Life throws an unexpected pleasure my way every once and a while. Last week, for instance, I got to ride through Amsterdam in a Nissan Figaro – a classic Japanese car owned by Marlène, who is my partner-in-crime for dKvhT fundraising. She’s a taxi driver by night and having her drive me through Amsterdam was a delight.

The fundraising, by the way, is going well. Well, in so far that we’ve managed to meet a few next-to-impossible deadlines, also we’ve garnered praise from the Van Gogh Museum Head of Foundation Relations for the quality of our applications. We haven’t been granted any money yet, but it’s early days.

I enjoy the fundraising more than I thought I would – for starters, working with Marlène is fun. Also, throwing ‘Van Gogh Museum’ and ‘Mesdag Collection’ into the phone calls I did with a number of foundations made them sit up a little straighter at the other end.  Nice!