Just been on a long weekend to Amsterdam with The Beautiful Wife. We took the Eurostar to Brussels and then a train from there to Amsterdam, because of The Bump. It was a beautiful journey between Brussels and Amsterdam, everything was covered in a layer of snow and the sun was setting.

Amsterdam is a lovely city. Thankfully the snow hadn't fallen there, but it was frozen. The canals were iced over; on Saturday apparently thousands of Amsterdam residents were out on their skates.

Walked past the coffee shops and red light district. But didn't inhale.

Actually the city is changing. It reminded me of Dublin when they decided that city was going to become more cultural, less of a stag destination. The red light district is shrinking in much the same way Soho disappeared and the coffee shops are going through a bit of a crisis. You see Amsterdam has a smoking ban, you can't smoke tobacco in bars and cafes. So in the coffee shops you can smoke joints of pure weed, but not watered down with tobacco, because that's bad for you....

Anyway, here's one of the tunes I had on my iPod over the weekend. I've been digging out my Lee Perry lately and this tune always gets me dancing. This is the full 9 minute version, so watch out, the file is quite large...

Junior Murvin (Featuring Dillinger) - Roots Train