Amsterdam: the windy city

The Netherlands has experienced a few windy days. Very windy I would like to add, as it never has been this windy at this time of the year in over a hundred years. And although some people may think that they are always the ones that are unlucky, this is not always supported by facts. I mean, of course it is a bummer when your car gets squashed by a tree. But imagine that all three of your cars are downgraded to a pile of scrap metal. Now that is what I would call bad luck.

A small lesson to be learned here is never to park your car near a big tree. On the leeward side that is. A lesson that is a lot easier to live by in a big city then in the countryside. After all, the only foliage to be found in Amsterdam is normally attached to a weed plant. Not even a Mini could be parked under that. Unless the weed plant is placed in a pot on a balcony. Nevertheless, it took fire departments across the country a full day to clear all the streets and highways. A day well spent I think. Makes me wonder though. Where do all the chopped up trees go to? A monster storm like the one we had the other day could take care of a year's supply of matchsticks. Or clogs, as poplars where clogs are made from are among the first trees to be knocked down by a bit of wind we learned a few years ago.

Scientists predict, or expect may be a better term, that storms will occur more often in the future. Even during the summertime. And with a large population of poplars and other not very wind resistant tree species, I see a very bright future for the Dutch matchstick industry. There will be a more than adequate supply of raw materials at virtually no cost. Firemen will probably chop them trees up for free as they do need a bit of exercise every now and then.

So people who may think that global warming will cause nothing but havoc will be pleasantly surprised I gather. Not only the Dutch matchstick industry will show an upturn, so will the tourist industry when Amsterdam is surpassing Chicago as the 'real windy city'. But the Netherlands is so much more than just Amsterdam you might object. Not really. To most Americans, the Netherlands consists of Amsterdam and ehh..... There you go. They will be none the wiser.

I therefore propose to start printing the posters that will acknowledge this new reputation of Amsterdam. No longer will it be known as 'the weedy city', but 'the windy city...

Exodus

Bob Marley had a prescient when he released his song 'Exodus' in 1977, chanting "Movement of Jah people". Now, I do not know whether everyone that moves south these days are 'Jah' people, but fact is that there are a lot of them. It definitely is a movement. After stocking their caravan with all the familiar items from home, Dutchies are renowned to take peanut butter, chocolate sprinkles and a bag of potatoes with them, Dutchies embark on their journey south. And at a very specific time as well. Preferably they leave very early Friday morning or late Thursday evening. After all, a spot on a camp site is normally booked from Saturday to Saturday and Dutchies want to make the most of it. And it makes no difference whether it is 'Samedi Noir' in France or not. 'We paid for a week, hence we gonna stay a week'. This is why often people can be heard stumbling around at day break packing the last items in the car and/or caravan, stuffing the kids in their car seats, quarreling about who is sitting where, waking up the neighborhood by slamming the doors and driving off. All aimed at taking possession of the holiday location straight after the previous renters have vacated the designated camping spot. But poor kids, they have no clue what awaits them the next 24 hours or so. Staring at their parents head rests, nowadays often equipped with a video screen, chewing on soggy sandwiches and getting hotter by the hour. Ending up in traffic jams, quite common during the summer months, easily adds hours to the estimated travel time. Not very good for moral. Strangely, this ritual is repeated every year. So much for the long time memory of the kids, or parents for that matter. 

Still, summertime is the best time of the year to be a Dutchie in the Netherlands. There are not enough cars to form proper traffic jams on the roads, and people to cause traffic jams in the supermarket. Because for some funny reason unknown to me,women like to take their kids to the supermarket, meet up with other women they saw only just that very same morning, start yakking in the aisles which have the least room to move about because there are youngsters busy filling the shelves, and looking puzzled when a remark is made about their lack of logistics insight. Yep, I know, I am stereotyping here but stereotypes have their origin somewhere. As said, no such thing during summertime. Marvelous. 

Although, I must admit that at least on the roads there are a few negative side effects of the summer holidays. There are foreigners about on the Dutch roads. And not all of them know how to operate a motor vehicle, let alone have knowledge of traffic rules. Or traffic signs. As a consequence, foreign motorists stray all over the place, and pop up in places where they are least expected. Very annoying. Only the other day I watched three oriental women in a car causing another motorist to slam the brakes due to an unexpected and sloppily executed turn off the road, reversing back onto the road without looking and thus causing a motor biker to seek refuge in the lane for oncoming traffic and once again turning of the road without noticing two people approaching on the cycle path on their e-bikes at a fast pace. Or noticing anything at all. Idiots.

But luckily there are also foreigners that set an example. I personally like British motorists. Unlike the Dutchies, they flash their lights not to force you off the road but to signal that they allow you to overtake, enter the motorway and such. Lovely.

 

So, although I welcome foreign visitors that want to have a look at our tulips, windmills and clogs, it may be a good idea to let them be driven by a chauffeur. A local one that is, who has a clue about Dutch traffic rules and regulations. 

Not only will it save me a lot of irritation, foreign tourists thus have ample time to look around without causing traffic accidents.  A proper 双赢 they would say... 

Tour de France

Last Sunday a bunch of colorful dressed cyclist decided to go for some speed cycling, despite the tropical temperatures. Yep, the Tour de France has started. In Utrecht of all places. As the Netherlands is known for their weed, ehh clogs, tulips and cycling, it came as no surprise that a lot of people lined the streets to see the cyclists flash by. I was not one of them. Firstly because I truly believe that cycling is only useful when you need to get from A to B for some serious business. A means of transportation so to speak. That is, apart from mountain biking which can count on my support. It is also an activity that does not require my attention all the time while being in the Netherlands, because it is as flat as a pancake. No mountains. Hence, theoretically speaking, no mountain biking. Lesson to be learned here is to pick the sport that you want to support, or practice for that matter, with care.

But I clearly happened to be part of the Dutch minority as far as being enthusiastic about the Tour de France goes. I chose to watch the English Formula 1 race on the Silverstone circuit instead. Did not take as long too. 

But I may have missed a heroic spectacle. Heavy rain and strong winds battered the herd of cyclists as it fought its way through the Dutch landscape. Poor cyclists. They must have thought that they had seen a glimpse of hell on that second day of the Tour. Obviously they had not, as became painfully clear the next day. Literally for at least 20 of them that crashed on their way to Belgium. And as always, it started with just one guy having a look at his cell phone or perhaps texting his girlfriend. Not paying enough attention to his colleagues in front of him. That much was obvious.

It is something I do not understand. I mean, whenever I go for a ride on my motorbike I always wear leathers. Not just for yourself but it also can come in handy when you crash and the coroner has to drag you off the scene. Leathers thereby serve as a body bag, and thus are multipurpose. But these idiotic cyclists apparently think that nothing will happen to them. They only wear a flimsy jersey, no gloves and a helmet with holes in it. What do you expect from that?  I guess that like youngsters, they have faith in fate and believe that it will knock on their neighbors door. Trust me, they will most likely learn the hard way sooner or later by experiencing the inconvenience of their outfit themselves. Well, nothing can beat a first hand experience I guess.

With many channels broadcasting the Tour de France it is hard to miss it. However, when I am more or less forced to watch it, I focus on the landscape. Especially when it crosses France and I am looking for a nice area to go to for a holiday. Or curvy roads to blast down on my motorbike. You get to see a lot of the countryside too.  This is very understandable because watching them cyclist for 6 or 7 hours on end is quite boring. So I just take for granted that the shots of the French countryside are spoiled by a bunch of cyclists crossing it and the flock of spectators lining the road side that comes with it. You cannot win them all. 

Can I make a suggestion to the organization though? Photoshop them cyclists out of the shots and just show the landscape. Or leave them out of the Tour de France altogether.

An additional advantage would be that all these drug tests can be abolished. No more cheating. To me this is a clear win-win...

Heatwave

Holland is currently suffering from a heatwave. With temperatures getting perilously close to 40 C people are frantically looking for ways to cool down. But this is not as easy as it seems. Of course you can take your car for a spin, when it has air conditioning, until you run out of fuel. In hindsight, this may not be such a clever thing to do in view of future heatwaves. Scientist say that it will add to global warming and consequently to heatwaves occurring more frequently. Mind you, around the 1900's a heat wave occurred every 30 years. Nowadays  people should be prepared for heatwaves happening every 3 years. Nope, that is no typo. So, driving an air conditioned car would be a matter of shooting one selves in the foot, so to speak. I have got a far better idea. Make use of public means. Water features are favorite these days.

Unfortunately we are not as blessed as Rome is with the Trevi fountain. Anita Ekberg, in the film 'La dolce vita',  has shown the public that it can be put to good use to cool down when temperatures are rising. Nope, Dutch fountains are not much bigger than a fish tank and can only be used to take your goldfish for a swim. So, Dutchies have no other option than to seek refuge in fountains caused by sprinkler systems. And there are quite a few of them too, thanks to eager civil servants who wanted to be remembered by the public. Normally they would fall back on building a new town hall, or a base ball field to American standards like in Hoofddorp. But what to do when those ideas are already taken? Yep, create a water feature. Not only outside but also inside office buildings. All that is needed for the latter is a match and a chair to reach the sensor of the fire alarm to be welcomed by a few refreshing drops. A word to the ladies though: it is advised to wear waterproof mascara on that day. You may otherwise be mistaken for a zombi, or Alice Cooper. You do not want that to happen, although being a rock star is not that bad at all. A zombie is.

Although people in general tend to overreact and go after the most complicated solution to solve a minor problem, this is not always wise to do. It is not a coincidence that there are sayings like:' patient is a virtue' and 'Rome was not built in one day'. Although the latter could have something to do with the Italian quality of building. Or more the lack of. When the way Italians put there cars together is anything to go by, solutions in Italy most likely never get delivered as repairing bits and pieces will be an ongoing business.

Things are different in the Netherlands though. I must confess that we also have building projects that go on forever, like for example traffic control systems in tunnels. But the weather is a different thing. Should we have lived in France, then the weather would have been a female noun. 'La temps'. Or in Germany, 'die Wetter'. Why? Because it changes very quickly without prior notice and into something you would never have thought of. And thus after 'huffing and puffing' in temperatures close to 40 C, a couple of thunderstorms took care of it and we are back to normal temperatures once again. What was thought to become a major heatwave of catastrophic proportions, turned out to be nothing more than a micro wave. 

Mother nature always wins...