Week 42
The Adult Day Care Centre - an Audit
My heading this week is plagiarised from a Podcast that I listen to regularly - I think I have about 20 regulars - it was about events in another place that would be bordering on the comical if they didn't have such serious consequences even here in sleepy Wijnjewoude.
On a less controversial note, it made me think of what we do here - we too run an Adult Day Care Centre, so there!
The Quality Hallmark Audit
Last Thursday, we had a woman come along to audit our premises - from top to bottom, including the paperwork. 3 years ago we had the same thing done by an older chap (at least as old as me! - I forget that sometimes) - he turned the place upside down for about 6 hours, slept at the local hotel restaurant and came back the next morning!
Janny was expecting more of the same this year and had been working with one of our qualified employees to get everything up to scratch. I was tasked with outside stuff - cleaning up, basically - and Fire and Safety issues, of course.
In the word "zorgboerderijen" - the base is the word "boer" which means "farmer", "boerderij" becomes "farm", "zorg" means "care" and the "en" makes it plural.
Thursdays are always our busiest days and so it was good to see it all in action. One of our clients gave the "guided tour" whilst having a talk about "how things are" for a client.
Suffice to say that it all went well and Janny was palpably relieved! Although I am happy to go on record to say that my scones with our morning coffee probably sealed the deal!
The woman pointed out a few things that we can improve on and she actually commented on the good atmosphere and enjoyable working environment. Some farmers only do it for the money as an adjunct to their farming work. For us, it is "what we do". One interesting note was that the rules become even more demanding if we have more than 25 clients - currently on 19. We probably couldn't handle any more than 25 without employing somebody full time - and that is another can of worms!
More on Trees "Crossing the Road"
As part of a safety campaign, many roads with trees are being considered for changes, ie removing the trees. Needless to say, many people are up in arms to think that "our" trees might go. The research has been done and somehow or other Janny ended up with a huge roll of drawings depicting the trees.
I've (very) roughly drawn our place in - the dots and squares representing the trees along our stretch. All the squares represent trees which are closer than 80cm from the road surface and theoretically should go. The darker dots are classified as "old" - not sure how old. The smaller dots on the right are beech trees planted about 8 years ago - alongside the cycling path. They were fairly big when planted so they might be, say 15 years old. In the 5km stretch of road between Wijnjewoude and Bakkeveen, there are 8 trees classified as sick and these will be removed. There are a couple of places where it feels uncomfortable to be so close to the trees when passing an oncoming car. In my opinion, these should be removed. The speed limit is 60 - this could be lowered. Many trucks use the road as a bypass - these could also be restricted. In any case, an interesting process to see what they come up with after consulting everyone and their dog. Any new trees will be beech, as they grow more quickly than the oaks.
Grab your agenda: 52 tell-tale signs you’ve gone Dutch
This might be a bit of a read, but I had a chuckle at so many of them. Lifted from http://www.dutchnews.nl , where I find lots of interesting and entertaining stuff. "I am expat" is also a good source, as are many of the Government sites (in English!).
You complain about the number of tourists in Amsterdam
You complain about the way tourists ride their bikes
You’ve learned to cycle while carrying an umbrella
You’ve learned to cycle in the snow
You no longer wait at red lights on your bike, or wear a helmet
You drop Dutch words like lekker, borrel and gemeente into English conversation
You start calling your diary an agenda and keeping it meticulously
Bar staff and shop assistants have stopped replying to you in English(they still switch to English for me - saves them having to listen to my Dutch).
You correct visitors on the pronunciation of Utrecht, Breda and Maastricht
You complain about expats not learning Dutch (nah)
You arrive at a birthday party and go round the entire circle shaking hands, kissing and congratulating everyone without feeling stupid (the Circle Party from an earlier post)
You own a set of miniature forks for eating birthday cake
You’ve learned to lie to your doctor about how ill you are so they can’t fob you off with paracetamol
As soon as the sun appears you dash out to the nearest pavement cafe
As soon as the sun comes out you wear shorts and flip-flops to work and clock off at lunchtime on Friday to head to the beach
You’ve accepted the absence of Sunday papers
You’ve stopped thinking washing powder was better back home
You’ve given up longing for sweets and snacks from your home country (nah)
You’ve found yourself kissing your non-Dutch friends three times on the cheek
You’ve stopped defending your home country all the time
You refer to political parties, government agencies and football teams by their initials
When people ask where you are from you say: ‘I’m English/French/American/Nigerian but I actually live in…’
If your home country is taking on the Netherlands in a sporting event, you are torn between the two
As soon as the temperature drops below five degrees, you start hoping for the Elfstedentocht
You watch the Tour de France around the telly at work with your colleagues
You get obsessed with collecting stickers for the latest Albert Heijn kitchenware promotion
You have strong feelings about which AH salads are the best
You own a flessenlikker, aardappelstamper, kaasschaaf, poffertjespan and gourmet set
You can use a cheese parer on very old cheese without shredding your fingers
You’ve ordered pancakes in a restaurant without feeling embarrassed
You’ve learned to call a cheese sandwich lunch and eat it with a knife and fork
You call margarine butter
You drink a glass of milk with lunch
You’ve considered having boerenkool and snert for dinner
You can eat a tompoes without getting cream all over the place
You buy raw herring from a fish stall because you like it
You don’t raise an eyebrow if someone only chips in €15 to the common restaurant bill because they only had one glass of wine and no starter
You buy flowers for yourself regularly
You have a birthday calendar in the loo
You have a birthday calendar in the loo and you’ve actually put everyone’s birthdays on it
Trees planted in a neat straight line look natural
You no longer freak out if you see a line of cars parked 5mm from the edge of a canal
You know who Andre Hazes is and can sing along to at least two of his songs
You know that half seven means half-past six and ‘five quarters’ is a normal measure of time
Really long steep staircases feel completely normal
You start saying what you think in an aggressive aggressive way, not just a passive aggressive one
When your boss asks you what you think of something, you give him or her your honest opinion
You stop inventing polite excuses for skipping social engagements and just tell your friends: ‘I don’t feel like coming’
You describe people with an ethnic minority background as allochtonen
You avoid discussions about Zwarte Piet
You no longer wince when your kids say shit and kut! (I still do)
You’ve actually gone the whole hog, signed the participation declaration, sworn your allegiance to King Willem-Alexander, sung the Wilhelmus and claimed your Dutch passport (nah, but I do have the passport - and they can send me home if they want to).
Nicer Cities, Liveable Places
Just a link this time: An Englishman's view of cycling/urban design in the Netherlands. Some good photos and an interesting story from an "outsider". I don't ride a bike much but I'm starting to "get" just how good the system is - I'm sure Ben gets it, living in Amsterdam and thinking nothing of hopping on his bike to get around.
From the Newspaper
- The biggest city/town near us is Drachten. Due to the makeup of the Local Council, there is no Sunday shopping but a proposal to allow production of recreational marijuana is being considered. (I put the two ideas together, not the article).
- 6 arrests in Tilburg re marijuana production. Police were also looking for weapons and other drugs.
- "Trust in the future". New government motto - from the newly formed coalition.
- Smoking. A proposal by the anti-smoking council. Manufacturers should be paying 1% (€40m) into a fund to help addicted smokers. The money to be used for anti-smoking campaigns and to help people trying to kick the habit. (When I first came here 25 years ago, I remember thinking "wow - everybody here is still smoking". Quite significant changes had been taking place in Melbourne and presumably the rest of Australia. It was quite a shock to see that there were no changes in attitude/education here, including quite a few members of Janny's family. Happily, that has changed significantly).
- In the beginning of the week, there was a fire at a potato farm. The fire service arrived but... No water!. A couple of million euros damage, and now a discussion about larger farms being required to provide water for fire-fighting. To my point, we have a ground ball in our front yard. We asked very early on if I could have a standpipe for my own use - knowing full well that I could be in action long before the volunteers arrived. "NO" came the almost deafening reply. Maybe I should ask again. If I recall correctly, I could have rented a metered standpipe if I had a special purpose, but not for my own fire-fighting. We do have hose reels inside, at least. We have also organised a couple of evacuation and fire drills over the years...
Global Competitiveness Report
- According to research from the World Economic Forum (WEF), which rated countries for their global competitiveness, the Netherlands ranks fourth globally and number one in the EU. This is the second year in a row that the Netherlands has come out on top in the EU.
Global Competitiveness Report
The study conducted by the WEF looked at 137 countries and ranked them according to 12 pillars. These pillars are: Institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, good market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation.
According to the Erasmus University, who are partners of the WEF, the Netherlands did well due to its strong foundations in infrastructure, in which it ranked 3/137, just below Hong Kong SAR and Singapore, and macroeconomic policies, for which it took 14th place - eight places higher than the previous year. Infrastructure is especially important in such a densely populated country.
Switzerland, the United States and Singapore beat the Netherlands in the Global Competitiveness Report and took first, second and third place respectively. Ranking just after the Netherlands, in fifth place, was Germany.
Innovation and education in the Netherlands
This year, despite offering excellent higher education, the Netherlands fell one place in the higher education and training ranking. They did, however, climb one place in innovation.
According to Business Studies professor, Henk Volberda, from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands is a frontrunner in terms of implementing the new technologies that constitute the fourth industrial revolution. However, to be able to face the challenges this revolution brings, investment in higher education is essential.
Top 10 most competitive economies globally
The following countries scored in the top 10 of the Global Competitiveness Index:
Switzerland
United States
Singapore
Netherlands
Germany
Hong Kong SAR
Sweden
United Kingdom
Japan
Finland
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