My eyes opened briskly in the early morning dew, I could feel my legs shaking uncontrollably from the exposure of the night before, nothing a quick walk couldn’t cure. I hadn’t moved yet, I just lay under the tree we had claimed the night before, light shone through the breaks in the leafs above shooting a heavenly beam across the small stream in front of me, this early morning contrast highlighted the cracks running all the way up the bark of the tree, a whole landscape of canyons emerged from something often overlooked by beings who see themselves advanced and detached from a world that exists around them. Just for that moment I felt connected in a way I had never felt before, for that second every irrelevant small detail of my environment felt like the only important thing in the world.
Leon and Caius were still asleep next to me, there was no point waking them, any sleep they could get would be much needed so I decided to roll a cigarette and wait. As I took a deep breath and forced myself up, something felt wrong, my guitar wasn’t where I had left it, my heart sank to my stomach as a mild panic took over, I jumped to my feet gracefully waking Leon as I did. I remember cursing loudly which awoke Caius, both were now sat up looking at me confused and bewildered at what could possibly be going on.
From that moment I cursed that guitar and whomever may have it in their possession, I suppose in a way this was a valuable lesson; firstly I had learnt the importance of keeping my stuff close and if possible physically attached to myself at all times, secondly we had learnt that living in these conditions there was no personal space or safe haven. The one positive thing I could say about losing that guitar was I now had one less thing to carry and Caius still had his meaning we weren’t totally devoid of entertainment.
We spent the day within the town wondering the crammed streets, I remember spending the majority of the afternoon sat down by the canal that runs straight through the red light district, somehow we felt alien to the other tourists around us, we were inhabiting the same world yet at the same time we were seeing completely parallel elements of this. We walked out to the back of the central station to overlook the bay and all the ships coming in, this made me hungry to see what else was out there, this felt like chartered territory, we were here to seek the unknown, not just to trudge through the same tourist spots with the rest of the swarms hunting for the nearest bulldog coffee shop and a glimpse of the infamous and illusive alleys of windows and disorientating lights.
That night we tried to fall asleep under a railway bridge hoping for more cover from the elements, especially with the clouds beginning to tease us with water droplets that would eventually develop into a full rain storm. As we lined up under this desolate and uninviting spot for the night a police car pulled up, we decided it would be best to pretend we were already slumbering but the officers didn’t give us that option and began to honk at their horn repeatedly until they knew we were awake and we couldn’t pretend any more. They claimed ‘you cannot sleep here’, I smiled as politely as I could considering I hadn’t just been told to move from the only shelter within walking distance, when asked where we could sleep, the officer blankly replied ‘not here’, as he got back in his car and waited for us to depart. We ended up outside some swanky looking building called the Nemo building, a natural wind tunnel which seemed popular with a couple of local junkies.
Amsterdam is a beautiful city teaming with life and adventure, but when you are roaming the fringes of this it soon becomes an overwhelming predicament, the kind of place that leaves you on edge at 4 in the morning deprived of sleep wondering if the gang sitting within touching distance are going to make a move and give you trouble or if the police are about to pull up and try and move you on. (This happened twice in one night) The police did not like our presence there at all; we were told this was partially down to the image the city is trying to upkeep. After several running’s with the police and local miscreants it felt like the right time to get moving again, we were striving at this point for somewhere tranquil.
Until next time.
Alex Shaw
