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...