Week 3 Winter Wonderland

Week 3 

Coming to grips with the end of year bookkeeping! It seems to get harder every year...... I begin to wonder if that might actually be the thing that beats me....? Language barriers really are a problem - I guess it enables me to empathise more easily with our refugees. I also understand and admire how easy it is for some people who have a "gift" for languages, or, as in Ben's case, those people who are raised with more than one language.

At Work

The Eritrean family are moving to a "small" house in Beetsterzwaag, round 9th of February. We have not developed any rapport with them - probably just the language barrier, but they are not the cleanest people we have ever had. The smell is almost overpowering and so it is easy to decline "a cup of coffee". The volunteers say that their other Eritrean families have been extremely clean; maybe this "Mum" just needs a bit more help until she is reunited with her husband. On the other hand, there is not much else to do, so housework would at least be something to keep her busy and focussed.

Winter Wonderland

They even used that term on the National News.


Looking out the door from my office.........




The Freulevijver, trying to ice-over.....

Rime

[mass noun] Frost formed on cold objects by the rapid freezing of water vapour in cloud or fog.
Origin

Old English hrīm, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch rijm. The word became rare in Middle English but was revived in literary use at the end of the 18th century.

We just love the rime on the trees. It lasted for about 3 days this time because there was no wind or sun. I clearly remember discussing the use and meaning of the word with my late brother-in-law Roger, as long ago as 2000ish, when they were here for Christmas.

Skating

Noordlaren, 2017




Every year, there is a "battle for recognition" as to which ice-skating club will hold the first "official" outdoor skating of the year - a marathon event. This year it was Noordlaren, near Groningen. The lead-up to the event made the national TV news and showed the Club "Ice Master" drilling holes and measuring the thickness of the ice - to ensure that the race could go ahead and then later support the hundreds of enthusiasts who would enjoy the ice after the event. The thickness of the ice is obviously important, but these local arenas are all fairly shallow, so no-one would drown if the ice broke through. Just about every village has it's own skating arena.

The 11 Cities (Skating) Race - The Elfstedentocht - is along 200 kms of canals, where the thickness of the ice must be reliable for many thousands of users. This is why there are so many years between races - it has to be colder for much longer - the last was in 1997 and even then truckloads of ice blocks had to be dumped into unreliable spots to help with the freezing.

There have been several warnings on the National News this year that the ice is too thin on the major waterways.

On Mobile Telephones

(from the newspaper)

The Netherlands is "one of the most expensive" countries in the EU for mobile phone users. The average Dutchy uses about 1gb per month, being "scared to go over the limit". Finlanders, for example, use 7 times as much, with "unlimited" bundles. A merger of two of the Netherlands' biggest telecom companies is predicted to result in a "price war" which will be of benefit to the (ripped off) customers. We can only hope......

Infrastructure

(aka Our Taxes at Work)

A couple of weeks ago we went to pick up Ben at Schiphol. It was late evening and the trip home was after midnight, but even then I couldn't help but be impressed with the infrastructure - roads and bridges, mainly - and in some places, they were still working in the middle of the night. Obviously trying to cope with the huge traffic problems in the Randstad - but even in Friesland (an out of the way place in the National consciousness), there is an extraordinary amount of road works and other capital investment. Years in the planning, awarding contracts, employing people, execution and maintenance. I decided to look for information about it - I found one source in English but will have to search again in the Dutch stuff......

The Dutch Govt site, in English, gives a good overview of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. (but I couldn't find any lists of projects).

https://www.government.nl/ministries/ministry-of-infrastructure-and-the-environment

Anyway, this from the "Business Insider" - not sure how "reputable" it is - but it is a painful site with way too much advertising - makes you think they must be desperate - but I found a survey titled "24 countries with better infrastructure than the USA".
Netherlands ranks 1st for both quality of port infrastructure and quality of electricity supply. It ranks within the top 30 for all categories and 10th in the list of 24 countries with better infrastructure than USA - Business Insider.

By way of contradiction, another report places USA at number 8. I think I was alarmed at a figure I heard for required spending in the US. In the Trillions of $$$ - maybe it was just election talk? But if you don't want to pay taxes, then where is the money coming from?

http://www.arcadis.com/media/3/7/E/%7B37E96DF6-82D5-45A6-87D8-5427637E736D%7DAG1015_GIII%202016_ONLINE%20FINAL_SINGLE%20PAGES.pdf

Winter Tyres

(ha!. I nearly wrote Winter Tires - yes it does!)

We needed new tyres, so we've put on Winter Tyres - which really do make a difference - they are compulsory in Germany. The down-side is that we will have to buy a new set of "normal" tyres before too long.

By way of explanation - from nearly 100 years ago

Don't bother with this if you're not that much caring about politics. I found it really interesting that the Italian Vilfredo Pareto put into words something that we can see happening now - almost 100 years later.
Here in Europe, the Right Wing seems to be gaining ground in many countries - not quite as alarming as the Tea Party - yet. Oh well, we wait and see.....


http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2017/01/why-elites-always-rule

The (new) Boat

Really pleased with the quality of the work....

Scaling Ladder Drill

Looking for a place to put the bikes - without damaging the new paint!














...and where the boat would have been, back in the (icy) water....







Other boats "on the wall" for winter storage...