Here I am again at my old station typing on my trusty Toshiba Satellite laptop as of old. In the mean time I visited my family in the Netherlands for six weeks since early August and returned from there last Saturday a week ago.
It took me a week to acclimatise after this wonderful visit in which I met with my siblings as well as their middle aged children and most of their children. My sister Els and I are the matriarch and patriarch of this band of about twenty family members.
Every where I went I was welcomed with open arms, while Els made me a home away from home in a most generous way.
Every where I went I was welcomed with open arms, while Els made me a home away from home in a most generous way. [Interruption for initiating a new back up DVD titled 2014-09-29. The previous one was from 2012-07-20!] We shared our daily lives most of all, but this was accentuated with many visits of and by family, friends and the required shopping trips!
My hundreds of pictures tell the tale and I have made a preliminary collection that I intend to prepare for a posting on my web site.
Using my Asus tablet computer I posted some Dutch language entries on my web site. Asus is a very popular computer make in Holland and I saw many different models. Mine worked just fine and I even managed to connect it to my sister Els’ flat screen with my micro HD-TV cable to display my slides from over here.
My flights both ways were acceptable considering that they were the charter type, but I may not do this again and spend I bit more on comfort at my age. Coming back I had to ship a box of ten kilograms by air, since I still had ‘stuff’ from my last extended visit of 1999 to 2003. That box arrived in one week‘s time flat, impressive, but was not extravagant considering the sixty euros shipping cost!
During my visit the were several things took me by surprise. One was the disappearance of the train and bus tickets, which had been replaced by an electronic ‘chip-card’ based system, which functioned as a prepaid travel debit card for train and bus trips.
A second surprise was the great variety in bike designs that are now common compared to 2003 when I last visited. Also the popularity of electric bikes was unexpected compared to their spares presence over here. And then there are the phenomenon of the ‘bak-fiets’ or ‘box-bike’. It is a big three wheeler with a big box up front in which the kids sit while Mom or Dad propel - often power assisted - the contraption. I took some pictures and managed a movie clip!
In society the talk was still about the impact of the 2008 financial crisis and its after effects. These were evident in a high unemployment, a sluggish housing market and quite a few empty stores. However, my siblings who are all retired now appeared to fare well and did not seem to go short of any thing that I could notice.
In the public opinion I noted that there are more activities and reports of a dialogue that has come about, which was absent during the years I was in my old country from 1999 to 2003. Back then, the attitude was that the newcomer had to do all the adjusting to become a good and worthy citizen.
Now, there is appreciation that this adjustment process requires give and take from both parties, and that the new comers also add to the existing society’s forms and values. Even the Prime Minister Rutte, voiced this sentiment publicly around mid September, with the NRC daily ‘accusing’ him of possible ‘statesmanship’!
It is 10:10am and time to end this first report. I still have to do the editing and the markup, both routines that will need some refreshing! 10:40 edited.