As I noted earlier this month, last Tuesday was Prinsejesdag, a day for Dutch royalty and politicians to ride in a carriage through the city centre and then announce the yearly budget. Thanks to corona the ride was cancelled, the events were scaled back and fans were told to stay home. But one top fan who shows up every year ignored the warning to stay home and came anyway:
Marco said he’s a Dutch inventor and a singer (check out his Wikipedia page in Dutch). I say he’s just crazy. But maybe the safe kind of crazy? He took a swimming tube and painted it gold, to signify keeping people a meter and a half away. He also recreated the golden carriage in miniature (check out the article for a better picture of that).
In other news:
- A bridge made of 8,000 beer crates collapses five minutes before the world record, held by nearby TU Delft, is beaten (article from omroepwest.nl in Dutch).
- All signs are go for a New Year’s Eve bonfire at both Scheveningen and nearby Duindorp. After the bonfire massively got out of hand two years ago, including spawning fire tornados (?!), the fire was not allowed to go ahead last year. This year both areas were granted permits, provided safety regulations are followed and the bonfire stays within 10x10x10 meters. To give you an ideal, it was 48 meters high two years ago… Nu.nl has photos and videos from the incident in 2018 (in Dutch), if you’re interested.
- …And for something completely different, from theguardian.com: Some wipeout: Hawaii big wave surfer’s board floats 8,000km to Philippines. The owner was contacted and plans to pick it up after it is safe to travel again. He says it’s a great excuse to visit the Philippines.
Life in the Hague 