Just an update
about ordinary life in Holland, with some pictures of the lovely
scenery here in Holland in spring-time. Especially for all of you
abroad, those wishing to be here, or those wishing to visit.May 2001
Just an update
about ordinary life in Holland, with some pictures of the lovely
scenery here in Holland in spring-time. Especially for all of you
abroad, those wishing to be here, or those wishing to visit.
Ordinary life is going on. The kids go to school and have quite a few friends now. Both are doing quite well. Tom is reading Harry Potter books like it is going out of style. One in Dutch, the next one in English, and so on (he is now on number 3, and already relishing the fact that since the English version will be out more than 6 months sooner than the Dutch translation, he will have read the 600 page book well before any other children at school. We are quite pleased that this way he is keeping up his English. Harry Potter is not all that easy... the English is quite complicated. Chris is getting really proficient at reading too. The only downside is that sometimes the two of them are still up at 11:00pm reading, and cannot be torn out of bed the next morning.
Chris has taken up horse riding, which she loves. Regrettably all my photographs turned out fuzzy, due to a lack of light. However, in our stories about our trip to Northern Ireland you can see some pictures. Tom still plays soccer, and enjoys it very much. Karin is running the household, has migraine at times, and spends a lot of time walking the dog. Peter, well, he works. Whatever.
Spring
is slow in coming this year. The weather is not too good, and
temperatures are very low, even for May. We just had some of the
typical holidays (April 30th, Koninginnedag -- the Queens
Birthday, May 5th, Bevrijdingsdag -- Liberation Day (from the
Second World-War)) and enjoyed some of the fun, such as kermis (a
fun-fair) and fireworks.
This weekend (early May) we went to show the kids one of the Netherlands most famous sites, the bulbs and the flowers. Holland still earns a large part of its export budget through flowers, and at this time of year many are in bloom. The fields typically will be cut to let the bulbs grow just when the flowers have come out. They do this so that the flower does not sap the energy and the bulb grows to its largest size. Those bulbs that split into many (smaller) bulbs are separated, and are used next year for planting. So the actual flowers do not get used for export, they just get topped and thrown away by the side of the road. We were a little late, but you can still see many fields full of Tulip bulbs in full bloom.
Holland is still a flower country. In the east of Holland, close to the sea, the ground is very sandy and contains a lot of calcium. Ideal growing conditions for bulbs, in all colours of the rainbow. Tulips, Narcissus, Hyacinths, everything with bulbs you can find here. We took a drive through this part of the country and took Zoë for a long walk along the sea.
As you can see from the pictures, Zoë has grown quite a bit. Although she still is a puppy (in puberty at that) she is sometimes larger than other, fully grown, female Golden Retrievers. Many people are confused about what kind of dog she is because of her light colour. They confuse her with a Newfoundland Labrador, although that breed has quite a different build and fur-type. Zoë, now in puberty, is still a hand-ful. She's very strong, and dominant, and tries to rule the roost. Karin and I have to try and be very consistent with her in order to make sure she does not get on top of us. Karin is better at it than I am, and has also gone through two training courses where, despite her character, Karin and Zoë managed to come third in class in a field of about 50 dogs of various kinds.
Well, after this aside, to continue on
from our trip through the tulips (don't you just love the
alliteration) we went to the coast to exercise the dog on the
beach. Zoë loves running in the sand, chasing wind-swept sand-grains
and refuse. She still finds the rolling waves rather scary and
therefore hasn't ventured out in the sea yet, but we are sure
this will come as she gets older or it gets hotter.
Noordwijk used to be an old fishing village, but its main claim to fame are its beaches and the boulevard, in the middle of Tulip country. Making money with bulbs apparently is easier than catching herring with the restrictive fishing quotas. One remnant of its history as a harbor is this tower, which (set against a background of a typical Dutch sky -- we hardly ever have cloudless days here because of the sea climate where the winds mostly blow from the Northsea to the Netherlands) used to be a lighthouse, guiding skipper back to port and warning other vesels away from the tricky sandbanks in front of the shore.
All of you that know me know that I am quite keen on
cars. I've finally taken delivery of my new car, a brand new Volvo V70 Cross Country. This
is a 200 HP, four-wheel drive Volvo station wagon (not your
father's Volvo) with all the mod-cons, including Geartronic,
a better sound system than at home, full leather, and satellite
navigation. It is very fast (over 220km/h, 140mph), very quiet,
and great to go on holidays in. The colour is a dark-brown
metallic (the picture really doesn't do it much justice). Given
the amount I now drive per week (almost 1000 km's, a far cry from
my daily commute of 5 miles in Bedford) the luxury and comfort is
very welcome.
Shiny and wonderful as this car may be, Peter has found the time to develop an interest in older cars. He is looking to buy a 1965 Mercedes SL (also known as the Pagode) sometime soon, so watch this web-site for more information...
Anyway, that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed the read and the update, and liked the pictures.
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