I saw a mouse

Amstel

Where?
There on the stair - right there!
A little mouse with clogs on,
Well, I declare!
Going click clickety clack
On the stairs ...
In a windmill in old Amsterdam.

In the winter of 1983, Johnny was sharing an attic there with them.

Johnny recalls, 'The houses were very narrow but very tall - built on sand.  Terraced buildings are more stable and everyone has an attic.  It was quite romantic - like going back a hundred years - the area was the 'Montmartre of Amsterdam'.  The landlord lived in a flat about three floors below.

Amstel

'The mice were my house guests.  I'd buy a kebab or something, get into my sleeping bag and eat my meal by candle light.  The light caught their eyes and there would be a twinkling ring of them around my sleeping bag.  I'd give them the left overs away from my bed and I could hear them tucking in.

'I moved out of the attic and into a converted barge on the Amstel.  I studied how to paint water.'

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