rather the word banana fitted into the rhythm wherever I can.

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Day 21 of the Journey

GoBananaThe Journey

A bright and sunny morning with a cold breeze started the day with an optimistic spring like feeling. Last night I found a place for the motorhome along the quay in Arnhem near the commercial docks, away from the town center. The past three days have been completely filled with a whirl of unexpected and amazing chance meetings of people and events.

The photos will be put on the page shortly when I find a place with an internet service with a strong signal and no time limit on usage where I have lost the photos. I have tried to load because the service shuts off.

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Busy and thank you!

GoBananaThe Journey

In the last two days I have been attacked by a 15c knight, joined a football club on their yearly boating trip, Played and sang with a sixties revival band on stage, interviewed the vice president of a rowing club actually on the iBanana, filmed the banana research centre in Wageningen University, sailed down the Lower Rhine on 135m 1 hr old cruise ship and given a five course luxury meal; then filmed the Captain and many of the crew, then sang last night with another football club, spent the afternoon trying to sort out the mess of files from photographs and videos from three cameras…

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The Journey: Day 14 ’till 18

GoBananaThe Journey

Day 14 & 15

At what point do I jump in and tell you what is happening?  It seems to me that something is going on all the time, with one thing running into the next.  So I will jump in here, in a café in the small village of Doorwerth, Holland.

My plan to get to the last lock before the Rhine opens out for hundreds of Km has been achieved. The next lock after here being at Mainz, then I turn left and go up the River Main.  The relief in arriving at this lock, where the boats will have to stop to get through was very uplifting, but short lived.  The lock here is huge.  The quay side is nearly 3m above the water and the quay is about 600m long.

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