Posts Tagged With: Coronavirus

Lockdown, before and after (Or: Photos of The Hague’s city centre)

Posted on December 17, 2020 by Niki

The Dutch website indebuurt.nl (in the neighborhood) usually has a photo series called Toen & Nu or Then & Now. Today’s photo series only showed a difference of four days, but it was an important four days: 13 December and 16 December. In other words, before and after the five week lockdown came into effect.

Toen & Nu: Foto’s van het Haagse centrum voor en tijdens de lockdown

Is it bad that my first thought was “Oh! Glad to see the oliebollenkraam is still open.”? Maybe a bit.

Above is one of our Christmas decorations – the hanging gingerbread men. It was another Royal Christmas Fair purchase from a few years ago.

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Essential? Non-essential? (Or: What are we again?)

Posted on December 16, 2020 by Niki

The discussion about who can stay open during the lockdown and who must close continued today. Hema, a general merchandise retail store, decided to open today. Only essential items like food, baby clothes and toiletries were available. The original government ruling said that if it at least 30% of the items sold were essential, then that part of the store with essential items could remain open. The rest of the inventory would be unavailable for sale. (If the store sold at least 70% essential items the entire store could remain open.) Because at least 30% of what Hema sells is essential they decided to open yesterday. Problem is, other chains including Action and Wibra then decided they would re-open from tomorrow. And those stores’ stock is even less essential than Hema’s in my opinion.

That meant the Dutch cabinet went back into discussions last night and this morning. The end result: the 30% ruling is now gone, so you need to sell at least 70% essential items to stay open.

Some large non-essential stores open despite lockdown; government to intervene from nltimes.nl

and then Tighter rules around essential stores that can open in lockdown, also from nltimes.nl.

Fotoseries: Stil in Den Haag op de eerste dag van de lockdown, or Photos: Silence in The Hague on the first day of the lockdown [Tuesday]. Photos 9 and 11 are a bit political, since the pink ‘soon available for renting’ signs have the Dutch prime minister and the Health minister’s name listed as the realtor (Rutte and De Jonge).

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Van Dale’s Word of the year (Or: Anderhalvemetersamenleving)

Posted on December 15, 2020 by Niki

Only the Germans like their words longer…

Anderhalvemetersamenleving or 1-and-a-half-meters-society is Van Dale’s word of the year for 2020 (article from dutchnews.nl). Van Dale is a Dutch dictionary company. Anderhalvemetersamenleving took 30% of the vote, with 12,000 votes cast.

Here are a few interesting articles about the lockdown that are available in Dutch from nos.nl:

Hoe een telefoontje van Van Dissel alles veranderde – How a phone call from Van Dissel [Dutch virologist] changed everything. It’s an article about how we went from the press conference on the 8th to the hard lockdown announced last night. That’s less then a week if you are counting.

Niet-essentiële winkel mag open als die ten minste 30 procent essentiële artikelen verkocht – Non-essential stores can open if 30% of their items are essential. In that scenario they can only sell those essential items. If a store sells at least 70% essential items then they can sell everything. But that is, of course, a game of percentages…

Above is a picture taken in De Passage (a covered shopping area) in The Hague last weekend. I thought it was cute to see the stockings hiding behind the windows on the second floor, which isn’t accessible to shoppers.

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Rutte’s December speech (Or: Into a hard lockdown we go)

Posted on December 14, 2020 by Niki

The Dutch minister held an emergency speech this evening to announce a hard lockdown beginning tonight at midnight. Just like the speech in March earlier this year, it took place in his work office at the Binnenhof (nicknamed Torentje or “Little tower” – English Wikipedia).

…and because of this choice of location, it was much easier for protestors to make themselves heard, on live television, with whistling, shouting and general noisemaking. Oh well. Rutte did make mention of it halfway through his speech, pointing outside and saying “It is isn’t an innocent flu as some people outside here think”.

Rutte confirms five-week lockdown in the Netherlands; Schools shut from Wednesday from nltimes.nl

Hard lockdown unavoidable, says Dutch PM, ruling out foreign travel until March from dutchnews.nl (this one has a photo from the outside looking in at Mark Rutte as he gives his speech – an interesting view)

Here is a list of the most important rules, which take affect at midnight tonight and last until at least 19 January:

  • non-essential stores are closed (some of the exceptions are supermarkets, pet stores, pharmacies, gas stations and banks)
  • non-medical “contact” jobs are closed (hair stylists, massage parlors, nail salons, etc.) Medical “contact” jobs like dentists or physiotherapists are exempt.
  • from Wednesday all schools (elementary through university) are closed with online education the norm. There are a few exceptions for exams or “vulnerable” students. Daycares are also closed, except for parents with vital jobs.
  • only two guests are allowed per day (which the exception of December 24, 25 and 26 when you can have three guests per day). Groups outside can only consist of one household or of two persons total.
  • the urgent advice is again “stay at home as much as possible” and “don’t travel overseas or book trips until at least 15 March”.
  • museums, zoos, theaters and theme parks are closed. Libraries are also closed, although Rutte mentioned an exception for patrons to pick up and bring back reserved books or allow vulnerable youth to do their homework there. Whether or not the library offers this service is another thing.
  • indoor gyms will close. Some activity is allowed outside but only in groups of two with 1.5 meters distance. Youth under 18 can still exercise in groups, however.
  • The urgent advice of “work as much as possible from home” is still in effect.

At the moment the next press conference is scheduled for 12 January, when the government will discuss the next steps leading up to 19 January, the current end date for the hard lockdown.

Christmas tree by Huijgenspark in The Hague
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Christmas trees (Or: Another weekend of too many shoppers)

Posted on December 13, 2020 by Niki

Check out this Christmas tree which I saw by the Plein in The Hague:

Christmas tree near the statue of Willem de Oranje

It’s a cute Christmas tree, but I will admit it looks like someone had a bit too much fun with strips of toilet paper at the bottom. I assume it is actually tinsel, though.

I saw an even more creative Christmas tree over on the r/thenetherlands Reddit page:

Alternatieve kerstboom op Onze Lieve Vrouweplein in Maastricht. from thenetherlands

(Alternative Christmas tree in Maastricht at the “Our Lady plaza”.) Those are café/restaurant chairs. Since the cafés and restaurants are only open for takeout or delivery these days, why not re-use them (or store them) as a Christmas tree? The best part: In the back on the left of the photo you see the hint of another Christmas tree.

The last few days have seen the number of coronavirus cases skyrocket. We’re now back to around 10,000 cases a day. There was an emergency meeting of the safety regions and the government today, with a few additional meetings tomorrow. It is unclear if they will hold a press conference this coming Tuesday or if they will hold it tomorrow, one day earlier than they usually would (press conferences generally happen on Tuesdays).

There are a few measures that could be taken:

  • closure of ‘through’ or ‘transfer’ locations where a lot of people meet, for example libraries, movie theatres, zoos, cinemas, etc.
  • closure of all not-essential stores (everything except supermarkets, pharmacies, etc.)
  • closing of schools

Of these I think either the first two are more likely. Interestingly the Netherlands actually did not close essential stores during the first wave back in March / April. It was always the store’s choice to close or not. However, Germany has also announced a hard lockdown that will last through 10 January so some are speculating that German tourists will travel across the border to do their Christmas shopping here unless we also go into a hard lockdown as well.

New coronavirus infections near 10,000 as ministers discuss new measures from dutchnews.nl

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Christmas menus (Or: Delivery and take out are all the rage)

Posted on December 10, 2020 by Niki

The good thing about the Netherlands in comparison to America is that you get two days of Christmas (25th and 26th) instead of just one. That means two days of Christmas meals. For one of the days we are planning on ordering from FOAM here in The Hague again. On the other day we will probably make something ourselves.

I did see an advertisement on indebuurt.nl that Food Hall MingleMush is offering their own Christmas menu (meat or vegetarian, 60 euros for two persons). They label it as a “around-the-world trip” of food since they have so many different restaurants adding food into that one box. The two menus are available at this link in English (getalacarte.com). It is tempting, and now I’m wondering if we can order it for the 22nd so that we aren’t completely stuffed anymore by the time Christmas rolls around. Hmmm. We haven’t been to MingleMush since before the corona crisis started, so it would be nice to see it again.

In other news: Non-EU citizens must present negative Covid tests at Dutch borders from Tuesday from nltimes.nl. I wasn’t aware that this rule was coming, although it doesn’t affect me personally. Most of the articles I have seen talk about the effect this will have on UK citizens, since they will no longer be EU citizens from January 1st.

And because we can always use a 1 minute video of lion cubs:

These two female lion cubs were born a few weeks ago at the zoo in Amersfoort. Cute.

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Nothing unexpected here (Or: No relaxation of corona measures)

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Niki

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.

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National Cookie Day (Or: Gimmie gimmie gimmie!)

Posted on December 5, 2020 by Niki

(Okay, National Cookie Day was yesterday, but shouldn’t every day be National Cookie Day?)

I am salivating a bit after seeing this tweet from Disney Parks:

My favorite is the Molasses crackle cookies mentioned in the linked article (direct link to the recipe PDF at Disney.com).

In other news: Oude foto’s: Sinterklaas in Den Haag door de jaren heen, also from indebuurt.nl. Old photos of The Hague’s Sinterklaas throughout the years. One reason to click on the link is to see the pictures of gas masks being advertised as Sinterklaas presets in 1940.

Also of note: the benches at the Grote Markt between Hema and Blokker/Xenos are a bit more ‘corona proof’ these days: Coronaproof: Je kunt weer veilig op de bankjes aan de Grote Marktstraat zitten from indebuurt.nl. (Corona proof: You can now safely sit on the bench at the Grote Markt.) Not that many things in life are truly corona proof…

And if you are not currently in the Netherlands and wonder why I haven’t mentioned the number of corona cases lately… it is because the number fluctuates too wildly to be of much use:

The pink lines are the number of positive tests and the red line is the 7 day average.

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Opps… (Or: I am neither elderly or sick, but…)

Posted on November 26, 2020 by Niki

This morning I went to a local supermarket to pick something up for dinner. While I usually go to Albert Heijn, this item required me to go somewhere else. Actually, the first place I tried was closed but I kind of figured that would be the case, so I walked on to my second choice.

I was pleasantly surprised to enter a quiet supermarket, only spotting two customers on my quick trip through the store. I quickly found what I needed, checked one other thing and then moved to the cash registers to pay. While waiting for the cashier to appear (it really was quiet) I saw a paper before my nose detailing the opening hours of the store. And then realized that 09:00-10:00, when I was visiting, was actually the weekday ouderuurtje, aka the “elderly hour” where elderly or “immune compromised” persons can visit a supermarket to do their shopping in the quieter hours. That is one of the corona laws the government passed earlier this year. Opps.

I did apologize to the cashier when he walked up, but of course he didn’t care. Probably because it was unbelievably quiet… but still, I know better for next time.

In other news:

Tired of sniggers, Austrian village tweaks its name to Fugging from uk.reuters.com. I assume you can guess what their current name is… but hopefully this way people won’t steal as many of their signs.

Wintersporters blijven met Kerst massaal thuis, ‘nauwelijks boekingen from nu.nl. Dutch skiers are choosing to stay at hore for Christmas, rather than visiting Italy, France, Austria and similar. Although there is some speculation that last minute bookings might still occur. (This is important because the first wave of Covid this spring came from Italy, brought back by Dutch skiers.)

I told Marco about this one; he could only exclaim “Wow, like Pet Cementary!”: Culled mink rise from the dead to Denmark’s horror from theguardian.com. The reason is simple, though: they weren’t buried deep enough and when their bodies started to decompose, well, bodily gases caused them to rise back up to the surface. Still, ew…

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Music at the Malieveld? (Or: Parkpop changes)

Posted on November 24, 2020 by Niki

Yesterday the news broke that the Dutch music festival Parkpop would be moving to Malieveld next year (article from omroepwest.nl in Dutch). The festival has been held at The Hague’s Zuiderpark for the last 40 years. Indeed, the festival gets its name from the fact that it is held at Zuiderpark (Parkpop). In 1992 it claimed the title as the biggest music festival of Europe, drawing over half a mission visitors that weekend (!).

However, location always proved an issue. It’s much easier to get to Malieveld (which is a 2 minute walk from The Hague’s Central Station) than it is to get to Zuiderpark. Another issue was noise: Zuiderpark is surrounded by residential area, whereas Malieveld is not.

In corona news:

De Jonge: Dutch partial lockdown likely to continue past mid-January from nltimes.nl. The worst part is this means restaurants and cafés will not be able to reopen for dine-in for a while, but if it helps…

Government advised to extend Christmas school holidays, not relax other measures from nltimes.nl. I bet kids will be really happy if their Christmas vacation does get extended, but it will probably mean a shorter summer break. But as a kid, would you think of that? (At the moment it is just advice; the government can ignore it.)

Categories: News | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

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