amsterdam scot

Because of my address I always have to picket ticket up. I think in this case as most people are flying in on Friday or Saturday, the day after the Poland game, so why not have a pickup at Faro airport somewhere on the Friday and Saturday. I assume most people are flying to Faro. Then transfer the pickup to the stadium on the Sunday.

Ajax for me. Had a season ticket for last 10 years, as well as a Partick Thistle season card . On occasion been to a Jags game on Saturday and then flew back and watched Ajax on the Sunday, not much of a difference. When I moved here a lot of expats ( for want of a better word ) preferred to sit in pub and watch Scottish games live on TV than go watch Ajax. Coming originally from Campbeltown and going to any game in Scotland meant a lot of travel then with a club as famous as Ajax on doorstep I wasn't going to miss chance to go watch them. For many a year it was very barren by Ajax standards, no league title for 8 years and then possibly with worst team I had seen they won 4 in a row. Best thing though has been seeing a lot of players starting their careers here before moving onto bigger clubs, the list includes Suarez, Ibrahimovic, Sneider, Van Der Vaart, Vertonghen, Vermhaalen, Aldeirwerld, Eriksen, Huntelaar, Blind, Maxwell, Chivu, Emanuelson, Galasek, Grygera, De Jong amongst others

Was out for a cigarette at half time in our end when one fan was huckled out of the ground by the Garda and put in a police van. One older fan tried to remonstrate pointlessly and was nearly arrested as well

I put down for 2 in the box but it did show us sold out and was about to log off when I noticed the basket had GBP 72 so I checked out. So it is worth checking if a figure appears in the basket section at top

Hi, hope you are enjoying living here so far. I am glad as well to see the old tram repair depots being used again after lying unused for 35 years. However a number of things have got the local residents up in arms. The proposed upgrade to the buildings was first mooted over 10 years ago. What we have got now and what was originally proposed are completely different. Original plans did include a number of facilities for local including a sports hall etc. As the years passed and through pressure / blackmail from developers a lot of the original development ideas were dropped ( these being the ones that benefited local people) , presumably as they were not making enough profit from them. So as you can imagine this pissed off a lot of locals even before it opened. Even the cabins in the food hall are rented by companies from outside the area when again promises were made that local businesses would be give opportunity to rent first. In those 10 years, a lot of local buildings were bought over by developers in the hope of the development going ahead. Recently they who have forced out a number long-standing shop owners by increasing the rents beyond what they were worth or able to afford. These shops have been taken over by chains with increased coffee companies, organic bakers, organic supermarkets all springing up. Since the development opened there have been number of issues arising. The numbers going to it are far greater then anticipated and to people living in the area the infrastructure to support it is not in place. Locals next to DeHallen are having issues with noise levels at night, bikes being parked in front of their doors ( big issue in this city lol), people urinating and vomiting in the street and people not being able to get parked next to their houses etc. There was a meeting with residents in December and council officials and these were simply swept aside with the usual "well your house values are increasing so a little bit of noise makes it worth it" excuse. The area around De Hallen is surrounded by small streets unable to cope with the increased traffic in terms of lorries for the building site and cars for visitors. Few months back a young girl was killed in the surrounding streets by a lorry going to the building site which left feelings high amongst locals. Finally, recently planning permission has been given for a further 2 hotels to be built in the area. Again not part of any original proposal but the City Council have decided they want to spread tourism away from city centre and into neighbouring areas. Oud West has always been a good area for living. It is close to city centre but without the trappings of tourism. It was a traditional Amsterdam neighbourhood and a real delight to live in. The last 6 months especially has seen that change completely and there is no doubt if council get their way it will become unrecognisable. Thus the reasons for a large number of local residents being unhappy about the opening of DeHallen and other plans for the area relating to that. To a number of people it is looking like enforced gentrification. Well if you are ever in the area pm me and will take you a local brown cafe for a beer away from the Yuppies and hipsters

If you are going to go to eat at De Hallen then recommend you do so during the day as it gets extremely busy in evening and not enough seating.As for the place being so damn cool, well let's agree to differ. I live very close to De Hallen, and like many local residents dislike what they have done with a passion. Its the beginning of the gentrification of a decent area and unfortunately has lead to area now being overrun with hispsters and yuppie twats. As I say let's agree to differ. As for hotels, as others have said Leidseplein and Museum areas are good areas to stay in

The Guardian has typically being going over the score about this, with some totally ridiculous articles. Most missing the point that he was actually commenting about the lack of acting opportunities for those who are not white ( hope this is not deemed offensive) According to this woman the correct title is "people of colour" - whatever that is http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/27/benedict-cumberbatch-apology-coloured-people

Kipper, got your message. Sorry took so long to reply but was in Scotland on holiday. Replied to your pm this morning. Should be able to sort them out for you

Back home in Campbeltown to find SNP won local council by election taking 62% of votes cast. Winner John Armour is brother of a regular poster on here, DoubleAA.

Oud West in Amsterdam is new trendy area with a big place called De Hallen opened up, it is converted tram repair depots. The foodhall is good at night and hoaching with local lassies. http://www.esquire.nl/Booze-Food/9-aanraders-in-Amsterdam-Oud-West http://www.esquire.nl/Booze-Food/Vanavond-officieel-open-De-Foodhallen! Jump on a 17 tram from Dam Square. Live music try Melkweg or Paradiso International Documentary Film Festival is on which is good if you like creative stuff. In fact they are showing the new Edwin Collins documentary that weekend which looks great http://www.idfa.nl/industry/festival/program-schedule.aspx?d=2014-11-22 Football wise Ajax at home on Saturday night against Heerenveen and it is now at free ticket sale so anybody can buy tickets from newsagents around the city. If you want to go pm me and I can get you tickets now and send them as PDFs. Hope this is something different from norm you were looking for

The Jags Bar has it on their listings on Facebook to be shown today. Great wee bar, spent a fair bit of time in there on a stag weekend in May. They even do rolls with square suasage and tattie scones. Because its not on the main drag I found it a very pleasant place to spend the day away from the usual tourist stuff going on. Good rock bar just across the road too. https://www.facebook.com/jags.bar?fref=ts

is this the same Panama that Alistair Darling said Scotland would be like if they voted YES - well bring it on Ally boy. "Cultural attache for Panama, Laura Montenegro, thinks it is down to the fact the country has a thriving economy and has maintained its traditional values." http://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2014/sep/17/worlds-happiest-country-panama-overtake-denmark

Received a very interesting document from London Stone Securities last night re Independence. One point they raise is about currency and from a stockbroking firm it totally contradicts the government position. It is worth reading - "Currency – Pound, euro or something else? Out of all the various points to consider this is perhaps one of the most pertinent. There are three main currency options for an independent Scotland – keeping the pound, joining the euro, or having its own currency. Now given that Westminster has already stated that an independent Scotland will not be able to keep the pound attention should surely go to the other two, or should it? You see at London Stone we think that this is somewhat of a red herring. Is it really conceivable that the British Government would run the risk of the sort of financial chaos that would ensue if Scotland did join the euro or establish its own currency? We think probably not. The threat that is now being waved in the face of the Pro-Scottish campaign is probably well-intentioned but more scaremongering than genuine economic policy. What is more likely to happen is that Scotland (if it gains independence) will most probably get to keep the pound at least for the foreseeable future as English companies north of the English-Scottish border take stock of their new found and unwanted situation. That said we do still need to consider the other options and it’s most likely out of these two alternatives Scotland would wish to join the euro. Whether Europe will accept Scotland is of course another point entirely although with the stressed relationship currently between the UK and Europe it could be easier than first appears. After all far be it for us to be cynical but it could be just the opportunity for the EU to perform the habitual ‘stab in the back’ routine for the UK in what has become a very tenuous relationship between the continent and us. "

the 197 bus from airport goes to the Leidseplein area of Amsterdam. From there you can jump on a 1,2 or 5 tram direct to Centraal Station. Buses run every 15 mins. However, seeing as this is a rail track issue I would assume there will be buses provided which run direct to Centraal Station