Only One Day to Go

Week 6

Only One Day to Go

Of our 9 day "Cleansing Diet". No coffee (WHAT??). only 800 kcals per day and a few pills. Oh, and as much broccoli and cauliflower as you can eat. (but, there is only so much that you can eat).

Still managing a few walks in the cold. Zoey even got stuck in the ice...

Days are getting longer, at least.

Around the farm

A bit of a throw back to 20 years ago. Then, I found myself doing a lot of things that I had never done before; pouring concrete, building things, painting, organising and so on. All to get the new business up and running. Cost-wise, it might have been better to demolish the whole place and start again - but that's another story.

This week, our Eritreans left and we found that we had far more work to do than we expected. We've had to throw away 3 couches, rip out and replace two carpets, sand all the furniture and touch up the painting here and there. Luckily, a couple of our clients are fairly handy and enthusiastic about helping. I also had to unblock a drain in the bathroom. The bottom drawer of the cabinet was full of water and the kitchen cupboard doors were water damaged. This led me to seriously consider if they even had tap water back in Eritrea?
It's possible, I suppose.
My "trades" this week: plumber, electrician, carpet layer, cleaner, furniture remover, painter. (It all helped to keep busy so as not to think of food and coffee!).

Footnote: The Local Council are going to pay for some of the repairs. It was also important to pass it on so that they can consider if the family needs even more help.

Our second Syrian family will probably soon be moving to Gorredijk. 

I spotted Dad this week on the bicycle at 0800hrs with the two smallest kids on board, taking them to school - one on a rack at the front and the other on the normal rack at the back. This is not unusual here, although it is mostly the Mums who do it - with the shopping on board as well!

Gemeente Opsterland (Our Local Govt.).

A number of villages in Opsterland were first noted in a list from 1315. (the list looks like it was the basis for deciding to build a church). Wijnjeterp (part of Wijnjewoude) was then known as Weningawalde.

Opsterland was first noted in 1395 - as Upsateraland - which derived from  "sitting upon" - as in living "high" on the sand, above the water! 

The area today is known for its woodlands and forests; apparently, this was not the case 200 - 250 years ago. There are works here and there that have taken the ground back to how it was - grasslands and heath.

Where "our" refugees have ended up.

March 15 Elections

I just did the "Vote Indicator" for our coming elections. What an interesting process! 30 questions which can be noted as Agree, Disagree or Not Either? (I guess that means undecided or no opinion).

Things such as (from memory).....

"we should close the borders to Islamitic refugees"

"individual car ownership should not be taxed, just the kilometres driven"

"the retirement age should be returned to 65"

"small businesses (us) should be taxed less (yay) and rich people should be taxed more"

"kids of refugees (who have grown up here) should be allowed to stay"

"youth should have to do compulsory community service - army, police or "care""

"the tax deduction on housing loan interest should remain"

"people should be able to apply for jobs anonymously, to avoid discrimination based on the applicants' name"

Now, my very first election was in 1972 when I was caught up in the "It's Time" campaign. Interesting to see 45 years later that my "leanings" have not changed that much.

The Stemwijzer goes on to examine each of your questions/answers and details the views of the top 3 of the Parties who "agree" with you. On some questions one or more of the top 3 will hold different views. My top 3 were 75%, 64% and 64%.

To take my mind off the diet.....

I've also been scouring You Tube for boating stuff - surprising number of Aussie boaties over here.

I found a Blog from an American couple who have an old Dutch barge called Hoop Doet Leven or Hope Springs Eternal. They do most of their boating in France. The writing is very entertaining and informative - about French culture and other things.

I'll probably buy their book when my Boat Fund recovers.

If you're interested...

https://onabargeinfrance.com/

Alternative Routes to Limburg (from last week)

Another great find was a Documentary series about England's canal system. The 2nd in the series showed the Caen Hill Flight which we did in 2015 (horrors, wasn't it 2016?)

The Documentary...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhnTY-CYGhM

Our 2015 Trip (again) I had to include this because the documentary explained a lot more for me. Especially the small bit we did.....
http://narrowboatken.blogspot.nl/2015/09/narrow-boat-holiday-2015-once-again.html

Ahh, I finish this now with only half a day to go on the diet. (lost 4 kgs, by the way). Just have to try to live with not so much food for a while.....