Long, Last Days

Daylight savings heralds long, light-filled days. We have a lot to pack in - packing and the subsequent worrying about how to fit in so much into two little bags, organising, researching our new city, a quick haircut at an African Latino hairdresser (fantastic), sending a few small things home, enjoying some last Dutch dishes, buying a book for the ferry (Delizia! The epic history of Italians and their food - I have been looking forward to reading this for a long time), realising we will never have to see our idiot flatmate again.

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This wonderful anecdote from today will remind me of Dutchland for time to come.

We go into a shop that is filled with health products and drugs and medicines behind the counter and a woman in a white coat to buy ventilin and contact lens solution.
Dani: Hi, do you sell ventilin?
Lady chemist: What's that?
Dani: The puffer for asthma?
Lady chemist: No.
Dani: Do you know where I can buy one?
Lady chemist: You have to go to a pharmacy.
Dani and I, speechless. Lady chemist stares blankly at us.
Dani: Um, what is this?
Lady chemist: This is a drugstore.
Dani: What's the difference?
Lady chemist: A drugstore sells drugs. A chemist does not.
Dani and I, seeing the boxes of prescription drugs behind the counter and her white coat, decide it is best to leave.