I can’t believe it has been 7 years since Marco and I were married: 19 September, 2013.
Football linesmen (And: Overeager makeup assistants)
Note: for those Americans among us, by football I mean soccer. But since I now live in Europe, I am required to call it football.
Today I have two of the most random articles ever for you, spotted recently. The first article – imagine you’re a football referee at home, a linesman to be exact. You’re enjoying dinner with your mom and her friend when you get a call asking if you could quickly come over and help with officiating the rest of the game. Why? The head referee was injured and there was no backup available at the game. That is exactly what happened to this referee: Grensrechter opgeroepen om in te vallen tijdens voetbalderby: ‘Zat bij mijn moeder te eten’ from omroepwest.nl. Luckily he was able to gather his gear really quickly and the game itself was only about 5 miles up the road.
The head referee was able to walk off the field with a calf injury. The other linesman took over as head referee and (after confirmation from the Dutch football league KNVB) this gentleman was allowed to take over as linesman. Because of that the last 20 minutes of the game could be played. I’m mostly amused that he talks about how he was at home eating with his mom when he got the call.
The other news story is a minor blooper that I read about last week. During a live broadcast the makeup artist walked on set to touch up the presentator’s makeup, not realizing the camera was still rolling. He was quite the gentleman though and was able to laugh it off and keep going. The best part? She didn’t believe him at first.
Categories: Sports
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Support for hospital staff (Or: That’s one giant bear)
I’m sure we have all heard stories around the world of creative ways of supporting hospital workers this year.
A local hospital in Delft now has a 15 foot high plant-based teddy bear to call their own (omroepwest.nl). The bear is supported by an invisible steel frame on the inside and covered in winter-hardened plants. The hope is that it can survive at least five years (!).
Also plant (well, mushroom) related:
This coffin helps speed up body decomposition (two to three years instead of up to ten years), giving nutrients to the nearby soil. It also has the benefit of being a rather lightweight coffin that can still carry up to about 450 pounds (220 kg).
I’m intrigued, but mainly because I would have figured this was already possible. But it’s a nice advancement.
Categories: News
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New corona measures likely (Or: Press conference on Friday)
So, news broke this afternoon that there would be another press conference on Friday. One expectation is that additional corona measures will be passed for the bigger Dutch cities, including Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. However, news hasn’t leaked yet on what the measures will be, because the government and the regions are still finalizing them.
This news comes on a day when the Netherlands registered more than 1,500 infections in the last 24 hours, which is easily a new record. RIVM released the weekly Covid-19 update yesterday, noting the rising percentage of positive tests (2.8% two weeks ago versus 3.9% last week) among other things. The number of people getting tested was almost 200,000, and most people now need to wait more than 72 hours to get tested. And we’re not even in the flu season yet. Yikes!
Swell of new coronavirus cases as 1,546 test positive, Over 1,000 in Randstad from nltimes.nl (Randstad being the four big cities, including Utrecht in the middle of the country).
Rumors of new Covid restrictions as Dutch PM schedules Friday press conference, also from nltimes.nl.
A portion of the issue comes from student organizations, as new clusters of dozens of students are reported on a daily basis. But that’s not the full picture either – it’s clear to see that some people no longer care about keeping their distance from others and the city centre gets more packed by the day. It will be interesting to see what the next few days bring.
(With all of that doom and gloom, I will say it’s going well for Marco and I. We’re working hard but we’re looking forward to a few days off to celebrate our 7th anniversary this weekend.)
Time slips away (Or: It’s been six months?)
On Sunday I realized that I was now at the six month mark for working at home (13 March to 13 September). I’ve got about another four months to go, unless the return to office is delayed again. I will be going into the office however later this month – to get a new work computer. That came as a surprise to me! On the one hand I’m glad as I hope it will be faster. On the other hand I am worried because it means I need to hope all of my existing software reinstalls properly. But I did pick a day that will hopefully be less busy, so I will just cross my fingers.
Of course there are a lot of rules, which is a good thing in my opinion. Only two people can share the same time slot to pick up their computer, you need to wait in reception to get picked up, you can’t wander around (with the exception of getting coffee, since hey, they aren’t evil), you need advance permission to visit your desk, etc. etc. etc.
Let’s go for some public transportation related news today:
- Erasmusbrug closed after overhead tram cabling collapses from dutchnews.nl. This happened yesterday morning. It sounds really bad, but luckily there were no injuries. The bridge was re-closing (after having opened for ship traffic) when the cabling fell down. The bridge was able to re-open for pedestrians and cyclists on Monday evening.
- A campaign by the Dutch public transportation branch, called “OV OK”. Two things to know if you’re not from the Netherlands: OV means public transportation in Dutch and it is pronounced oh vay so that you get the rhyme oh vay oh kay. See also this article from ov-nl.nl: Het licht staat op groen voor het openbaar vervoer (Public transportation gets the green light). I can see where they are coming from, to a degree. While we are told to work from home as much as possible, we are currently allowed to use public transportation. The rules are that you need to wear a face mask and that you should avoid rush hour wherever possible. But for now I view it as something to use if absolutely necessary (even though it pains me to say that, as I love riding in trams!)
A month of festivities (Or: Biggest carnival in the Netherlands at the Malieveld)
On Friday the biggest carnival in the Netherlands this year opened at the Malieveld. Over 90 attractions have been set up. The carnival is open a full month (11 September to 11 October). Check out some photos over at denhaagfm.nl:
The local news site Omroep West has some more information about the corona precautions, including two entrances and exits fitted with a digital counting system (the maximum visitors at any one time is 5,000, which still seems like a lot). There are also extra wide paths in most areas.
With that being said, I think I’ll skip it this year. Marco and I usually only take a walk around it and maybe buy some oliebollen before we leave. And now the city has promised us oliebollen from 1 October, so we should be fine to wait a few more weeks for that.
Ginger molasses cookies at Lebkov (Or: Spicy and sweet in one bite)
Check out this photo of a lunch I recently had at Lebkov café here in The Hague:
Sparkling water, a BLT sandwich and a ginger molasses (!) cookie. The cookie was awesome. Perhaps they added a bit of black pepper to it? It had a kick, that’s for sure. It was interesting to taste both spicy and sweet at the same time.
A bit of corona-related news, since it has been a while:
- from nltimes.nl: infections are increasing. There has been talk of extra measures in the three big cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. The number of infections there has been high. However for now the three cities have agreed with the Dutch cabinet to be more strict about corona rules and close down areas of concern faster (read: not much will change, I think).
- from omroepwest.nl in Dutch: Sinterklaas festivities in The Hague altered this year. There will be no parade, but Sinterklaas will still arrive by boat in the Scheveningen harbor. (If you are not sure what the Sinterklaas holiday is, check out this 2013 article over at utoday.nl: What the bleep is… Sinterklaas & Zwarte Piet?)
- from nltimes.nl: Amsterdam postpones New Year’s fireworks ban over Covid-19. It really, really seems like a lifetime ago, but in January 2020 there was was a lot of talk about banning most consumer-bought fireworks due to a number of incidents, including incidents against paramedics, police and firemen. Yikes. Amsterdam has put a temporary hold on the ban due to the fact that the promised alternatives (city sponsored fireworks shows and similar) just aren’t reasonable in these socially distanced times.
Otherwise, the days are blending into each other now. I really had to stop and think of what month it was the other day. I was trying to remember when certain TV shows would restart, and then I realized it’s impossible to tell for most shows. But otherwise Marco and I are doing fine.
Lines upon lines (Or: Escher’s “Day and night” in jigsaw form)
I finally completed it! The 1,000 piece puzzle Marco gave me for Christmas. It’s an 1,000 piece puzzle of M. C. Escher’s “Day and night”.
On the one hand, it was quite challenging. On the other hand, most of the pieces were subtly different. I was only left with about 15-20 black pieces in the upper right at the end. I was reduced to sticking in random pieces in each slot until something worked.
As you can see, it’s one of his famous works inspired by geometry – a city in daylight on the left, and the same city at night on the right. It’s quite beautiful, really. When I looked up a relevant Wikipedia article I found a picture of the Escher museum in The Hague with a poster of “Day and night” outside.
Of course I finished the bottom part rather quickly, and then it sat there for 6 months while I ignored it… But once I got motivated again it went rather quickly.
And now for something completely different: last week there was a secret fireworks event at Scheveningen (omroepwest.nl in Dutch), complete with drones! Note: the second video in the article with the grey box doesn’t work. Apparently the video was pulled from YouTube. But the article does have a few pictures and links to a few shorter videos.
The fireworks show was in celebration of 75 years of freedom since WW2 and was organized by the International Fireworks festival of Scheveningen (official site in Dutch). This was especially important because the show was cancelled in 2019 due to overcrowding concerns. And when I mean overcrowding, I mean overcrowding. Check out this photo from denhaagcentral.net in 2018. Roger, Marco and I went in 2015. It was a nightmare getting home…
Oh, and to show us why we can’t have nice things check out this article in Dutch over at omroepwest.nl: the city is in trouble because they paid 134,000 euros for a fireworks show that wouldn’t be seen by many people due to the corona issues. Opps.
A ride of gold (Or: Golden carriage to be on display at Amsterdam museum)
Have you heard of the Dutch golden carriage? It was in the news this week See also this dutchnews.nl article: Gouden Koets may no longer be used on budget day amid slavery controversy. The gouden koets or golden carriage is one of two carriages the King has at his disposal. Traditionally it makes an appearance at least once a year at Prinsjesdag, which happens on the third Tuesday each September – next week, then.
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On this day the King takes a carriage ride from the Dutch Noordeinde Palace to the Ridderzaal in the Binnenhof before delivering a speech to the Dutch Senate and House of Representatives. Normally the golden carriage is used for this carriage ride, but they also have a backup glass carriage. This is a good thing because the golden carriage is currently being restored (it was gifted to Queen Wilhelmina in 1896 after all!). Once the restoration is complete the golden carriage will be on display at the Amsterdam Museum next year from June to November.
That means it will not be available next year for Prinsesdag in September. However that seems to be the plan all along due to some unexpected controversy. One of the door panels depicts a racist scene, with dark-skinned persons bowing and offering gifts to a white woman. There’s also the thought that since millions of euros were spent of this restoration it is probably better that it not be used during the parade anymore. We shall see.
Luckily they still have the glass carriage at their disposal…
Categories: Culture, The Hague
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SpiZe (Or: First time back in a restaurant)
Well, Marco and I can add “went back to a restaurant” to our lists – on Sunday we met up with Roger and his mom to enjoy Thai food at the SpiZe restaurant. Yes, the Z is officially capitalized in their name.
I had Keng Massman: The menu description is: Tender sliced beef in Thai brown curry with coconut milk, potatoes, cashew nuts and onions. I can definitely recommend it.
Above is Marco’s dessert – spekkoek (Indonesian layer cake) with pandan ice cream. Yum!
And how was our first trip to a restaurant in these corona times? Not too bad, actually. The official rule in the Netherlands is that two or more households need to keep 1.5 meters distance from each other inside a restaurant. SpiZe requests that if you fall into this category you should send an email to them (versus placing an online reservation). That way they can seat the party at one of the tables by the window. These tables are definitely wider which helps you keep your distance.
Between each table was a glass shield, although I can’t remember if they were always there. There were also arrows on the floor telling you which direction you could walk in. Roger also received information and a QR code to scan so that he could register the group online and answer the obligatory health-related questions.
It’s not perfect, but it’s probably as close as you can get while still having a relatively normal restaurant experience. I’m definitely glad we went as the food and company was good.
Life in the Hague 