Week 23 Where the sun doesn't shine

Week 23

Birds in a pole

About halfway down the pole 

koolmees (coal mace)

I honestly don't know how they didn't get drowned in last week's downpour.

Parking the bike

I forgot to say last week that Ben rode his bike to Amsterdam Central Station on his first morning, to catch the train to Zwolle for school. He had to search for somewhere to put the bike and 20 minutes later found a spot on a barge! One can only wonder how they ever find their own bike again. He now leaves half an hour earlier....

New roof on the chook shed

We're "allowed" to take 35 square metres of asbestos sheeting to the tip (per year). It has to be wrapped in heavy duty plastic and the council workers won't touch it, so it has to be in small, manageable bundles to lift on and off the trailer. 

I've mentioned before that corrugated iron is not a commonly used building material over here; this is extremely good quality and now matches the new extension. I'm almost tempted to restore the old hayshed out the back.... (and plant a few gum trees!).

Making a new table for the clients' work area.

All my own work, so I'm the only one going to get into trouble for all the sawdust (from sanding) - well, I couldn't shift it outside....

and, if the contents label of the box is to be believed, I used 200 screws (and a pot of glue).

Finally, the boat...

Clean, at least. But the rust spots are more obvious! I'm saving my pension so that I can get it painted again. 

Where the sun doesn't shine.... the aft port quarter was covered with thick green slime after a winter (8 months!!!) of no sun - in fact, in the mooring it gets very little sun even in the summer

Trying something new here - a video - with sound effects! Not sure if it actually works. I can't test it until it is "published".

We just went for a short trip to a nearby island; 6 hours of total relaxation after what has been a fairly hectic last six 8 months. Cleaning, reading, eating, sleeping and soaking up the late afternoon sun - that's more like it! 

In a couple of weeks we will be going down to Blokzijl again for Janny's brother's birthday party.

I had a "win" in the maintenance department. I have been contemplating a new drinking water pump for a couple of years now. It's an old diaphragm pump from 1994 and was becoming more like a trickle than a flow. It stopped altogether this year and I was about to give up when I thought "there must be something" - opened a tap in the bowels of the engine compartment and tightened up a few seals...... all is well! Must have been an airlock (for sure) and probably entrainment of air past one of the hose connections. The pressure and flow are now better than ever!

From the newspaper

New bus depot in Drachten

The existing bus depot is described as looking very "East European" and much in need of a facelift - planned for 2017. 

A new depot is planned on one of the main routes into Drachten - requiring the construction of a "Super Roundabout" and a new depot on land adjacent to the van der Valk Hotel - they sold the land to the local council on the proviso that they had the rights to selling coffee and food. Much more interesting is the fact that a German startup company called Flixbus has chosen Drachten as the Northern Hub of "the largest bus network in Europe". Direct routes to Berlin, Antwerp, Denmark, the Randstad (Amsterdam Rotterdam) and other locations are expected. Flixbus (based in Munich) are "luring" passengers with the promise of low prices and extra legroom! The new depot is expected to be ready in December, 2016.

Week 22 Crikey, driving in Amsterdam

Week 22

Crikey, driving in Amsterdam

Cleaning Ben's room.
350 students all having to leave on the same day! Luckily, we found a parking spot.... all were free in order to help everyone with moving.

The new rooms in De Jordaan....

We had to pay €12,00 for about 3 hours parking (on a Sunday). One interesting aspect was that we had to key in the number plate at the machine. Their way of checking it is to drive around in one of these cars, presumably scanning all the number plates.

Ben's room is in the building with the two red doors. Not really the best fire safety setup - the best way out would be to go upwards to the roof and across - assuming the stairway is unusable. (Sorry, can't help it even after all these years). The shared kitchen is the red door on the left - but I suggested that Ben might like to buy pizzas rather than dare to use it - or give it a good clean up first! It's only for a month and it's all very exciting.....and different!

The view from the roof. Note the church in the background - which wakes Ben every half hour - until he gets used to it!

Thunderstorm and rain

...and tree damage close to our old hayshed. There didn't seem to be much wind in the storm - but enough to topple one of the bigger oak trees in the forest next to us. Once again I am amazed at the shallow root systems of even the largest trees. (We'll probably be able to "buy" the tree from the Forestry Commission - at least it's not far from the wood shed!).

Photo taken at 2149 hrs - after the storm. Love how it stays light until almost 2300 hrs at this time of the year.

and in our spare time.....

It always seems somewhat of an anachronism to me but once again I find myself helping out with making a "float" for our local "Moomba" Parade aka the Village Fair. Each "neighbourhood" in the village prepares a float and/or other activity, this year the theme being  "Countries of the World". Ours is The Netherlands......

Tulips and clogs (Made by De Twa Buken)

The Windmill....

The Big Cheese. Also made by us. These will be placed on a traditional cheese carrier (as used at the Alkmaar Cheese Markets - for tourists to see how it used to be done).

So we'll have one of these running alongside the float.

I've also spent half a day building a Red Light District "lounge room" on the float! (to be manned by Janny on the day).

Refugees

The Local Govt. are still dragging their feet. Their latest thing is that they want us to supply the sheets and blankets. I guess it won't be a deal breaker but these seem to be a personal item which would be better "acquired" by the people themselves - they will need to get them at some time, so why not as soon as they leave the Centre?

In any case, I feel like saying "fine, but the price will have to be adjusted accordingly. no?". The costs would also include dry cleaning for the next lot..... We wait, as usual. The new woman in charge does not seem as competent as the first one..... So much really does come down to people's ability "to get things done".

Other works

Landscaping (tiles, drainage and lawn) arranged and planned for week 24.

Driveway ordered. To be constructed using asphalt taken out of some roadworks nearby. This is to be done by a major construction company - on their timeline!

Oh, and varnishing the bits for the boat..... about as close as I'm going to get for a while....

 

Week 21 A Blast from the Past

Week 21

Pumpkins....

.....going better than last year, although I have snails for the first time! Must be Global Warming.......

Pumpkin (or zucchini??)

Aussie Visitors

Frank Ward and Pam. I hadn't seen Frank in at least 25 years - but I could still recognise him!. When I was Superintendent in charge of Training, I apparently "suggested" to Frank that he should become an instructor at the Training College. For better or for worse, Frank now says that it "changed his life". After a few years he went on to work very successfully in the private sector as a trainer/instructor.

In more recent years he and Pam have had one of those jobs that "somebody else" always seems to have - managing/maintaining a heritage-type property in France, whilst travelling here, there and everywhere, it seems. Ownership of the property has recently changed hands but the new owners are happy for Frank and Pam to "holiday" there for as long as they want - this year from April to November - on an extended visa. As usual with Aussie visitors, it seems to leave me feeling "empty" when they leave.... but we have a "plan" to visit them in France and/or have them back for a boating holiday..... we shall see how things turn out time-wise.

At de Stripe - our local restaurant

A tourist day......

Clog Factory

People Leave their old clogs here....when buying new ones.

Dokkum

Photo from 2014...our boat centre left

Windmill at Birdaard

It feels "high"......

Amazing wood working skills... 

Contemplating a "boating" holiday.....

Ben

A little while ago Ben won a prize for eating insects. The prize was a VIP night at the opening of the new rooftop terrace of his hotel.

and the Student Club.....

Ben's time at the hotel finishes this weekend. He has arranged another room in Amsterdam, for a month. He will then come "home" for a month and then he's off to Hong Kong! We're all going down to Amsterdam today (Sunday) to clean up the room and move him to somewhere in the "Jordaan" district....

Jordaan District in Amsterdam
History of the Jordaan

The Jordaan area was created at the large expansion of Amsterdam in early 17 C., as the district for the working class and immigrants. The population increase during the next centuries was enormous, caused by the stream of political refugees, mainly English protestants like Fleming, Spanish and Portuguese Jews and French Huguenots. They all mainly settled in the Jordaan. It was a poor district with small houses and slums, every little room stuffed with families and lots of children. The entire area was one ghetto with open sewers, canals served for both transport and sewer, and no running water. Around 1900 about 80 thousand people lived in the Jordaan, nowadays there are about 20 thousand.

During the 1970-ties the city council had serious plans to demolish big parts of Jordaan and replace them with large ugly modern blocks of flats. There were many protests against this idea. City protectors, such as Monuments Care (Monumentenzorg), were against the loss of the historical town while inhabitants of the Jordaan feared large rent increases. Thanks to their resistance the plan was modified, there came small-scale projects which would repair the neighbourhood, without damaging its original character.

A large renovation started. It is then that the Jordaan was discovered by a new generation occupants: artists, students, and young entrepreneurs. The old inhabitants moved to other neighbourhoods and cities like Almere. Partly through these new inhabitants the Jordaan has changed from a slum area to a district for artists, still living on low rent, and the rich who bought the very expensive renovated houses. Nowadays the Jordaan is an oasis of peace with a labyrinth of narrow streets and little canals, nice for strolling around courtyards, art studios, and monumental buildings with stone tablets, old-fashioned ‘brown’ pubs, boutiques and galleries.

For those who might be interested, this link has a webcam which can be clicked to show different locations, including the Anne Frank House.

http://www.jordaaninfo.nl/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=41%3Awebcam&layout=blog&Itemid=70&lang=en

Week 20 It's not the years, it's the mileage

Weather

Coldest Pentecost (15th May this year) since 1936! We've had the fire on again!

New Audi

The old Audi has done about 415000 kms; so our luxury car of 9 years has finally been put to rest. The reconditioned motor is still good but the extras are starting to get unreliable (not to mention the strange noises from the suspension). We've been looking for a while and found another Audi with low mileage and plenty of (working) extras. Picking it up Monday 23 May.

2007-2016

Just to get a photo of the boat in......a fishing day out with the clients (at Felder's Boskje),

Audi A6 Avant TDI 140HP Automatic

Almost the same colour......

Ben in Spain

shooting on the beach

Apparently, it was just he and a girl from England in the huge office/display building, in the middle of nowhere....

The clothes were all laid out in sets on the floor.....

On the work front....

Not much new, except that I did have to make more shelves and I'm probably not done yet!

I've also included a photo of an old (Australian) kitchen cupboard kindly given to us by brother Leigh (and Alexandra). It is now used as a display case in the "shop".

This coming week we might finally hear something of the refugees - apparently there are many more single people ready to leave the Centres; we said we would prefer families so we're not sure yet. Of greater concern is that the Local Govt. have to provide proper housing after their time with us. It will be easier to find just two houses for two families rather than several single people. Unless they lump them together somehow which would probably cause more problems than it solves.

More shelves!

Old Australian kitchen cabinet

Our red beech (one of (present day) De Twa Buken).The original two were chopped down in 1996.