Last week my company’s Human Resources department mailed us a surprise gift:
The note says: “The month of November has started with its beautiful autumnal colors but also rain and storm. HR has prepared an enclosed gift which already looks ahead to springtime. We hope you will enjoy this small token!” Cute.
I heard from some colleagues that their gift didn’t even survive an hour in their kid-infested house…
Marco and I spotted this amusing joke at FOAM‘s breakfast / lunch restaurant:
Cute, huh?
Unfortunately the number of coronavirus infections are increasing again; we’re back at around 6,100 after hitting a low of around 4,700 earlier this week (article at nltimes.nl).
In other news: Billion euros raised to extend Amsterdam subway to Schiphol Airport, also from nltimes.nl. I’ve always in favor of more public transportation options from the airport to your destination. Of course it will be years before that project is completed.
And a few days ago I reported on Sinterklaas’ plan to arrive at a non-existent village to prevent crowds of parents and kids from going there in these corona times. That’s the national Sinterklaas, but a lot of cities have their own local Sinterklaases as well. Check out this blog post that I wrote about the 2013 parade in The Hague.
Well, this year the story is that the boat of Sinterklaas had some favorable winds during its journey from Spain to The Hague’s harbor, so he unexpectedly arrived early. The mayor advised him to go into a short quarantine at an undisclosed location, which he did. Sinterklaas will receive a corona test on Saturday so that he can participate in Sunday’s parade (which children can watch on TV at home). Read more (in Dutch) at omroepwest.nl.
Marco found a bag of mini oliebollen by the local Albert Heijn today:
They are about half the size of normal oliebollen, and not yet sprinkled with the usual powdered sugar goodness (or in my case these days, cinnamon). We haven’t tasted them yet, so it is too early to tell if they were a good deal or not. Traditionally it is better to buy them on the street or make your own, so we will see.
Here’s a very random blast from the past from The Guardian’s archives:
Netherlands introduces car-free Sundays – archive, 1973. This initiative lasted three months and was due to the oil shortage during the Opec energy crisis. It is worth a look just to see the “four horsemen riding through the streets of Amsterdam”.
And here is a funny article (in Dutch) from nu.nl: Politie vindt 5.000 kilo vuurwerk in busje dat met pech langs de weg staat. Police find 5,000 kilos (11,000 lbs) of fireworks in a small bus that was stranded on the side of the road. Let’s see… tiny bus, 5,000 kilo inside. It had a flat tire. A passing road inspector spotted the bus and tried to help out, but it was too heavy to fix the tire. They called a tow truck, but the tow truck wasn’t able to help either. At that point they were pretty sure what was inside wasn’t legal; the police were able to confirm that once they arrived.
5,000 kilos of fireworks… sheesh.
Check out this cute take out bag drawing:
That’s from Momiji Sushi in The Hague. Nice drawing talent! (In case you don’t eat much sushi, I’ll say the guy is supposed to represent a piece of sushi wrapped in black nori or dried seaweed. You can see a smaller version in the speech bubble.)
Coronavirus infections rise back towards 5,500; Still down 29% from last week from nltimes.nl. It’s probably for the best that the number of infections didn’t drop yet again. Why, you ask? People were definitely starting to think we could start lifting restrictions and go back to normal (as it were), so it is good to have a reminder that we still have a very long road ahead of us.
The government has said they will likely let the “extra restrictions” of closing libraries, theaters, cinemas, zoos and theme parks automatically lapse next week, however. We will see.
Until then – enjoy your sushi! (Or, at least, “Support local!”)
Here’s another thing that has changed this year due to the corona crisis: Sinterklaas will arrive in Zwalk this year. But good luck finding it, because Zwalk doesn’t exist on any maps.
That’s right – the organization behind Sinterklaas (a Dutch holiday celebrated on December 5) has cleverly chosen to have him arrive in a fictional town. That way you avoid any crowds and super spreader events. Usually 20,000-30,000 children and parents watch him arrive in a different city each year. Of course, everything was probably taped a month or two ago, but this way you prevent any and all traffic to the town.
This news was announced during the first episode of the Sinterklaasjournaal (literally “Sinterklaas news”) last night. That is a 10 minute program that will air daily until December 5. (Side note: there are so many toy commercials before and after this show – it is insane!).
The mayor of the fictional town asked children to send their drawings to Sinterklaasjournaal so that they could take part in the fun without being there physically.
The lady on the right is Dieuwertje Blok, the presentator of the show. The show is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year – and she has been the presentator since the beginning.
Here is an article in English from dutchnews.nl: Sinterklaas to dock at fictional location on Saturday, but tv cameras will be there
The Dutch government is considering a fireworks ban during New Year’s Eve due to the corona pandemic (article from notices.nl in English). A decision is expected Friday. This is probably for the best, considering this place always looks like a war zone on New Year’s Eve:
Check out this YouTube video of the fireworks celebrations in 2017-2018, shot from a drone. After watching the video you will understand why the Dutch government wants to ban fireworks this year. Or you can watch the video because it is very cool. That works too.
This NOS article (in Dutch) says there were 9,300 incidents last year that the police were called to, most of them fireworks related. About 400 people went to the ER, with another 900 visiting their doctor with a fireworks injury. It is not just about lowering the spread of corona, although that helps.
Today we are finally back under 5,000 daily infections, a number we last saw in the first week of October. Our high point was around 10,200-10,300 cases during this second wave. Hospitalizations are still high, though.
And now for something completely different, and cute. A black rhinoceros was born at the Blijdorp, the zoo in Rotterdam. If you click the link in the tweet you can go through the various webcams to see if you can spot the zoo’s newest arrival.
Hotel Huis ter Duin has put up the ‘tallest Christmas tree of the Randstad area’. The tree is 17 meters tall (55 feet). It is of course a bit too early to be thinking about Christmas decorations – but not really. Check out this video:
We haven’t put up the Christmas tree yet, but we do have one or two things out. Including a painting we brought last year (complete with LED lights):
We found it in a pop-up Christmas store in Eindhoven. It looks nice, doesn’t it?
Libraries (and museums, theaters, cinemas, etc.) are currently closed in the Netherlands. It is part of an additional set of corona measures that the Dutch government has taken to lower the number of hospitalizations. (The government did provide an exception for libraries to be open for picking up reservations and book deliveries, but The Hague has chosen not to do this.)
I decided to take a photo of the sign at The Hague’s Central Library (Unfortunately we are temporarily closed). Boo!
But I am nothing if not prepared (having heard the rumors of an impending closure on Sunday evening):
Partially because I told myself that if I thought another library closure was coming I would check out additional books. And partially because I don’t expect these extra measures to be lifted after two weeks – even though the prime minister said it would automatically be lifted after that time.
Unfortunately the balance of Dutch versus English books is a bit skewed (1 novel in Dutch versus 4 novels in English). But that happens when you go to the library during a work break and some of the books you wanted to check out aren’t on the shelf. I had to quickly grab some backups after consulting my Goodreads list.
Today Marco and I feasted on Middle Eastern mezze (a selection of small dishes) from FOAM here in The Hague. Check it out:
And a photo from above:
Yum yum yum. The meal included:
Continue readingAs I wrote about earlier, this year the Christmas department at Bijenkorf extends into what is traditionally the wine department. Perhaps it is for social distancing purposes?
Marco and I couldn’t help but notice this bottle of wine (in the middle):
It is pretty normal to see something like this in the Netherlands. It isn’t nearly as bad a curse word in Dutch as it is in English, although you still wouldn’t want to have your kid saying it.
(Is anyone else tempted to give it a try just to see if it lives up to its name? If I was a wine drinker, that is.)
Did you know that there is a wine brand with the name Slurp! at Albert Heijn? That one always makes me laugh.
