It was a busy week, with lots of conversations, a two-day event, and travel at the end. One of those weeks where it can be hard to remember on Friday what I did on Monday.

This week I

• Started with a day of conference calls. To discuss the upcoming week with the project team for the Data Governance Act guide, the weekly client meetings, and a number of conversations with representatives of govenrment organisations that will help write the DGA guide. In these conversations I wanted to learn how each of the organisations involved can and wants to contribute and the different perspectives they’ll bring.
• Did some of the monthly invoicing.
• Wrote a next iteration of the plans for a study trip by a client.
• Spent two days at the Data Sharing Festival in The Hague, having many conversations with other participants about data spaces, synthetic data, connecting different existing initiatives together, and more.
• Had a shareholder meeting with my business partners. There are some difficult choices on our plate (nothing to do with the company itself though).
• Signed the final paper work to open an additional bank account at another bank for the company. Bank accounts are hard to come by things these days. There must be whole groups especially of associations and non-profit entities that find it hard to find any bank willing to take them on as a client.
• Spent a day with Y as she had a day off from school. We went into the city for coffee with the three of us, and had lunch together at a new place. Went shopping for a birthday present for Y’s best friend.
• Took Y to her singing lesson.
• Went to city hall to apply for passport renewal.
• E and I spent an afternoon in Utrecht city with the two of us. First hit the book store to get Harry Potter part five for Y now that she’s almost done reading part 4. Then browsed a small interior design store where we found a nice lamp for a specific spot on our book case in the living room we were on the hunt for. We tried to find a spot in the city for late afternoon drinks, but amazingly everything single thing we tried was full. So we took a train back home and had our glass of wine and some small dishes at a place near the railway station. We decided to go to Paris this summer for a week as there will be two exhibitions we want to see, one by Hockney, one of Matisse. Booked lodging as soon as we got home. It was good to spend time with the two of us. We should really do that more.
• Flew to Milano this afternoon, where I will be working most of the coming week. It was beautiful flying over the Alps. Strolled around the rainy city center a bit, enjoyed the novecento art museum, watched the local crowd leaving La Scala after the early evening performance. Noticed there was one ticket left for tomorrow’s premiere of Mahler’s 10th. Tempted.