The same photo with a bit cut out to show the cyclists. A group of schoolkids usually cycle past at 0745hrs - in the dark. These two were a bit later...
...but no skating!
A great photo of Ben
We hardly know where he is going to pop up - this one from Antwerpen...
Long Service Leave makes it's way to the Netherlands...
(I heard something as a young firefighter but never thought of it and never used it - so it became part of the "retirement" package. I do remember hearing that it was something to do with our colonial past - but never thought to find out more until a few weeks ago).
Long service leave is a benefit peculiar to Australia and New Zealand (and possibly some public servants in India) and relates to their colonial heritage. There is a similar system of sabbatical leave also in Finland. Long Service Leave developed from the concept of furlough, which stems from the Dutch word verlof (meaning leave) and its usage originates in leave granted from military service.
Long service leave was introduced in Australia in the 1860s. The idea was to allow civil servants the opportunity to sail home to England after 10 years’ service in ‘the colonies’. It was 13 weeks for every ten years of service, composed of five weeks to sail back to England, three weeks of leave and five weeks to sail back.
In the 19th century, furlough as a benefit as it is now known, was a privilege granted by legislation to the colonial and Indian Services. In Australia, the benefits were first granted to Victorian and South Australian civil servants. The nature of the leave allowed civil servants to sail 'home' to England, safe in the knowledge that they were able to return to their positions upon their return to Australia.
The concept spread beyond the public service over the period 1950 to 1975, mainly as a result of pressure from employees seeking comparability with the public service.
Janny has granted me up to 6 weeks Long Service Leave to go away on the boat - this after "25 years service in a foreign country".
It will be "Three Old Blokes In a Boat". Friend Robin from the Northern Territory and Lyall, a friend of his from Canada.
So, the proposal is to head down to Maastricht some time in April. Good friends Andrew & Terry gave me their log details from when they did it in 2011. They went on into France and returned to Friesland in 2013 - doing it all in stages, 3 months at a time.
Using this information as a guide, I was able to use an online program to get an idea of the route and the charts that I will need to update:
We know how to get to Ossenzijl (25 km) and then on to Blokzijl
In a lot of places the maximum speed is 6 km/hr, but even where it is faster we can only manage about 10 - but I am more than happy to potter along at 6-8, without having the motor working too hard. Some days will be longer than others...
In a lot of places the maximum speed is 6 km/hr, but even where it is faster we can only manage about 10 - but I am more than happy to potter along at 6-8, without having the motor working too hard. Some days will be longer than others...
1. Ossenzijl to Blokzijl 13 km
2. Blokzijl to Harderwijk 65 km
3. Harderwijk to Weesp 65 km (near Amsterdam)
4. Weesp to Utrecht 31 km
5. Utrecht to Gorinchem 34 km
6. Gorinchem to Well 53 km
7 Well to Roermond 45 km
8 Roermond to Maastricht 48 km
Doing lots of reading at the moment. The text accompanying this "Waterways of The Netherlands" chart says that there are10,000 km navigable waterways. Maybe that includes places where even our boat can't go. We are limited by depth (1m) and the height of fixed bridges (2.4/2.5 metres).
One series of booklets, describing "junction points" in each of the provinces, also includes basic safety tips at the start of each booklet.
"Keep Right" Obvious, but also important if you have to consider "who has right of way?" Keeping to the right within a canal or buoys covers just about everything!
With big shipping, they are mostly concerned with the "dood hoek" or dead corner of visibility from the bridge. Collisions in this area occur far too frequently. In recent years there has been a call for a basic licence (education) for all boat users, not just for boats over 15 metres.
And crossing over at intersections.
Making "wide" turns so that it is clear to others.
From the Newspaper
(again, not much time this week - maybe I have to get up earlier!).
House Prices
The most expensive homes in the Netherlands are once again found in the coastal town of Bloemendaal near Haarlem. The average price for a house was €776,000 in 2017, according to a new report published jointly by the national statistics office CBS and the land registry on Thursday.This was well above the national average of €263,000 last year and far above the average €141,000 paid in the northern port city of Delfzijl, reckoned to be the cheapest in the country for housing.
The price differences last year were wider than in 2016, the CBS said. Average house prices in Bloemendaal were 5.5 times more expensive than in Delfzijl in 2017 but only just over five times higher in the previous year.
Aside from Bloemendaal, average house prices above €500,000 were also found in Wassenaar, Laren (Noord-Holland), Blaricum and Heemstede. A year earlier Heemstede failed to top the €500,000 mark with an average of €448,000, but Rozendaal did with €544,000.
Delfzijl was the only town in the Netherlands with an average house price below €150,000 in 2017.
In 80% of the towns surveyed, the average house price varied between €195,000 and €337,000. The average house price is below €195,000 in 10% of the towns; these are mostly located on the edges of the country in Groningen, Friesland and Limburg provinces.
In the highest segment, sales prices were between €337,000 and €776,000. Amsterdam falls in this category with average home prices pegged at €406,000.
Follow up on Dairy Cow Fraud
By passing older calves off as younger animals, farmers can get around strict rules on manure and phosphate reduction. Adult cows are more polluting, so farmers are claiming that their cows have given birth to twins or triplets, hiding the true ages of some calves.
The fraud first came to light last month, when ministry inspectors found fraud in the registration of calves on half the 93 farms they visited within a week.
Since then, the inspectors have been comparing different registration systems and have found possible fraud on 2,100 farms.
‘I consider the scale of the fraud extremely concerning,’ Schouten told MPs in a briefing. ‘We have to prevent farms which stick to the rules being disadvantaged by those that fiddle their books.’
The affected farms have been banned from selling or buying new cattle until their administration has been approved. Farmers found to have lied about the ages of their animals face a reduction in subsidies or criminal prosecution.
At the end of last year, the NRC revealed that farmers are also committing fraud on a wide scale when it comes to manure. Farmers are forging their accounts, illegally trading their manure or dumping more on their land than permitted by law, while transport companies are fiddling lorry weights and making unrecorded trips to dump manure at night, the paper said.
In total, the NRC found that 36 of the 56 manure processing and distribution companies in the two regions had been fined for fraud, or suspected of fraud, in what the paper calls the ‘manure conspiracy’.
(end of this week - heading off to The Boat Show in Leeuwarden)
Or in Australia "Company Bull Shit"
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