Week 15 Best Kept Secret

Week 15

Marketing Friesland

"No more Hit and Miss" is the message given to the Marketing Company by the Province of Friesland. 

So, it won't be a secret any more.... ie the fact that it is so (relatively) peaceful and just a little bit different with its' own language and culture and not to mention the water; it has the largest chain of connected inland lakes in Europe and is perfect for water sport enthusiasts. 

Friends Andrew and Terry bought a boat here in Friesland - about 6 or 7 years ago. A retired scientist, Andrew had done his homework and sought out different types of boats to look at - the idea being to buy a boat and head off to France almost straight away. We found an ideal boat (as it turned out) and I suggested "why not use it around here in Friesland while you get to learn about the boat"? Despite the research, they had little idea that so much boating could be done in Friesland - and the rest of the Netherlands. So, it took a couple of years for them to finally get to France! (They come here for 3 months every year and store the boat where we now keep ours - a Club rather than a commercial haven.).

Friesland tallied 1.8 million visitors in 2015, worth an estimated €458 million. Of the total, 385,000 were from other countries.

So, if the Marketing is successful our "secret" won't be so secret any more.....

Just the lakes - but there is so much more...

Workshop

Completed order for the local soccer club: 4 rubbish bins and two ashtrays.

IKEA Kitchen

IKEA kitchen coming together...... but the poor installer had a problem. I told him I was from Australia (I usually have to do that if I see them wincing at my Dutch). So he tried talking English to me..... but he came to me a bit later looking very sheepish and said "I am sorry. I have made a mistake" (in English). The tall cupboard on the left is for the fridge and needs a bracket at the top rear to hold it against the wall. He had found the 40cm centres for the studs but for the last one... he missed it...... so he tried again a bit further...... and then a bit further..... only to discover that he had been drilling into the recess for the sliding door.... with the door inside!! So with the door closed there are three small holes! A good lesson for when we go whacking holes in here and there (as I do).

Keeping the boys busy.... (me too, skirting boards)

The new dog......companion for one of our clients

Moving In.......

The best laid plans (cont.).....

I was very clever in asking for TV cables to be in position so that I didn't have to figure it out later - with the unsightly mess that usually ensues.....  It was all done very well with cables from the roof (satellite dish) to the laundry and then under the floor from the laundry to the TV. But it took me 4 hours today to try to get it working: every joint renewed, decoders swapped over, etc., etc.. In the end I laid a new cable along the outside and in through a door and got it to work...... so something wrong with the pre-laid cable.... I think. I don't know if they'll be able to fix it, but it has been duly reported!

Satellite dish serves 4 TV's

Cleaning up - earthmoving

Another in my best laid plans series.......

I had not thought about how I was going to get the rubbish container to the road - with our driveway out of commission.

.....and another

We have had induction cooking since 1999 so went that way for the new apartment so as to avoid any potential problems with gas. So we have to show Janny's Mum how it works, ....... and we need a new set of saucepans for her! Her's don't work with induction!

Rain!

In more than 20 years there's been a lot of rain!......but I have never seen this much water in the forest next door to us....

Boating?

This is our first weekend in more than a year that we have no kids!

But, we do have our new residents, so the boat has to wait..... and I still have to finish my 1st Quarter bookkeeping (the only English word with three double letters in a row?).

But I'll post another photo just to indulge myself!

Felder's Boskje - both photos (near Wijnjewoude)

Week 14 Falling off the Wombat

Week 14

Interesting quote..

The amount of energy necessary to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it.

 — Alberto Brandolini

Falling off the wombat

When Ben was about 3, he fell off a huge stuffed wombat - a souvenir that Janny brought back from Darwin. I thought that Ben's teeth had broken off but they had (just) disappeared totally into his gums. It all grew back normally except that the adult teeth tilted a little forwards.

His is now getting some "braces" fitted before he turns 21, so that it comes under our comprehensive insurance. (He has to have his own insurance when he turns 21). The brace is a hard see through plastic fitting which applies pressure to push the teeth back - and has to be replaced every 3 weeks or thereabouts.

Ben Hong Kong Study Program

Referendum

There is a relatively new law in the Netherlands which requires that a referendum be held if a proposal can be put forward with at least 300,000 signatures. I wasn't aware of this or the build up to the present referendum, but it went something like this: A TV personality used his "push" or "pull" to gather more than 400,000 signatures to ask the question "should the Netherlands have or continue the "association" with Ukraine?" He says that it was more about the process of "asking the people" what they want - but there was also a fair bit of fear-mongering about the EU, economic recovery and asylum seekers.

 My thoughts now revolve around the voting process. It is only my observation;  voting is not compulsory here but very much a "right" that is taken very seriously. One can only wonder at the so-called democratic (Republic?) countries where people are deliberately excluded from the voting process by fair means or foul. Of more concern would be where people have given up voting because they believe the system is somehow not for them. Even in my sleepy village, the voting is all done electronically and without fuss. the only thing I can think of that would be better is proportional representation.... but I suspect that they simply don't "get it". 

edit; the referendum vote was this time done on paper, not electronically.
The  debate  should have been about relations between Ukraine, Russia and Europe. The result was "no" but people probably used the chance to say no to the direction the EU is taking instead of trying to fully understand the issue at hand. For example, it is always Polish (or Moroccan or Surinams) people that get the blame if a bike is stolen or if there is shoddy building work discovered. It reminds me of when we were going to get refugees... we were warned that "they will be stealing the food out of your fridge". Of course, it was not the case and we have nothing but fond memories of the experience. In my opinion the "no" vote was in similar vein... "they can't be allowed in the EU or else they'll come and take our jobs"..... but that is not what the referendum was supposed to be about.

From the Newspaper

Black cars pay more for insurance.

Insurance companies have been charging considerably more for premiums for black cars.... they have not been "open" about it and a consumer rights organisation has taken them to task. The limited response so far was about statistics showing that they are involved in more accidents.

Research Project; Watersport facilities in and around Drachten

There are about 2400 moorings in and around Drachten. A research project has been undertaken in an attempt to make it more attractive for watersport. There are "not enough signs, not enough moorings with electricity and toilet facilities, also not good enough access to shops or restaurants, not enough boat ramps. not enough low access for rowers. More beaches are needed for swimming. Visie Waterfront Drachten. The report says that "it should be ready for the summer".... I'm pretty sure that things will never move that quickly here. We're still waiting for haven facilities in Wijnjewoude that were going to be built in 2014!

Our work

One of our clients disappeared "off the radar" because we wouldn't let him bring his dog here. Somebody gave him their 8 year old untrained Pit Bull (probably glad to get rid of it). If we try to see both sides, it probably is the closest thing to a "companion" that he will ever have and so it is understandable..... but we have other clients to think of, hence our ruling on the dog. 
EDIT - we have just met the dog and he is quite OK (and not a Pit Bull, after all). In fact, they might be quite suited to each other.

We had a phone call from an organization that wants to get our client "back into the workforce"...... it is a sad reflection of the system that he has never had a job - he is now over 40 - and in our opinion he never will have. In here lies the role of the "Care Farm" - he used to be in charge of cleaning out the chook shed,  gathering the eggs and providing food and water. Also a reason to get out of bed, be on time, look presentable and have a sense of purpose. Unfortunately, these have all fallen by the wayside over the years we have known him, but we are still the "safe haven" in his life and he may yet find his way back (we might make a kennel and run for the dog). One of the interesting aspects of the "system" is that everyone needs money to get by - so our client gets enough money for a set period but then has to re-surface for the next lot (he also has to get medication, but I don't know if they combine the two events). Anyway, he'll probably show up in a couple of days so that Janny can help fill out the paperwork required to exempt him from "entering the workforce", and we'll see where we go from there.

I was reminded of one of our refugees; in about 2000 (before 9/11), we had a new refugee who wanted to know almost straight away "how to get to Rotterdam?"...... The system worked then that they had to be here so we would give them their weekly allowance (f79,00, if I remember correctly) and they would have to sign for it. This was a de facto means of the "system" knowing where they were at any given moment, at least weekly. I think this is a bit how it works with our client. As it turned out our Rotterdam chap was "gone" the next day and declared "MOB" (met onbekende bestemming) (of unknown whereabouts) by the system. I mentioned 9/11 because I think a similar occurrence these days would set some alarm bells ringing - particularly after the recent terrorist activities.

Refugee Photos

I find myself often referring to our refugees..... so I looked up some old photos. Luckily I saved some of them with names.

Departure....but not Ben! (featuring in all 3 photos)

A birthday party (Janny's, I think).

Annie, the daughter of a couple from Azerbaijan and Jose (from a non -recognised West African country??).

Mersad and family

At "school" in our newly completed dining room

Snow, from 2001, a novel experience for some of the refugees..

Building Works (cont.)

IKEA Kitchen (our 4th, albeit more complicated)

PAVING

this had been a daunting item on my to-do list, but thankfully, brother-in-law Albert came and made it look just so "easy". What a relief to have some help! (Not that any of the family are obliged to help; it is "our" thing, after all). We're getting a painter from the village to come and do all the windows and doors - it all has to be finished by next weekend, and I've just about run out of puff. We even had some of our weekend kids barrowing sand and lining up the bricks - they are of an age where they (or somebody) have to think about what they will be able to do in the future.

Back door

Front door

Almost ready....

One of the nieces assembled some IKEA furniture...

Made to order...

A local soccer club asked if we could make some rubbish containers - took a while to get started but only 3 days to make, once we bought the wood! This is so-called steiger hout (scaffolding timber). I read in the paper this weekend that there is a shortage of "real" scaffolding timber because a lot of furniture makers are using it for outdoor settings. So, they are going to make the "fake" stuff look more authentic (ie, "used").

Bowel Cancer Research (Cont.).

In weeks 49 and 51, I mentioned about the Bowel Cancer Research project over here...... today, whilst listening to 3AW (Melbourne) I heard an ad for what sounds like exactly the same thing in Australia.

Week 13 Trees Crossing the Road

Week 13   

Trees Crossing the Road

This is our road in summer with some leaves! The local council wants to remove "some" of the trees; to allay everyone's fears about losing something special, the Mayor(ess) said "just those that are starting to cross the road". These are all oaks and another row of beeches has been planted alongside the cycling path. One advantage is supposed to be that people drive more slowly, but they have claimed a few lives even in the years that I have been here.

So, the common sense approach would indeed seem to be to remove those that are closest to the very edge of the road.  Janny was at a meeting (in her Local Action Committee role). Some people were totally against it, so as usual we will wait and see.

To aid in their deliberations, my thought was that it would save on transport costs if they would like to drop the wood off at our place.....I'm not holding my breath!

A Barry Langley Photo from 2009

A more recent photo

Meeting with Local Council

Now that the Certificate of Occupancy, Zoning, and "informing the locals" have been attended to, we had a meeting with the woman from the council who started the ball rolling. It was mainly to introduce another woman who will be taking over the role, but we did have a chance to put some ideas on the table. Luckily, I had done some preparation and made a checklist which we worked our way through. So much better when it is YOUR checklist! It was in English but this is rarely a problem with people at this level.

If the Council were providing the housing, then they would be able to "break even" with their costings. We are a "for profit" business and so we need to make a profit, obviously. My checklist included all the things I could think of that would incur extra costs if we have people living in the apartments.

      Our asking price is more than they were expecting (or hoping) but it became obvious that they hadn't yet considered all the things on the list. We will probably reach a compromise but the big item is the GAS usage; it is almost a cultural thing that people learn about "closing doors", "putting an extra jumper on" and so on, just to keep the gas bills under control. (I think the first thing Janny's Dad ever said to me was "deur dicht!' (Close the door!) - I also remember knowing what he meant without understanding the language).

     Part of our role will be to help the people to learn about things like that. When they get their permanent house, it will be subsidised, but they will still need to pay for their own gas and other utilities.

     We did learn that the Council will be receiving (from the Federal Govt.) €50 per week for adults and €30 per week for kids. With 10 adults across 2 apartments, we get close to our asking price, but if we get our preferred families then we may have to reconsider. We'll wait and see what they come back with.

Disposable Income

Only because I mentioned above about the cost of heating/gas bills, I thought again about something that has occurred to me over the years. I have often wondered just how much of one's income here is committed to "cost of living", with the resultant "disposable income". I'm only thinking of "normal" people both here and in Australia and I only think of people I know - family members, usually. I have firefighters, teachers, nurses, care workers, business owners, computer people, farmers, hairdressers.

It is not based on any research whatsoever, but my gut feeling is that "normal" people in Australia have more "disposable" income and that the principal reason could well be climate, or in other words heating bills! Add the horrendous cost of owning and running a car, the 21.5% GST...... and don't forget every factory and workplace has to be heated, thus adding to the cost of everything that is produced.... I might be totally wrong, but it is something that has nagged at me for 20 years now.

Ben to Hong Kong

As reported earlier Ben is definitely going to Hong Kong. He has applied for a scholarship. He had to write a "motivation" letter in English and will later go for an interview if selected. It's not huge but at least he might be able to eat when he is there.

     He also had to choose some subjects to study when he is there; these included Basic Chinese, a couple on The Influence of Language on Culture (these are of interest to me) and a few related to Journalism, New Media and Film. The final list has to be approved by his own University (Windesheim).

     Ben was home for Easter but spent the whole time studying for exams scheduled for the following week AND doing his preparation for getting to Hong Kong! Heavy workload....

......but wait, that's not all!! It is Saturday as I write this and Ben is in Rotterdam for a photoshoot. I don't know all the details but apparently an English photographer wanted some "redheads" for a special project, so Ben was invited....Ben's photo (below) is taken from the hotel. More later.

Ben in Hong Kong - We did a stopover in 2006....

I'm hoping it's an April Fool's Joke.....

The latest Watersport Almanac reported that a "leaked" report from Den Hague is proposing dearer diesel for watersporters! This could be made possible by introducing another colour or aroma to the diesel. They do this already for farmers in the form of "red diesel" which is cheaper; they often do spot checks on normal vehicles to see if anyone is misusing it; the fines are huge. I'm hoping it is a joke because of the way it was reported; the politician is supposed to have said something like "imagine all these people enjoying themselves without being taxed". It is envisaged that the tax would amount to €250 per year, or more for the larger motor boats "but they can afford it".

Please and Thankyou

Over the years, people have asked me "what do you miss"? In the beginning it was always (and still is) family, friends, workmates, sport (there's only so much soccer one can take). On a few later occasions I was moved to say what I miss most is "Please and Thank you" - a little bit tongue in cheek, but with a fair degree of truth. Today, I was unfortunate enough to be in bed with a bout of Sciatica (never had it before, but that is my best guess).... but, I WAS fortunate enough to hear a podcast discussing the different uses of the word "please" in England compared with America. Apparently there is a difference and my Australian experience would be that of England. If anyone would care to listen, it can be found here

http://www.theallusionist.org/

For my purposes today, suffice to say that the podcast finished up by saying that our English use of "please" doesn't appear in Scandinavia, for example, which got me wondering about the Germanic languages such as Netherlands. A lot of it has to do with the listener, of course, but I really do feel as though I am being ordered around if I don't hear something that I can at least interpret as "please". While I'm reminiscing, I remember Janny's family laughing at me because I was being so "polite" at the dinner table; it was just normal for me (apart from being conscious of creating a good impression).

Lastly, my painting job...

Probably the cause of my sciatica..... but at least it is done!. The floor surface has been prepared and the floor coverings and curtain rails come on Tuesday.

Week 12

Week 12

Newspaper Article

From the Friesch Dagblad 19 maart, 2016

"Resident status refugees get a place in Care Farm"

Just saying that we will be having refugees in two apartments. It also mentions our previous experience and that we were considered "too small" this time around. 

Just on that, there was a TV show a few weeks ago, "Youth News", which showed a camp here in the Netherlands, with 3000 "residents" - refugees from various places. 

 2 young teenage girls from Iraq were interviewed. they said Dutch people don't like the fact that they are from Iraq and not Syria at the moment. Food is not nice. They are cold. People smoke inside the big tents. No privacy. The Children's Ombudsman said people should remember what they have been through just to get here. With the large numbers this time around, the government policy seems to be all about large accommodation. This might be to do with reducing administration costs, but it doesn't seem to be very good for the refugees themselves. As I think back it seems that they had it pretty good at our place, compared with the current images shown on TV. Other news items have shown residents protesting about 700 refugees planned for a village of only 300 residents, for example.

 This letter has been prepared by the Local Govt., to send to our neighbourhood: Just smoothing the way so that people know what is going on. Key to us is the start date - as yet unknown.....maybe we will know more by april or may.

Geachte meneer/mevrouw,

Met deze brief lichten wij het voornemen toe, twee families tijdelijke huisvesting te bieden in twee appartementen bij zorgboerderij De Twa Bûken, aan Duerswâld 9 in Wijnjewoude.

Opsterland heeft de wens een humanitaire en maatschappelijke bijdrage te leveren aan de vluchtelingenproblematiek. Hiervoor wordt naar mogelijkheden gezocht die passen binnen de Opsterlandse schaal. Eén mogelijkheid is vluchtelingen met een verblijfsvergunning (zo genoemde statushouders) tijdelijk huisvesting te bieden. Zij komen van een AZC, wonen tijdelijk ergens zelfstandig (bijvoorbeeld een vakantiewoning of iets dergelijks) en gaan vervolgens naar een (huur)woning waar zij permanent blijven wonen.

Het is de bedoeling om in de Twa Bûken twee gezinnen tegelijk in twee appartementen te huisvesten. De gezinnen zullen maximaal vier maanden hier blijven wonen. Binnen deze vier maanden wordt een vaste woning voor de gezinnen in Opsterland gezocht. De kinderen zullen naar school gaan en de ouders krijgen begeleiding van Timpaan Welzijn om het dagelijks leven in Opsterland te leren kennen en om zelfstandig te kunnen wonen. Timpaan maakt hierbij ook gebruik van vrijwilligers.

Op dit moment is nog niet duidelijk met ingang van welke datum de gezinnen in de Twa Bûken gaan wonen. Wij verwachten u hier ergens in april of mei over te kunnen informeren.

Wij zijn blij dat we deze samenwerking met meneer en mevrouw Copeland van de Twa Bûken aan kunnen gaan. Als de samenwerking van beide kanten goed bevalt, is het de bedoeling om na vertrek van de eerste twee gezinnen, nieuwe gezinnen op de locatie tijdelijk te huisvesten.

Als u vragen heeft, kunt u contact opnemen met de gemeente via het algemene nummer 0512-386222. U kunt vragen naar Hieke Ferwerda.

Further re Thomas

NB This is not supposed to about Thomas, per se, but more about the "system" and how it works - I'm in the dark most of the time, especially with all the jargon flying around - but mostly I just do what I'm told!
Anyway, Thomas is supposed to be going to live semi-permanently in a Care Farm like ours, but which has a residential function, which we do not. The owners of the new place insisted on a better financial settlement, which they had to negotiate with the Local Govt. We have been an "emergency" solution for over 6 months now. The residential deal includes payment for "normal" schooldays - so if, for some reason, Thomas doesn't go to school, then those extra hours have to be paid for - I've said before that we have just coped with it because he is one of "ours" and it was such a bad situation at home. Maybe we have been too emotionally involved - the new people have a much better eye on the financial side of things.
So, again we wait and see......

Good Friday.....

......takes me by surprise, again! It's just a normal working day here, and that in a much more obviously religious community than (my experience of) Melbourne.
We were supposed to go to the boat for a bit of a relax - but I've been painting the new apartment..... I hate painting, but at least I have my audio books for company! 

The boat awaits.....

Old Photos - Wijnjewoude 

Photos and information provided from Wijnjewoude.net

Our Place Circa 1971

The tree in the top right corner is one of "De Twa Buken" (The Two Beeches), which were cut down due to sickness just before we moved in. Janny is on the far right; with two sisters and a girlfriend.

The previous house Circa 1960 (destroyed by fire circa 1970). Note The Two Beeches......

That house circa 1920; 

with Jelke Douwes Rozema and Betje Sipkes Smid. Jelke was an uncle of Hendrik (Janny's father).

The girl at the rear, right, was the daughter of family Goedhart. She had been evacuated (Amsterdam?) during WWI, and taken in by this family.

As an interesting byline, we were given the gravestones of Jelke and Betje. I think after a certain amount of time, the gravestones are removed if there is nobody left to pay whatever fees are applicable. We were asked if we wanted them...... still not sure what to do with them, though.

Other photos of Wijnjewoude - Wijnjewoude is a combination of two villages Wijnjeterp and Duurswoude

Wijnjeterp Circa 1936

One of the (newly built) houses was for the "Village Constable".

Firehouse near the church Circa 1917

(the wooden structure with the bicycle)

Until this year, we had traffic lights here...

the main road Circa 1900

Opsterland Map 1845 (The star near the centre is us). Opsterland is our Local Govt. area.

(Have I mentioned here before that the church just down the road from us was built (completed) in 1295)? I often think about what it must have been like 700 years ago - the church must have been an important focal point.

On books...

I was about to publish this week and I thought about my reference to audio books which I listen to just about all the time - especially when painting, mowing or walking. I'm able to read many more books in the course of a year than I would otherwise. If I try to read a "normal" book in bed, for example, I simply fall asleep! If I wake up in the middle of the night, I usually listen to a podcast; more often than not it puts me back to sleep, but sometimes I get something interesting enough to keep me awake. Stuff You Should Know or Things You Missed In History, Tech News, BBC News Quiz, etc.

I had long ago read everything I could get in English from the local library, so it became a challenge to find "stuff" on the internet. Around 2002/2004 I found a Russian site that had English books available to download; I just had to learn to use the navigation buttons in Russian. Microsoft had a product then called MS Reader, which reproduced the books so that they looked like a book on my laptop; I remember being so immersed in the book that I would often reach out to turn the page! (Microsoft missed the boat with that one).

I think in the 70's I had read a series of books by John D. MacDonald,  but I couldn't remember his name, or the names of any of the books. So, I sent a query to the chat room on the Russian site... something like "does anyone know of a series of books about a private detective who lives on a houseboat in Florida"?. Now the point of my reminiscing ..... I actually got a reply from a woman who lived in Saudi Arabia! She told me who the author was and where I could find them to download - so I read all the books again! The woman, Diane Overby, was so well spoken (written) that I asked her if the was of English background - she said no, American, and she was in an arranged marriage living in Saudi Arabia - her single passion was reading ebooks - on an early device, a Palm Pilot, I think. BUT, she had to do it secretly because she was forbidden to read ANYTHING. Her kids were also restricted but she tried to encourage them, again secretly. This is now at least 12 years ago, but it made such an impression on me that I have never forgotten. We only exchanged a few emails and I think she had to stop for fear of being found out.

Footnote: just for fun I found the old Russian site - it is still going and my login details still work - after what must be about 8 or more years. I also looked to see if I still had Diane Overby's email address - but that is long gone - it was before my gmail began in 2004.