Week 33 Back to Normal (again)
Things I forgot from last week...
Frank lent me a book to read.
The Hunger Winter
Henri A. van der Zee1982
Occupied Holland 1944-1945
About parts of the Netherlands not having enough food towards the end of WWII. Again, very moving. I mentioned it to Janny's Mum. She thinks she may have read it, but in any case she remembers that they always had enough food (10 kids!!) because they were on a dairy farm.
The last paragraph of the book tells of the author's older brother returning (fit and healthy) from Friesland, where he had been sent at the start of the war. The author was aged 10 during that last year.
More reading here...
Language Problems
Having spent a week being able to speak English with friends made me think about language and communication. I found myself speaking Dutch to some French people simply because I knew it couldn't be English! duh!
I found an article by a Portuguese woman, living in Holland and writing in English. It could have been written by me - it wasn't, but it expresses so well the struggle I have had over the years. She is far better at languages - I'm sure it is an ability or aptitude that some people have and some people don't - just like any other.
Things like the absence of friends and family might automatically pop into your mind, or the missing of certain foods, your hometown, the weather, or a type of human warmth very specific to where you come from. Personally, the following sentence immediately banged in my head:
The biggest challenge I face as an expat is the fact that I am not able to express myself the way I could back in Portugal (Australia). When confronted with limitations, one becomes especially aware of how it feels not to have them. And it seems like a miracle to me now how one’s native language flows within. How you effortlessly communicate what you want in your language, the way you want, without giving it much conscious thought.
Meanwhile, back at the farm...
We drove from Le Havre on Monday and on Tuesday we were back in the midst of on-going school holidays.
We might grumble a bit and wilt under pressure, but Janny and I sometimes just have to acknowledge how lucky we are to be doing what we do.
Major Projects
Our Major Projects Department has a few jobs on the go;
Anneke's apartment needs a new roof. Now, the work itself should be easy enough - the hardest part for me will be wrestling through the Local Council Building approval process so that I can replace the old flat roof with good old Aussie corrugated iron.
Complete Outdoor Facilities Block Only about 8 years waiting to finish it off!
A New Bathroom in the Main House (ours!!). With the advent of Janny's parents' apartment, we lost part of our bathroom. So, the new bathroom has also been almost 2 years in the planning!. Luckily, I did do some preparation with drainage and access to hot and cold water, so this too is going to be relatively easy to do!
Janny's IKEA inspiration...the "industrial look". Even I should be able to manage that!
The Compost Toilet for the Boat
Ah, yes, another set of problems to solve! It needs a flue for ventilation - which means cutting a hole in the roof and sealing it against leaks. The flue has a fan which needs 12 volt power. The urine will have to be collected (under the toilet in the wooden boxed-in section - or to the left of the bowl, in which case I'll have to make a new boxed-in section). The urine will then have to be pumped up to the drain pipe on the left (with a non-return valve) - the outside water level is too high to allow for gravity. That's a "thing" with flat bottom boats...
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| 12 volt urine pump |
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| Outside water level is at the black flexible hose |
In doing the research on Compost Toilets (used a bit on privately owned Narrowboats in England), I found some interesting ideas. Including using urine as a fertilizer in the home garden. It's a bit too late for us to start cultivating (oops, sorry) that idea around here. On the boat, all I need is to drain it overboard.
How Much Urine Does One Person Produce?
A range of 6.7 to 182 grams (.23 to 6.4 oz) of nitrogen-containing constituents is excreted by one person in 24 hours. Many studies give the average daily output for a healthy adult at 11 grams.
The average northern European adult produces about 40.6 fluid ounces (1.2 liters) of urine and 20.3 fluid ounces (0.6 liters) of feces daily. In one year, the same person produces 155.8 gallons (589.77 liters) of urine and 57.9 gallons (219.18 l) of feces. Just one person!
Flixbus in Drachten
Last year I mentioned that Drachten was getting a new Bus Depot in conjunction with a new Bus Operator, Flixbus.
Ben and I are planning to go to Hamburg to see the grave of an uncle who was shot down during the war. At €17,00 one-way, it should be OK to try, at least once.
For two people to go to Berlin (& return) it would be €111,00 total - leaving at 2130 hrs and traveling for just over 8 hours - I wonder about sleeping...?
Pam is training for the Berlin Marathon, so maybe, just maybe...
Adventures of Ben
Ben is still working at the Lowlands Music Festival. It has been going for 25 years now. In 1993 the tickets cost 34 Guilders? - this year a ticket costs €175,00 - if you can get one! Ben gets in free, of course!
Ben's "office"... they have a couple of scooters to get around.
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