What's up at home today...?

Nikita wrote: D'you really read it in French ?

No, I just opened it to see if it's actually in French

My dad used to read them. He thought me how to play chess.
I stopped playing it after I started beating him and his chess
friends. That was 15 years ago

Btw, I never entered any competition, but I had a good friend
that was playing in the national team. He used to practice with
me because he wasn't better than me. When we both had
a great day, it would end up in a tie, 5 and 5 out of 10 games.
Basically I was one of the best at age 12-13

I'm happy to hear the good news Are you talking about pills that put
you to sleep or those who keep you awake?

Started feeding birds again and had quite an unusual visitor this morning, a rose-ringed parakeet (psittacula krameri) belonging to the parrot family...

Obviously not indigenous to the Netherlands but there is a small number of them originating from escaped caged domestic birds. They are mostly around Amsterdam (quite a pest there) but never before where I live, which now seems changed. Coincidentally my mother mentioned the other week she spotted one in her garden so they seem here to stay. Not really a good thing because they compete with other, indigenous, birds for food, shelter and nesting. Since the birds originate from India and Central-Africa it is amazing that a large group of them stay in The Netherlands during the winter. Without feeding, like I now do involuntarily, they would probably not survive which is why you see them mostly around larger cities.