Face masks and other thoughts (Or: Life in The Hague)

Posted on September 29, 2020 by Niki

Since 18:00 this evening residents of The Hague have been strongly advised (but not legally required) to wear a face mask when inside a shop. When I went to Albert Heijn this morning I would say about 60% of those I saw in the store were wearing a mask, even though it wasn’t 18:00 yet.

This does put retail in a tough position. Bijenkorf (a high-end department store) has said they will require face masks in the larger cities where the advisory is in place. Most shops have declined to do so at the moment, however. It is asking a lot of workers to also control face mask usage. The stores would prefer that the government adjusts the law so that it is legally required across the country. At the moment the law does not support the government forcing its citizens to wearing a face mask; it can be challenged in court.

Dutch retail groups won’t enforce face masks, ask for national regulations from dutchnews.nl

More and more cabinet members are in favor of requiring face masks across the country, versus the regional measures that are in place now. NOS.nl has this article in Dutch: Steeds meer stemmen in Tweede Kamer voor mondkapjesplicht (More and more politicians in the House of Representatives are in favor of a face mask requirement). I think the government will wait and see what the effects are for the recent measures first before adding new ones, however. It depends on how the country is doing in about 10-14 days.

The Dutch ministry of Health has also released their weekly Covid-19 statistics – see more at rivm.nl in English. It is to be expected. For instance there were 19,326 cases in the last week compared to 13,471 cases in the week before that.

I just read that The Hague’s library system has requested that all visitors wear face masks. They have also requested that you register your visit and answer some health related questions, preferably in advance although at the door is possible as well. In that case you can either scan a QR code to register online or fill out a paper form if the other options aren’t possible. For the moment both links are in Dutch; it’s not available on their English website (yet).

I’m hoping that the events of the last few days lead to face masks because more normalized in Dutch society. Time will tell.

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Time to turn the corona tide (Or: More measures to prevent a lockdown)

Posted on September 28, 2020 by Niki

So. I’ve kind of ignored the elephant in the room, but it’s not going that great in Europe and it’s not going that great in the Netherlands either. We’re around 3,000 infections a day and they are expecting 5,000 infections by the end of next week regardless of what we do now. Therefore the Dutch prime minister and the Minister of Health, Wellness and Sport held another evening press conference today to discuss new measures, both country-wide and measures for Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. They pointed out that we are at a crossroads: if we don’t see a positive effect from these measures within 10-14 we might be heading for another “intelligent lockdown” again. Hmm.

Here are some of the measures (but not all, see the links below for more information). More regional measures might still follow. Most are country-wide except the first one about face masks.

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That’s useful (Or: Store map of Blokker in Rijswijk)

Posted on September 27, 2020 by Niki

I saw something cool in Rijswijk’s In de Bogaard shopping centre: a Blokker store with a map by the entrance:

The map makes it easier to see where you need to go before you enter the store so that you don’t mindlessly wander up and down the aisles (and up and down again, seriously) trying to find what you are looking for. And the store map goes perfectly with one of their corona measures: Koop doelgericht or “Buy purposefully”. In other words, know what you want (when possible), get in, get out. Kudos. More stores should have maps at the entrance and/or provide them online.

So Blokker is pretty smart. For a less than smart company, try the Samen restaurant in The Hague. It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet. For the last few months the rule in the Netherlands has been that up to 100 people could gather inside or outside, including restaurants. But since it is going in the wrong direction (we’re up to 3,000 cases per day now, from nltimes.nl) a lot of places are only allowed to have 50 people inside or outside. Including The Hague. And then you get this…

Crowded Hague restaurant busted with 200 guests; Covid rules allow only 50 from nltimes.nl. (nos.nl reported that it was 200-300 guests.)

While most of the blame must lie with the restaurant, I think people must be mathematically challenged if they don’t turn around when they see the actual restaurant area and demand their money back. I’m trying to give some people the benefit of the doubt, since if you came early it probably wasn’t that busy… but really, people. Come on.

Categories: Everyday purchases, Rijswijk | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Strange news (Or: Old TVs and a rat with a medal)

Posted on September 26, 2020 by Niki

Happy Saturday all. Yesterday’s “highlight” was getting drenched by Storm Odette (article from regio15.nl in Dutch). I did have a rain jacket with me, though, and I knew I wasn’t going to get back home without getting thoroughly drenched. I tried to stall a bit in the Albert Heijn by the Holland Spoor train station, but really there’s only so many rows of food you can browse before you get bored.

By the time I got home my rain jacket and the bottom of my jeans were thoroughly drenched. A napkin in my backpack also fell victim to the wind and the rain. Luckily Marco was home so I could stand outside the front door and hand him my jacket and backpack before taking a step inside. After that it just a matter of getting into dry clothes as soon as possible.

I learned two things yesterday:

  • face masks are a lot less annoying when the weather turns colder. A bit of hot breath can help keep you warm now. I should remember to bring some mints or gum, though. Stale breath is still way too noticeable.
  • Apple Watches might be waterproof to a degree, but even they will stop responding if your fingers are too wet. Okay, no restarting my music then. I’m too busy avoiding this burst of rain and wind and trying to walk forward anyway…

And for some strange news – from bbc.com: Old TV caused village broadband outages for 18 months. I can’t believe it took 18 months to solve this, but I’m sure the villagers were excited to finally not having internet issues anymore. And the fact that someone was so into routine that they would turn on their TV every day at the same exact time…? That’s crazy.

And because everyone needs to see a rat with a mini medal:

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Don’t eat those bagels! (Or: Safety warnings)

Posted on September 25, 2020 by Niki

For the first time in my life (at least, that I can remember) it was useful to pay attention to the safety notice sent out by the local grocery store, Albert Heijn. In this case the notice was about the sesame bagels they sell. I first heard about the issue on Tuesday when they sent customers an email about it.

I’ll admit I had no idea what “gewasbeschermingsmiddelen” was, but Marco explained it was basically pesticides – during a routine safety check they noticed that the amount of pesticides left over on the sesame seeds was too high. After the email I didn’t think too much about it for two reason. First, because the original dates listed didn’t match the date on our package and second because we already ate two of the four bagels over a week ago and didn’t get sick. (These are bagels which you finish baking at home with expiration dates 6-8 weeks in the future. They are also packaged in two groups of two, which is always handy when there’s only two of you.)

So on the one hand I’m thinking “Okay, different batch, and we didn’t get sick from what we already ate… let’s keep it.” and on the other hand I’m thinking “Hmm. I’ve seen this happen before. Let’s keep the remaining bagels, but not eat them right away. Just in case they change their mind.” Which they did on the following day, as you might be able to read in my screenshot. Now it says that they are removing all sesame bagels from the store shelves as a precautionary measure. So into the trash our poor remaining bagels go. Thud. We never even got the chance to invite you over for breakfast…

Helaas. Or as Dutch kids like to say because it rhymes: Helaas, pindakaas. Which translates to “Unfortunately. Peanut butter.” Which isn’t as cool as it is in Dutch, I know.

Categories: Everyday purchases, Food | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Halloween at Hema (Or: Bit by bit the popularity grows)

Posted on September 24, 2020 by Niki

It’s almost time for Halloween! Here is one of the two display stands at Hema:

I have mentioned before that Halloween isn’t that big in the Netherlands. It’s slowly gaining in popularity but trick or treating for candy isn’t a huge thing. Of course there is some trick or treating (I know some international schools do promote it) but it’s not as big with Dutch children as far as I’m aware. SoLow has a great collection of costumes and decorations if you’re interested. Xenos usually has a small collection as well.

As most of my readers are aware, it’s not going that great with Europe in terms of the corona virus. The same is true here in the Netherlands as we’ve been breaking records left and right. Number of cases, hospital intakes, ICU intakes, deaths… It definitely seems like the “second wave” has started. Today we registered 2,552 cases. Various experts (but not the government, yet) are saying a lockdown will be coming if the number of cases can’t be slowed. For instance the chairman of the Dutch Union of the Intensive Care Diederik Gommers said this during an interview with Radio 538 (article in Dutch). You can also see the weekly numbers at RIVM.nl in English, updated two days ago.

But, anyway. For something completely different – if you’re interested in war monuments, check out this new war monuments digital archive over at haagsgemeentearchief.nl. The website is in Dutch but there’s also photographs to look at. You can also read an accompanying article in Dutch at omroepwest.nl: Haagse oorlogsmonumenten op een rij gezet: ‘Maar denken dat er nog meer zijn’.

Categories: Everyday purchases, Holidays | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

All dressed up and nowhere to go (Or: Prinsjesdag and other stories)

Posted on September 23, 2020 by Niki

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:

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Despairing statues (Or: Beelden aan Zee, Scheveningen)

Posted on September 22, 2020 by Niki
…2020 in a nutshell

I told Marco we needed to take this photo and caption it simply “2020”. You can see all the cool stuff off in the distance, but you’re stuck here not able to do any of it.

The statue itself is from the outdoor Beelden aan Zee exhibit (Statues at sea) on the pier. The statues belong to the nearby Beelden aan Zee museum.

But here is a cute tweet to counterbalance the photo above – a mischievous cat.

This cat resides at a police station in a nearby city, Rijswijk. The tweet reads: “As if @Winston_topkat is sometimes waiting. Briefly went to the printer and he’s lying stretched out on my chair.” Winston has his own Twitter feed as well (Winston_topkat).

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Face masks of Scheveningen (Or: Giraffes and hot dogs)

Posted on September 21, 2020 by Niki

You will always know these photos were taken in 2020. Okay, I guess 2020-2021 will probably end up being more correct…

The blue eyes make it cute. Don’t miss the mustard squirting of the bottle, or the (easier to miss) ketchup hair curl. This was next to a food vendor on the pier in Scheveningen.

I also spotted a giraffe with a face mask. As you might be able to tell, it is a promotional statue outside of the not yet opened Legoland Discovery Centre. It should be open already but, as the Dutch say, corona heeft roet in het eten gegooid (Literally “Corona threw ash in the food”, or better “Corona threw a spanner in the works”, or most simply “Corona messed it up”).

Bummer. But if you’re an adult without a child, don’t get your hopes up too much anyway. They’ve already said the exhibitions are intended for children; adults on their own aren’t welcome (omroepwest.nl). But they do plan on hosting adult-only nights – at some point.

And, here’s a sunset for you:

The sun was already setting as we wandered down the pier. By the time we turned around and headed back to the hotel, the lights on the pier had turned on and it was pretty much dark everywhere. (While we were walking it was cool to see a bit of light left on one side of the sea, with the other half already completely dark.)

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Grand hotel Amrâth Kurhaus (Or: 20 minutes from home)

Posted on September 20, 2020 by Niki

I have never booked a hotel room only a few days before it was needed, but here we are in corona times. Marco and I wanted to go somewhere for our wedding anniversary this weekend. We booked the days off work at least a month ago but I was a bit hesitant about choosing where we would go thanks to the weird times we live in.

Things got a bit stranger on Wednesday, when they announced that new regional corona measures for The Hague (among other cities) would be coming. In the end the new measures were that cafés and restaurants are required to close by 01:00 in the morning and they would only be able to serve a maximum of 50 people (inside or outside) instead of 100. No mandatory face masks outside of public transportation yet. I’m not sure that will ever come in this country.

But! Back to our anniversary. Since things were a bit dicey we decided to stay in the area; we booked a room at the 5 star (!) Kurhaus hotel in nearby Scheveningen. I’m glad Marco persuaded me to go for that one.

View of the hotel from the pier

The room itself was unexpectedly modern, but still cool. The view at night was awesome:

The room’s window was double-paned, so we didn’t hear anything from the boulevard unless we opened the window. Speaking of the boulevard, we walked up and down it on Friday and Saturday. You could tell there were less people around, although it might have also been because it was no longer the high season for tourists. At least the restaurant owners on the beach don’t have break down everything for the winter (a one-time rule passed earlier this year to help save costs this year, article in Dutch from omroepwest.nl).

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Categories: Marco&Niki, Scheveningen | Tags: , | 2 Comments

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