Historical map of Zwolle (from Wikipedia)
One drizzly afternoon in downtown Zwolle, Eastern SIG’s autumn borrel took place in the cosy confines of Winebar OAK. Billed as an informal ‘catch-up’, it wasn’t all-play-and-no-work that made this meeting such fun. We talked shop, of course, whilst tucking into plates of delicious snacks and knocking back (but not over) a glass or two of a somewhat tart yet surprisingly good Spanish red, ordered no doubt to train our palates for METM20 next year.
Among the tabled topics were ‘winding down working hours once you’ve hit retirement age’, and a perennial problem for zzp-ers: ‘chasing defaulters’. This reminded a superb storyteller of when she was a novice translator/feisty detective and tracked down the real home address of a con-man/client, whose letterhead stated ‘with offices in London, Paris and Emmeloord’ (she should have been warned) and, assisted by the Fraud Squad, managed to get paid. In full.
Talk of payments turned to the price of things in general, like the cost of booking a venue for a network of medical and science writers. Amsterdam Public Library, it seems, is conveniently close to Central Station and quite an affordable établissement when ten or so people turn up. Somewhere for SENSE to think about? This suggestion inspired a spate of word-perfect Français on the juste rewards of living and working in France (I think).
Dwelling on the good things in life brought us to the SENSE dinner, being held this year on the good ship Ooster-Schelde. Built in 1933 and originally a ferry for the Provincial Steamboat Services in Zeeland, the ship is moored in Zwolle, an understandably glad fact for local members who seem keen to welcome this SENSE event to their town. Despite its dozy reputation, Zwolle is anything but dull, not even in damp October, judging by my walk along the picaresque vesting and winding lanes to the venue. This peppy town has a long and glorious history, indeed a history so long its Golden Age (oops) predates the rest of the NL’s by a century at least. Take that, Hollanders!
But I digress. It seems that most of the eight or nine members present are coming to the dinner, most with partners in tow, and we’re eagerly looking forward to the chance to mingle with colleagues, talk shop and simply have fun chattering in English, just as we did at this social.