Week 52 The Christmas Edition

Happy Christmas to all! (I'm not liberated enough to be calling it Happy Holidays). Enjoy your families and all that that implies.

And a Happy New Year

My cards have a story behind them. There is a young chap in our village who has been written out of the normal workforce. It's one of those jargon things... Janny says "oh yeah, he has a WAJONG uitkering" - and I'm supposed to know what it means... (So, I have now looked it up and even the information page is so full of jargon and acronyms that it is extremely difficult to follow).

WAJONG comes under the UWV and is related to WW, WIA, WAO, WAZ, Wazo en Ziektewet.

UWV stands for 

Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen... so no wonder they like to use acronyms!

As for WAJONG - I have read through pages of information but have yet to find what it actually stands for! 

Google Translate gives this...

What is Wajong?

Do you have a disease or handicap from an early age so that you can not work? Then you may receive a Wajong benefit from UWV. This is arranged through the Wajong. The Wajong applies to people aged 18 or older. You are therefore not eligible for a Wajong benefit before your 18th.

This makes my story unnecessarily long, but the young chap is coming to us as a "volunteer". We think we might be able to "employ" him under the WAJONG system - we would get subsidised and he enters the workforce albeit in a limited capacity. Again one of those "system" things that would be of benefit to all concerned. (We have already seen that it has been good for him - just to have some routine and more importantly some social interaction).

And, finally to the point. The young man had some packets of old-fashioned Christmas Cards and brought them to us.

(Janny's Mum had her 85th Birthday on Thursday - we had the family get together at our place - out the back)

Ben took a great photo in Amsterdam during the week. We're heading down there on Monday - just for a night, and then back to work on Wednesday!

My extra $2000...

(found in my SPAM mailbox) I suspect that there may have been more truth to be found in the 5 pictures and 3 videos from Emma! 

A Canada Connection...

Friesland was "liberated" by Canadian forces at the end of WWII. Over the years, I have imagined that there has been and still is, a fondness for Canada and Canadians. Some marriages, emigration and other stories here and there.

I had this thought when I read about a bridge between Canada and the USA having to be funded totally by the Canadians, due to lack of infrastructure funds being available below the border.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/07/canada-america-taxes/533847/

As I have written previously, the infrastructure spending here in the Netherlands is pretty amazing. Mainly my own limited personal observation, but then reinforced by further reading. The article above refers to Canada seemingly having the same philosophy.

For Canadians, it’s more transactional: You pay your taxes, you get your government.

I included that quote from the article purely on the basis that it could well be a quote from here. It is also fair to say that it has taken me a while to come around to this way of thinking. The cost of buying and then owning a car remains a pernicious bugbear, but for the rest, it certainly seems fairer to all and as far as infrastructure the results are there for all to see.

Now, quite coincidentally, my Man In France sent me a link to a story which also mentions the Canadians at the end of WWII. It seems that the Frisian Island of Schiermonnikoog was the last bastion of German forces at the end of the war.


Schiermonnikoog was the last place in the Netherlands to be liberated from the Germans after WWII. It took until June 11 to free the Dutch island. Why? The Canadians simply didn’t have time to free the island before that.
During the War, the German Army heavily fortified the island as part of the Atlantic Wall defence line, and the number of German troops came to equal the island’s native population of 600. Towards the end of the war, hundreds of SS troops, along with members of the SD, fled to the island, reinforcing the German contingent already there.

There's even a very small place called Canada on the edge of Friesland and Drenthe.

From the newspaper...

(gasp, it was Thursday before I even had time to read the newspaper this week).

DNA Search finds killer after 25 years

DNA samples indicated that the killer was almost certainly a man of Turkish origin. This year police asked 133 men from Zaandam’s Turkish community to volunteer their DNA for comparison, 126 of whom agreed, several could not be traced and two refused.
A 19-year-old girl was killed and it turned out to be one of the two men who refused the DNA testing.

The Economy Growth

For 2018 predicted 3.1%
Taxes (all forms) totaling about 39%
Wages increasing by 1.6% to 2.2%
Inflation about 1.6%

Beer Prices (always a good economic indicator)

The Hospitality sector is not happy about beer prices imposed by beer manufacturers (who often subsidise or in other ways have a controlling influence on individual businesses).

Beer price up 3 - 4 % (35% in. 10 years)  3 times more than in supermarkets.
A glass of beer this year from 1.41 to 2.43 in a pub.
Litre price in supermarkets from 1.29 to 1.49 in the same period.
In addition to beer prices, rents and council rates are up and BTW (GST) and personnel costs are also up.


Truck Drivers Sleeping in Cabins

Truck drivers are no longer allowed (or required) to sleep in the cabins as part of their official rest time. This is mainly aimed at east European drivers who are paid a pittance and have to make extraordinarily long hours.

No Smoking at Drug Addiction Clinics

No smoking at drug addiction clinics - with the question "why haven't we done this earlier"? Smoking is just another addiction after all.
Clients come for Alcohol, cannabis, hard drugs, GHB, gambling and yes, sex addictions. Workers may also not smoke.
(Estimated 20000 deaths per year directly related to smoking).

Who knew? The OECD has a Regional Well-Being Index

(I think I was looking at taxes in OECD Countries, but soon got side-tracked).

https://www.oecdregionalwellbeing.org/index.html

When the trees are dying...

they look like this - the trees are already dead, in fact. Luckily, the fungus doesn't attack the healthy trees.

Saturday's Walk...over the heath

Lastly, restoring an old windmill in Drachten... (a proposal).

This is the new haven in Drachten. To the right of the photo is a new restaurant, on the site of an old windmill. The owners have a proposal to restore it.

Meanwhile, the Oligarchy rolls on...it's much, much better than a Netflix series...