Just Before the Weekend… autumn is in full swing: cooler temperatures, trees starting to lose leaves, and a bit more grey. Meanwhile, it’s Friday afternoon and Amsterdam is getting ready for the weekend…

Just Before the Weekend… you talk about the last week, and thank the heavens for Friday.

Just Before the Weekend… a couple of policemen on a couple of horses patrol the city.

Just Before the Weekend… you take a moment or two and think a bit about life—or something slightly less complicated.

Just Before the Weekend… it’s perfectly all right to stop and enjoy the arrangement of everything.

Just Before the Weekend… you sit and weigh the odds of it being a great one.

Just Before the Weekend… you wonder how many more of these traffic lights must you stop at before you reach home.

Just Before the Weekend… we have so much to do and too little time in which to do it. Our plane is leaving in three hours.

Just Before the Weekend… you might choose to insert yourself (and your bicycle) between a camera lens and its intended subject. This is perfectly valid choice of action, by the way.

Just Before the Weekend… cyclists’ reaction time to green traffic lights speeds up by 157%*, and is reduced by 229% in the case of red lights.

*these figures were not simply pulled out of the air but are, in fact, absolutely not based on studies, science, or anything that might give them validity.

Just Before the Weekend… everyone’s together, everyone’s ready to go; the only question is ‘where?’

Just Before the Weekend… you take the time to enjoy something sweet and stuffed with energy.

Just Before the Weekend… you might bump into an old friend

Just Before the Weekend… table gatherings, clinking glasses, and ever noisier conversation.

Just Before the Weekend… space on public benches becomes increasingly scarce. Meanwhile conversation between the bench sitters becomes increasingly jolly.

Just Before the Weekend… you end up doing inexplicable things such as watch someone watch someone else cross the road. Now what is the point of that?

Just Before the Weekend… everyone’s haste is flavoured with a healthy sprinkling of optimism.

Just Before the Weekend… hardcore decisions are made (in real time) about the evening’s plan.

Just Before the Weekend… is probably the best time for bargain hunting.

Just Before the Weekend… the space between where you are and where you wish to go is temporarily occupied by people transporting unusual objects on their bicycles.

Just Before the Weekend… some people cannot help smiling as they cross the city’s bridges. Why they smile is anyone’s guess, but the fact that they do is good.

Just Before the Weekend… we get ourselves into photographic mode. Of course, this also happens all the time, on every other day of the week. But still…

Just Before the Weekend… teams of tourists huddle together and check the quality of their group selfies.

Just Before the Weekend… other teams of tourists discover something that makes them happy.

Just Before the Weekend… three generations wander around while wondering if they really are where they think they are.

Just Before the Weekend… the red light zone is little less crimson than normal.

Just Before the Weekend… the ratio between rickshaws and rickshaw pilot becomes slightly unbalanced. A few passengers end up sitting around and going nowhere at all.

Just Before the Weekend… there’s plenty of time for verbal wrestling about the distance and direction of ‘there’ relative to ‘here’.

Just Before the Weekend… the mood of most cyclists lightens, a load has been removed from their shoulders, and suddenly they have two whole days in which they can cycle around without a care in the world.

Just Before the Weekend… there are an awful lot of “Er… just a second while I check our bearings” moments.

Just Before the Weekend… out come the cameras with the mighty lens: there’s a lot to see in this town.

Just Before the Weekend… you still have about seventeen-hundred-and-eighty-nine shots to take. The big question is can you find the time to do it?

Just Before the Weekend… you check with your buddy and work out whether or not everything’s still on the up and up.

Just Before the Weekend… comes the mother of all tests: can a smartphone beat a paper map?

Just Before the Weekend… in amongst the gathering on the bridge, there’s still time for a double-selfie.

Just Before the Weekend… there’s a marked rise in the number of non-Amsterdam ‘Amsterdam’ hats on people’s heads. Autumn is here.

Just Before the Weekend… out come the city guides, in all shapes, sizes, ages, and disposition. Listen and learn peeps; listen and learn.

Just Before the Weekend… you stop, and take a moment to chill. The weekend’s coming: things might get heavy.

Just Before the Weekend… we flock, and gather, and make sure the team’s all here. And then…

Just Before the Weekend… another ‘one-bike-four-guys’ situation. Don’t worry, that bike will take all of them from A to B.

Just Before the Weekend… you put on your sunglasses* and take a look at the world.

*some people see better, and feel ‘just right’ while wearing sunglasses. This is a scientifically known fact: unfortunately I can’t remember the name of the lady who proved this to be the case.

Just Before the Weekend… you begin to worry about the lines on the map. They’re moving all over the place: as if they have somewhere to go.

Just Before the Weekend… not everyone wears a big open smile. Life is that way sometimes.

Just Before the Weekend… there’s this perfume in the air. It smells like freedom. It’s good :)

Just Before the Weekend… is the best time to make the point you’ve been trying to make all week.

Just Before the Weekend… the free spirits break loose and come out on parade.

Just Before the Weekend… the Entertainer does his best to entertain, and the crowd wants to be surprised. It doesn’t happen: maybe next time.

Just Before the Weekend… there are excellent opportunities to stand around and wonder: ‘What next?’

Just Before the Weekend… you might as well strike that pose. And then the other one, the one after that, and a couple more—for good measure.

Just Before the Weekend… differences in opinion are first discussed with the necessary passion, and then combined into a satisfactory consensus.

Just Before the Weekend… the Mannequin Sisters make plans to break out of the store window and start partying with the rest of us.

Just Before the Weekend… certain people choose to walk one way while looking somewhere else. That is one way of moving around.

Just Before the Weekend… there’s this moment when almost everyone chooses to take a photograph at the same time.

Just Before the Weekend… one particular group wonders what happened to Ricky the Chow Chow. Everyone thinks someone else was looking after the dog. These things happen. Errare humanum est.

Just Before the Weekend… you call in to HQ to let your people know you’re doing fine, but plan to be incommunicado until Monday morning. Ciao baby.

Just Before the Weekend… yet another cyclist breaks the speed limit. You can’t see it, but trust me: he does.

Just Before the Weekend… you complete the first phase of a multi-warehaouse shopping spree.