Being 42

Wednesday 25th January 2012, 3.55pm (day 153)

In my life I have been to the Netherlands about 12 times: mostly in Amsterdam but I have also visited some provincial towns. And even though there will be many people who will look at certain surface features, particularly in Amsterdam, and think that this is sometimes a sleazy place, they have got it all wrong. In all those times I have been here, regardless of what state I have been in, I have never once felt threatened, and no one has ripped me off for even the slightest Euro. This is, in fact, the most civilised country in the whole world.