2025 doesn’t seem to have gone well with the world, and I suspect that 2026 will not be an improvement. Nevertheless:
Category: Events
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Merry Christmas
As I blogged previously, Watson started to lose strength in his back legs in April. By mid-May he was finding it difficult to stay upright.
His quality of life reduced to the point where we decided that he had reached his final destination and called the vet. She came and with gentle care put him to sleep. He was almost 15, which for a Labrador is a good age.
We said that we wouldn’t think about getting another dog for at least 6 months. However, it turns out that both Martin and I were scanning the web secretly, and Martin came across Ollie, an 8-year-old rescue dog. We decided to adopt him, and he has been settling into his new home for the past two months. Here he is…
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Merry Christmas
It feels a bit strange to be saying this with all that’s going on in this sorry world, but:
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Time Flies…
We can’t quite believe it, but a couple of days ago (the 12th June) marked 25 years since we were married – our Silver Wedding Anniversary. Time is passing far too fast these days.
We celebrated the fact last weekend by inviting friends to join us for dinner at the Hotel Heerlyckheid in Bredevoort. We had packed our dog, Watson, off to the local kennels for an overnight stay so that we could do the same at the hotel.
The evening was a great success, and thanks go to the staff and the chef at the hotel for making it so.
Somehow, given both our ages, I doubt that we will make it to the Golden Wedding, but we can look back on this with pride and satisfaction that a significant milestone was reached.
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Up, Up and Away
Our neighbours took a balloon trip the other evening. The balloon was launched from their field, next to ours, and they took some photos of our house and garden…
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Celebrating Hetty
One of the pleasant things about living in the Dutch countryside is that we get to participate in traditions that are non-existent or being eclipsed in cities. One such tradition is Noaberschap (neighbourliness). Martin and I are the Noaste Noabers (closest neighbours) of Herman and José. This means that we are responsible for organising the rest of Herman and José’s neighbourhood (Buurt) in times of celebration or need.
Herman is a dairy farmer, and last month one of his cows, Hetty 176, reached a milestone. In her 14 years of life, she has produced 132,000 litres of milk and 10,000 Kg of fat and protein. That, coupled with the fact that the farm has been in existence for 101 years, meant that it was clearly time for a celebration. So last Friday evening, the Buurt gathered in a neighbour’s barn, and we decorated an arch with greenery and paper flowers (red, white, and blue, the colours of the Dutch flag). Late in the evening we took the arch round to Herman and José’s and erected it in front of the entrance to their barn.
Yesterday, the Buurt, together with Herman and José’s family, friends and farming colleagues, met in the barn to celebrate Hetty’s achievement. There were representatives from CRV (a Dutch cattle herd improvement company) to present a ribbon to Hetty and a certificate to Herman. Martin and I, on behalf of the Buurt, put a laurel wreath on Hetty, and presented gifts from the Buurt to Herman and José. More speeches followed, including an emotional one from José, who reminded us that farmers do not have an easy life, and that good farmers care about their animals above and beyond the call of duty. José is very proud of Herman, and rightly so.
The afternoon was rounded off by a meal at a nearby restaurant hosted by Herman and José. A very good day.
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Horse Driving Trials
The local horse and carriage club held its annual horse driving trials (samengestelde menwenstrijd in Dutch) last weekend. On the Sunday, the Marathon was held, and I went along to take photographs at one of the sets of obstacles near our house. The full set of my photos is up on Flickr, but here’s a taster:
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First Day Out
Our neighbour has a herd of dairy cattle. During the winter, they are kept indoors, but come the spring, they are let out to graze in his fields. Today was the first time they were let out this year, and you can see from the videos that they are pleased to be out in the fields. In the second video, near the start, if you watch it fullscreen, you can just see a couple of hares running to avoid getting trampled on by a cow weighing 500 kg.
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Season’s Greetings
We’re nearing the end of another year here in the Witte Wand farmhouse. For the most part, it’s been a good year, with happy memories; however, there have been a couple of bumps along the way. We lost a member of the family at far too young an age, and in June, Martin suffered a slight stroke. I’m happy to report that he has made an amazing recovery, and is practically back to his normal self.
We hope that you and yours have a peaceful Yule, and that 2014 will be a good year.
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Abraham And Sarah
Here in the Netherlands, there’s a tradition that when someone reaches the age of 50, they are said to be an Abraham (if they’re a man) or a Sarah (if they’re a woman).
And in this part of the Netherlands, that is often marked by friends and neighbours installing an appropriately (or inappropriately) dressed mannequin outside the celebrant’s house.
Last Wednesday, one of our neighbours reached his 50th, so late on Tuesday night his garden was invaded by a series of groups each installing their own version of an Abraham and accompanying signs and decorations. This was the scene the following morning…
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Canal Parade 2013: Flyboarding and More
I didn’t make the trip to Amsterdam this year for the annual Canal Parade, but by all accounts, it was a great success. The Armed Forces had a boat in the Parade, and the Minister of Defense was on board with five of her Generals. The Minister for Emancipation (from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science) also had her own boat and she was also taking part. The Parade was opened by two Flyboarding cowboys – something I’ve not seen before…
I have to say that the trick of flying through the air into the water and back out again looks pretty spectacular…
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It’s NOT a Coronation!
It’s been a momentous day here in the small country of The Netherlands. This morning, at 10:10, Queen Beatrix signed the document that confirmed that she has abdicated in favour of her eldest son, Willem-Alexander, who has now become King. The first Dutch King since the 19th Century.
This signing took place in the Dam Palace, which started out life as the Amsterdam City Hall in the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th Century.
Now, I’m no monarchist, but I was moved by the day’s events. Right from the moment that Queen Beatrix announced she welcomed everyone to the ceremony, and the roar of approval from the crowd outside in the Dam Square brought a smile to her face as she realised that the Dutch people were watching and supporting this move.
Not that Beatrix has been a bad Queen. Far from it. She has become beloved by us in a way that could only have been dreamed of when she became Queen in 1980. Then, there were protests and smoke bombs in the Dam.
Following the signing of the Abdication document, this afternoon was the inauguration of the new King. I found it almost astonishing.
I grew up in the United Kingdom, where the British Monarchy is seen as something established by God. There is a Coronation, where the crown is placed on the head of the new monarch by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Religion and Monarchy are completely intertwined.
In stark contrast, here in The Netherlands, the Monarch is not crowned. Instead, King Willem-Alexander was inaugurated in a ceremony that involved the State – not the Church.
The King pledged his allegiance to the democratic process, and affirmed his responsibilities to the citizens. He made a good, and thoughtful speech, honouring the service of his mother, and promising that he would do his best for the Dutch citizens and the State. In return, the State, in the form of the members of the Dutch parliament, signalled their assent to his assumption of the role of king. And they did that individually – each standing when their name was called, and either swearing by God, or a simple “I promise”. It was interesting to see how many members did not invoke God. Another indication of how secular the Netherlands is, and how the United Kingdom still is not.
King Willem-Alexander pledged his allegiance in front of symbols of the State – the books of the Law of the Land – as well as symbols of his own status, the crown, sceptre and orb. He also had five representatives of the Dutch people present to bear witness, and to bear symbols of the importance of the citizen to Dutch society. They were his “Koningwapenen”, or Kings of Arms. One of them was André Kuipers, Dutch physician and astronaut.
As I say, I was moved. The importance of ritual to humans is unmissable, and touches something deep within us.
I wish Willem-Alexander, and his very impressive wife, Máxima, all the best in their new roles as King and Queen of the Netherlands. I think that they will both do well.
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Lichtenvoorde’s Bloemencorso
The nearby town of Lichtenvoorde holds a Bloemencorso, or Flower Parade, every year on the second Sunday in September. For 2012, that was yesterday, and as it was a beautiful sunny day, we went along to watch the parade.
There’s a quite staggering amount of work that goes into making these floats, involving thousands of Dahlia blooms, and the results are spectacular. I took about 400 photos, but unfortunately, my camera lens (a Canon EFS 17-85mm) developed a fault during the parade, so I didn’t capture all of it.
As well as the floats, there are a number of marching bands and theatre groups taking part. First up was a Brazilian dance and percussion group from The Hague:
The children of Lichtenvoorde and the surrounding area have their own section in the parade. These are just a few of the floats (click for larger images):
Then the main floats started to arrive…
Many of the floats had moving parts. This next one is difficult to appreciate in a photograph, but the bison and the hunters both turned in constant motion:
This next one was titled “Water and Fire”:
Then came my personal favourite of the parade – carnivorous plants, complete with black flies in attendance. The plants opened and closed their jaws as they passed:
Keeping with the Nature theme, this next float was titled “Tarantula”:
Followed in turn by a bunch of killer wasps in “Attack”:
This next float was titled “Underground”, and presumably represented a mechanical mole, judging by the “miners” working it:
I’m afraid that it was at this point that my lens began to play up, so I haven’t got good pictures of the last floats. However, I want to make special mention of the “Verpakt” (packaging) float. This represented six Japanese toy dolls in their packaging. The dolls moved as they passed by.
A nice touch was the inclusion of a QR code on the “box”, which takes you to the fake web site of the Go-Kyo toy…
This float won the jury prize.
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A New Arrival
Our nearest neighbours, Herman and José are currently celebrating (and having sleepless nights) because José gave birth to their second child last Tuesday. Her name is Linde.
Yesterday, as is traditional around these parts, we, the neighbours, assembled to erect a stork in the garden to proclaim the arrival of a baby.
Because Linde is a girl, Martin added the princess dress to indicate the fact. He also decorated the entrance to the cattle barn…
The text reads Welkom, Linde, in de Buurt (Welcome, Linde, into the Neighbourhood).
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Litmus Test
Reading the reactions to Danny Boyle’s Olympic Opening Ceremony is something of a litmus test, gauging where the commentator resides on the spectrum from left to right, or from heartfelt to disingenuous.
I have to say that I loved it, although it was so full of cultural references that I will need a second or third viewing to appreciate them all. As Marina Hyde wrote,
…as deliciously indigestible to global tastes as Marmite or jellied eels. I loved it.
Just to make it clear, I am on the opposite end of the spectrum to the tweets from Aidan Burley, and from the blindness of those who did not see the Windrush reference (Ranga Mberi, I’m looking at you).
Overall, I find myself in agreement with Al Weiwei, who compared the machine-like opening of the Beijing games (impressive as it was) with the gentler, more human-scale vision of the London Olympics.
But I have to doff my hat at Marina Hyde’s invention of the term “the global arseoisie”, and her description of them:
For while it was the best of folks, it was also the worst of folks. Gazing stonily down on a parade of athletes, about whose dreams and sacrifices this entire extravaganza is supposed to be, were some absolute shockers. Taking gold in the Biggest Scumbag in the Stadium event was probably the Bahraini prince, on whose directives athletes are reportedly tortured, flanked on the podium by Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and Prince Andrew’s brutal mate from Azerbaijan.
That’s humanity – the best and the worst; thrown together, with mostly the worst in charge…
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Seasons Greetings
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year…
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Hippisch Festijn 2011
Last weekend was the annual horse festival held around here: the Varsseveld Hippisch Festijn. It’s a three-day event, but as usual, I only had time for going along to view a couple of hours of the cross-country event and the horse and carriage event on Sunday morning.
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Amsterdam Canal Parade
Today is the 6th August, 2011, and it’s the day of the annual Canal Parade in Amsterdam. I usually travel the 150 km to Amsterdam and join the 400,000+ onlookers to watch it, but this year I’m staying home. However, my thoughts will be there, in particular for my old colleagues from Shell who will be dancing on the Company Pride boat. Good luck, guys and gals – hope the weather gods smile on you today!
My photos of some of the previous Canal Parades can be found up on Flickr.
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The Buurt’s New Baby
It’s become something of a tradition here in this part of the Netherlands that when a baby is born, the neighbours (the buurt) will celebrate the fact by erecting a wooden stork, festooned with clotheslines of baby clothes.
This week, our nearest neighbours had the birth of their first baby, a boy. Since we are noaste naobers to them, it fell to us to organise the decorations in celebration of the fact. So, together with the other neighbours, we did. Naturally, we had to have the traditional stork:
But Martin thought that we should also push the envelope a bit. Since José and Herman have referred to their new baby as their “little prince” (kleine prins), we thought we’d take them at their word…
Geoff Coupe's Blog 