2_4_DiscoverBenelux_13_Januar_2014_MADS_Scan Magazine 1 17/12/2014 15:24 Page 67

Discover Benelux |  Culture |  Columns

Where to live when living in Amsterdam TEXT: SIMON WOOLCOT  |  PHOTO: SILVIA DE VRIES

A  common  request  received  by  the  Shallow Man is for advice on where to live in Amsterdam. An  area  that  offers  a  lot  of  contrasts  and  is pretty trendy right now is Amsterdam West. To do  it  justice,  I  will  split  it  into  two  main  neighbourhoods: Oud West and Bos en Lommer. According  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, Purgatory  is  the  place  between  Heaven  and Hell, from where those who have not committed mortal sin go to heaven. The same could be said of Oud West. It is situated tantalisingly close to the Heaven of Amsterdam South and also within smartphone-snatching, easy scooter-riding distance to the Hell that is Bos en Lommer. If you want to see up and coming yuppies in their  natural  habitat,  move  to  Oud  West.  This neighbourhood  is  hip,  consisting  of  delicatessens,  good  wine  dealers,  and  plenty  of lively cafes. Back in the day, the Shallow Man could frequently be seen at Cafe Oslo, fighting off  cheap-boot-wearing  ladies  with  bad  hair-

cuts. Think of Manhattan’s East Village and you’ll be in the right ballpark. In  recent  years,  lots  of  renovations  have taken place here, making it an incredibly good value place to buy or rent property. When going for  breakfast  or  lunch  during  the  weekend, please be careful not to trip, due to selfish parents  parking  their  bugaboo  pushchairs  anywhere they please. That aside, Amsterdam Oud West gets the Shallow Man’s seal of approval, something  I'm  sure  will  bring  joy  to  the  local council. If Dante were alive today, he’d have based his masterwork, Inferno, in Bos en Lommer. For those of you not familiar with Dante, he wrote about taking a tour through hell. I’m sure that there’s a Dante straat in Bos en Lommer somewhere. Like Amsterdam East, Bos en Lommer is at the very end of known civilisation.  It’s a long and perilous journey to get there, and upon arriving you’ll soon realise that apart from the joys

of doner, some gambling halls and a few local social clubs, there is very little to do there. If you are looking for a neighbourhood which even Taxi drivers are afraid to take passengers to  (even  though  many  of  them  live  there)  and want  to  be  guaranteed  a  life  of  boredom  and eternal torment, move to Bos en Lommer. www.amsterdamshallowman.com

Thoughts on evenings TEXT & PHOTO: SILVIA DE VRIES

At the time of writing it’s the end of one of those typical, grey Dutch days. While it hasn’t been really light out all day, the sky  turns  even  darker  when  night  falls, and  across  the  canal  I  can  see  people switch on the lights in their homes. It reminds me of a similar moment, a couple of days ago. I took a bus from Amster-

dam to Haarlem; I didn’t need a book or mobile to keep me occupied. While  driving  through  different  neighbourhoods into the seemingly forgotten stretch of land between Amsterdam and Haarlem,  what  you  witness  is  the  daily evening  rituals  of  many  a  household. See,  the  Dutch  tend  to leave  the  curtains  open, allowing  passers-by  a glimpse  into  their  homes. What unfolds while driving past home after home with rooms  lit  against  the  dark backdrop  of  the  evening sky is a slideshow of interior design, people and rit-

uals. Black walls, red walls, white walls. Wallpapered  walls;  flower  print,  stripes or dots. People enjoying dinner alone or with  their  family  or  no  dinner  at  all,  just homework at the table… Homes with an empty table, a table full of titbits, a table full of food. Nothing is as diverse as the human being and therefore also the place they call home. I love this time of night, when everything is covered in a blanket of darkness, which to me makes the world a little gentler: the sound of daily life slowly fades away, people  going  home,  stopping  working.  It seems  so  normal,  yet  when  you  look  at the  process  closer  or  through  the  window of a bus, you see that even the most mundane things have a silver lining. 

Issue 13 |  January 2015 |  67