There was another press conference from the Dutch prime minister this evening. The number of cases has been rising in the last week / week and a half, so it came as no surprise when Mark Rutte confirmed that the measures would not be relaxed. The number of guests allowed at Christmas and New Year’s festivities will stay at a maximum of three guests per day. He was also careful to point out that if the numbers keep getting worse, that the rules might become even stricter for the holidays. If there are more changes they will be announced at the next press conference, scheduled for 22 December.

He also poignantly stated that there will be about 10,000 empty chairs at the dinner table this year (a reference to the number of known corona-related deaths in this country).

Three guests for Christmas dinner, and tougher measures are on the cards from dutchnews.nl

Netherlands to first get 500K doses of Pfizer coronavirus vaccine; Half fewer than expected, also from dutchnews.nl. Previously it was reported that we would get 900K, with vaccinations starting on 4 January. Now vaccinations are scheduled for mid-January if all goes well. (But let’s face it: no one believed it would start on 4 January. From day one there were doubts with the government’s timeline.)

And for something completely different – the New Year’s Dive on 1 January in Scheveningen has been cancelled. Which means the main sponsor, Unox (a soup brand), decided to get a bit creative instead…

I don’t think it is quite the same. For one thing I doubt that the can of soup contains ice cold, freezing water which makes you question the life choices that led you to want to dip your fragile toes into the North Sea – but it is an interesting idea. If nothing else, it is a good souvenir of these crazy times. A souvenir that half of the country will also own and keep in their attics for 40 years, but I digress.

Most likely in 20 years one of these soup cans will be part of a museum exhibit about the coronavirus, so get yours now while you still can.