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.

Week 11

Week 11

Building works.......

With  some good help from our work experience lad.. (Jelmer)

Inching slowly upwards....(oh dear, is that tautology?).

Only took me two weeks!! (and 89kms recorded just walking, working and up and down ladders!)

Ben

At Ben's hotel/residence they organised a "Dare To Taste" night...

with Buffaloworm (larvae of the buffalo beetle), grasshoppers, meelworm (another beetle larvae), frogs legs, snails, haggis?, crocodile and more.

There was also "Hare's blood", which turned out to be beetroot juice. Ben's group won first prize of "VIP treatment at the opening of the new Rooftop (Drinking) Terrace in May".

Local Council Corruption

A councillor came up with the great idea of running a "pilot" program for a "care farm" (like ours) and organised a "grant" from the council of €25000. Sounds ok, except that it was for his wife's care farm and no others were asked. A representative of another political party asked Janny if we had been approached... "no, never heard of it". "Aha, I know enough", came the reply.
Having been exposed, the councillor has stepped down but the "inquiry" continues. I don't know how they work here, but my first question would be "who said yes and why"? (that's two questions). We shall see....
One of our volunteers made the observation" how do they think they can get away with it in this day and age"?.

Our request (Local Council request for us to house refugees) in the local newspaper....

This gives people a certain amount of time to object (and/or) complain.... but at least the wheels are moving.....

Ours is Wijnjewoude - 2 apartments in a Groups Accommodation to be used as temporary housing of "status holders" (i.e. refugees who have achieved resident status in the process) - the "families" part was our request so that we didn't have a whole lot of young people - and it might soften any objections that people might have. The idea is that (hopefully) permanent housing will become available (in our local government area) very soon; and that we will have a turnover of people going through our place. So, only having 2 families means that only 2 houses have to be "found" in the first instance. Public housing vs private or free market is very complex here.... I confess that I have no idea how it works. I hear snippets about "Housing Corporations", for example, but what they actually do......? Then there is the matter of "assistance" - one of our residents was able to claim a benefit that was actually more than what was paid to us in rent. We also had someone come out and measure up one of the apartments to see if it satisfied requirements - ie that it was totally independent and that we weren't rorting the system by living together and still getting single benefits.

(My To Do List just got much BIGGER).

Toilets and other unsavoury matters

From the newspaper:

Groningen hospital are working on a smartphone app for people to test their own faeces. It can be added to a fluid, mixed and then applied to special paper which is then tested with the app.

More than 20 years ago, when I first came here, I was bemused by the toilets with "inspection" surfaces. They seemed to be old-fashioned - we still have quite a few of them here. I have often wondered if the Dutch mastery of water had something to do with it - ie is it more efficient to have the water flowing over the surface for cleaning, for example? I'm having trouble describing it, so maybe a photo will help.... aha! I've even discovered what they are called! a "vlakspoeler" or "surface flusher". (after all these years).

 a "vlakspoeler"

Now, on a serious note. We have to provide two toilets in the new apartment; by special request from Janny's parents, there will be a "vlakspoeler" in the en-suite, for inspection (health) purposes. So, I have been put in my place after all my years of derisory comments about "inspection" WC's.

More from the newspaper 

Mata Hari (from Leeuwarden) jewellery to go on auction in Amsterdam.  Since 1922 it has been "on temporary consignment".  It was originally paid by Mata Hari to an artist who painted her portrait.

Refugees

2015     58,880 people sought asylum in the Netherlands. almost twice as many as 2014. Of those from 2015,  27,700 came from Syria and 8,400 from Eritrea..
Almost a quarter of the requests have come from the Balkans: Albania, Serbia, Kosovo. All seen as "safe" countries by the Netherlands, as are Morocco and Mongolia which are also represented. The requests from "safe" countries will more than likely be rejected.

And more of Ben...

Another modelling job at Wijk aan Zee.  "Neighbourhood on the Sea". (my rough translation)

Seems to be so much more running through my mind... but it IS Sunday morning so that's it for this week!
Oh, there was something - a tragedy in the village. The eldest son of 6 kids killed himself in a motorbike accident. A broken family, with Mum living in Canada with some of the other kids. My reason for including it here is just to make the observation that it is so noticeable in a small village how the people gather around in support. Counselling for kids in his "group", the Church, mourning and arrangements to be made - Mum and a couple of the kids will be staying at our place until the funeral on Tuesday. I mentioned to son Paul - who tells me that there have been more than 25 motorcycle deaths in Victoria alone in January and February this year.

Week 10

Week 10

Photos

Chocolate Ripple Cake

OK, OK...... it's only because I can't get anything like Chocolate Ripple Biscuits..... and the daywork clients loved it...as did the tiler!

Building Works

New fascia boards for rear wall...under the thatch

New tiles in WC. Note the built in reservoir (behind the yellow square). If it ever starts leaking, then the the tiles and timber work will have to be removed.... seems like asking for trouble, to me.

The Technical Installation Complete

They even included two TV cables - one for the lounge room and one for the bedroom.

Decorative "weather boards" going on..... this section of the paving has to be lowered. I'm enjoying doing this... not least because of the huge cost savings!......just takes me a bit longer.

Odd Spot

I noticed that the inventor of email died this week. He was responsible for the @ symbol - which to English speakers makes sense as "soandso "at" xyz.au" for example. BUT, here, they don't recognise it as "at" but rather as a "monkey's tail " so an email address is spoken as "soandso "monkey's tail" xyz.au".
.

Some things just take a while....

There has been an old TV antenna on the rear wall since we moved in... always in the "too hard basket" to remove it. We even did the new thatched roof around it.......!

So, 19 years and 2 hours later.... and a few anxious moments with the angle grinder...

An owl in the garage.... maybe

We have lots of owls around here. Janny found one in the garage when she came home one night last week. Might be nice to have if it decides to nest. It made me think of a project Ben did when he was at Primary School.

We all learned quite a bit in the process. In the photo above, you can see an "uilenbord" (Owl Board), the triangular shape at the top of the roof. These are of Frisian origin and come in different styles for different regions of Friesland. We had to choose the right one for our region - not that I had ever noticed any difference. Ours is purely decorative, but they were originally made with a round hole in them (the white circle in ours) for owls to fly into the roof area. They kept the mice population under control in the barn - even at our place the rear section (thatched) used to be the barn, attached to the small house at the front.

Ben to Hong Kong

Confirmed.... to Hong Kong Baptist University. Coincidentally (or not), a couple of his very good friends will be there at the same time, although in different places.

https://www.facebook.com/HongKongBaptistUniversity/

Ben has also signed up with a German Modelling Agency..

http://www.spinmodelmanagement.com/de/men.html

If you scroll down and then click on Ben's photo.....then comes more Ben.

This photo was used in Ben's School Newspaper....

IKEA kitchen ordered.

Only about 4 weeks before Janny's parents move in. Lots of little things to finish off... and a few BIG things, like sorting out the new driveway and paving.

Week 9

Week 9

Photos

Sunday Walk with Zoey

My usual spot but at 0720hrs (out for a walk).

A new website...

My webhosting people sent me an email about a month ago, saying that PHP 5 was going to be upgraded to PHP 6 and that our website would (probably) have to be updated.

I tried not to think about it even though they sent me several reminders; I mean, I've had enough to think of lately...

The time came and went and I finally checked the site and sure enough, the photos were also giving up error messages. I've no idea what else was wrong. We set it up in 2009 with help from a friend who was in to that sort of thing as a part-time hobby with income. I could barely keep up with it and actually got "inside" probably only twice to update some information. Ben last updated the "NEWS" in 2013! One of the biggest problems for me is getting "in" after wrestling with the computer and then not knowing what to write in any case! (it has to be in Dutch).

A good website is obviously good for business these days and so I finally accepted that I might have to do something...... At a rough estimate, I'm about 16 hours into learning the whole thing over again! I'm counting on Ben being able to translate for me and on being able to post photos now and then - of the articles for sale from our Fair Trade Shop and things made by the clients..... we shall see....

PHP, Xampp, Winampp, SQL, FTP, databases, servers and a raft of other unknown quantities. Our last site was built on Joomla, but this time I'm trying WordPress - both Content Management Systems - it seems more orientated towards blogging (which we don't need) but I think I can set up a "static" page which will be our new web page. As much as I hate the thought of it, Facebook is probably something that can also be used as a business thing..... have to psych myself up for that, too.

A temporary database - and a first attempt.... another 3 hours later.
(this will change until I find a "theme" that does the things I'd like).

wp.detwabuken.nl

.....a long way to go yet, but every successful step seems like a major victory. Only trouble is, I'll be sure to have forgotten by the next time I'll have to do something.

Thursday

Wow, what a lot of running around - my mobile phone record shows that I did 10.5 kms - just around here. I knew I was racking them up. We had the tiler, plasterer, foreman here plus Thomas (school holidays), dayworkers, personnel and an uncle of our Forest Dweller.... and I walked next door to feed their animals! I was looking for my bed by the end of the day! The plasterer's name is Mr Haverchat; I think I got his life story in 5 minutes! But a nice bloke and his work was excellent, so good in fact that we'll be getting him back to do some more work; which will save me some prep work for the painting.
Friday: even more - 11.5kms, but somehow not as tiring.

Preparation for "spak" to be sprayed on the ceilings

The "family" concrete mixer - we've been using it for 19 years.... and it still works! - this time for the tiler.

Crikey, the bureaucratic dance continues....

Re the refugees; the Local Council asked Janny to write a submission to yet another Govt. agency about our needing/wanting changes to allow them to live at our place, albeit temporarily. Janny went cross-eyed for a couple of days and then rang them to say  "YOU (the Council) asked us if we could house them and we said YES and yet WE have to write officialese letters.....?". To be fair, the chap from the Council is coming to our place so that he and Janny can write the letter (and/or fill in the on-line forms). He also said that this is the first time for him, too. So, we wait.......
Edit:  Well, I have to admit I was wrong to be so cynical. Yes, there is another Govt. Dept. but the requests get channeled to the respective Local Councils and our visitor was "our" man. He has been around for a while and has dealt with our permits over the years. He has also dealt with the new "digital" applications for a while now, but had never seen what people have to go through in order to fill them out on line. So, not only did it help us; it gave him an insight from 'the other side". A lovely chap and very helpful.
A couple of things occur to me. That the system is so expertly digitized and nationwide, at that. Janny even had to log in as a "private" citizen with her own (National) Digital ID (I had to register for one as well so that I could get my pension). That it still gets dealt with locally where there is still an (ever diminishing) chance of speaking to a "real" person.
I was also reminded of my old Fire Protection days when it was possible to devise systems that satisfied the intent of the regulations. Pre-programmed Computers won't be able to do that, I suppose. And the "real" people are becoming less empowered to make decisions.

Workers under pressure (from the newspaper)

A survey of 46,000 employees.

Architects, builders, packers, teachers; workers from all sectors.

Despite the economic recovery, workers are experiencing difficult times; longer hours, more pressure to perform, uncertainties about pensions, inability to pay bills, fear of losing their job.

The survey has been recognised as being "valid". A Tilburg University Professor (Work, Health and Well-being) says that the results show a good reflection of the type of economy we have become. Salary growth is slow and poverty is on the rise. We are working intensively but "there should be boundaries". The Professor says we should examine the relationship between high work pressure and "Burn Out, heart problems and depression". The line has to be drawn between "nice and busy" and "unhappy".

Some of my own work

Speaking of which; less stressful than most of the other stuff...

From this....(the red hot water pipe goes to our new bathroom....when I get around to it!).

To this

I also have more work to do in continuing the black weatherboards to the rear of the existing house..... I just need it to stop bloody raining!!

Decisions, decisions...

We have been "caring" for a young boy almost full time for a few months now. His parents came to the end of their abilities and in consultation with various responsible people, they decided that he should live in institutionalised care. This was to be another Care Farm like ours but with a full time residential function; BUT they have now said that the financial package is insufficient - Local Govt. have only recently taken over the management/payment role and are trying to do it as cheaply as possible - almost to the point of "cheap and nasty". So, the new people are making a statement, but in the meantime poor Thomas is left in the lurch; he can't help but feel unwanted and unloved. Not that he knows about this latest development, but we now have to continue with our "temporary" solution until something is resolved. (This also costs us money if we employ personnel and is very tiring if we do it ourselves; but we have done it for Thomas as he has been one of "ours" for a few years now). Difficult......

Week 8

Week 8

Building Works (Not much else happening, really)

A new roof! Could have been thatch or tiles but I rather liked the idea of corrugated iron - a much more familiar building material in Australia than here. In fact, over the 20 plus years of living here, I don't think I have ever seen a house with it. Our own old hay shed at the back has it and I think I have seen only a handful of other (out) buildings with it. Strangely, the most common question so far has been "what about the noise"?. (ie. of the rain, presumably). I'm pretty sure it won't bother me - even if I could hear it!

Our fake poles made waterproof. Traditionally, the four corner poles support the basic construction of a hay shed - with a "floating" roof in some cases. A wooden "condom", for want of a better word, will slide over the top, to give the same appearance as the fake pole underneath the roof line.

And the end result.....

Who knows what you might find.....?

The rainwater down pipes have to be connected to this. While we're at it, I'll be trying to connect a few other things that should have been connected 20 (or more? ) years ago... I'm definitely getting too old for this !!. Some of the old pipes were made of asbestos (see later).

And the end result...

2024 Asbestos Legislation

As I understand it (always a proviso with me), there is legislation declaring that by 2024 "asbestos is illegal if it is still in use" - or words to that effect. All of the farms around here and presumably throughout the Netherlands have huge roof areas of asbestos. Apparently, farmers will get some assistance (along with all their other subsidies) to replace it. Ours is an ex-farm and therefore doesn't rate the same assistance. One estimate for the whole of the country is in the order of €20 Billion with subsidies "for the private sector"(us) at €295Million this year.  A few people I have spoken to, have said that they "simply don't (or won't ) have the money so "what are "they" (the authorities) going to do"? A bit more worrisome in our case, as the removal of the "Certificate of Occupancy" would be the end of the matter, business-wise.

Automobile, the Cash Cow (apologies in advance for the heavy reading)

A while ago, I bemoaned the very existence of the Special Private Automobile Tax (BPM). In fact, I've been bemoaning it for more than 20 years, more in terms of "why do people just shrug their shoulders and accept it"? Cost of car + 45% and THEN BTW (GST, VAT) on TOP of that! (at 21.5% and the only country in the EU that has it. 

I've been reading up on it a bit and it now seems a bit different.

The EU told the Netherlands that they had to remove it in order to be in line with the rest of the EU (Again, my limited understanding).

If you are liable for the payment of bpm the level of the bpm amount is:

for a passenger car determined by the CO2 emission of the passenger car in grams per kilometre. 

For a delivery van, campervan and motorcycle determined by the net list price.

Just quickly, for a petrol car with emissions of 140 gms/kilometre, the BPM is €6728 (remember before GST is calculated).
But that's not all....

The Diesel Surcharge

The Government site gives an example based on a diesel car with emissions of 200gms/km ie, more than the example for petrol, above.

So, in this case the Diesel Surcharge is €11,495 ON TOP of the amount calculated for a petrol car with the same emmissions!!

So there it is; around €19000 extra before GST is calculated.

But, it's all in a good cause, right? reducing pollution....?

Now, in the aftermath of the Volkswagen scandal, someone here has taken what I can only describe as an "enlightened" view of this imposition. (BTW, that's why the Volkswagen thing is so important here, because of the tax revenue that the Government has missed out on).

Again, in my own words and with my own probably limited understanding of it, the new argument goes like this. IF the Government is truly committed to reducing pollution then wouldn't it make sense to make cars more affordable for "normal" people and so have everyone driving vehicles which produce less pollution? Hand in hand with this could be increased road taxes (yes, there is that as well!!) for vehicles over say, three years old.

Manure, another quirky tax thing

Owning a Milk Quota was always a big deal, particularly around here, the home of the Frisian Cow, after all. Dairy Farmers could only produce according to their Quota; such is the way of producing milk. With totally NO research whatsover, I can only relate what has happened in Janny's family. One of the brothers had a fairly large Quota which he sold (for a considerable amount of money) in order to become a Chicken Farmer. They now produce more than 30,000 eggs per day! 

For the past 31 years, the European Union has had quotas, or limits, on how much milk farmers can produce.

The rules were put in place so farmers wouldn't make too much but would also get a fair price.

But now those quotas have been lifted so with no limits farmers are being allowed to produce as much milk as they want.

At this point I did do a little research but couldn't find what I was looking for - and that is that, in the Netherlands at least, there is (what amounts to) a tax on how much manure can be disposed of. We're actually storing some for a nephew; it helps that we can be on his list.

I obviously need to do some more work on this, but my first thought was, yeah, that'd be right..."if they don't get you one way (paying for the Quota) they'll get you another  (paying for the manure)".

On Ben...

Much better to finish on a brighter note.... it looks like Ben is planning to go to Hong Kong for some of his further studies. He has found it extremely difficult to get back in to study mode after his work experience and living in Amsterdam. Understandable, I guess.....