Week 7 A Local Murder

Boat Show 2019

Ha! Just looking...

Inflatable, for on the roof...?

We don't see many of these around but expect to see more...

Just playing...

Murder at our local restaurant

Surprise. Set up as though everybody was here for a buffet dinner at our place. The police came inside to say that there had been a murder and we all had to come away for questioning. As I write, I wonder if they will carry it off?

Janny had served 9 years on the Local Action group representing Wijnjewoude - so a farewell dinner was arranged, in conjunction with another Jannie who is leaving this year.

Jannie (ie) had arranged a cultural excursion:

We visited a (wood) sculptor and a Glasswork Artist. Both very creative and the older sculptor obviously makes a good living with his work. 

Their names attracted my attention and reminded me of a story which I have never verified.

The sculptor is Joop van Bergen and the glassworker is Esther van Amsterdam. I often take these things literally and so I began to think of Joop (from the mountains - bergen = mountains) and obviously Esther from Amsterdam. In our family, we have van der Velde (from the fields). We had a van Breda in one of our apartments years ago.

There is a famous family Bierenbroodspot; quite literally "beer and bread place". That one in particular always made me wonder...

So, I finally looked it up.

In 1811, the French under Napoleon occupied the Netherlands. They started having a census for the purpose of taxation and forced everyone to have a family name, which was not a common practice for the Dutch.The Dutch thought this would be a temporary measure and took on comical or offensive sounding names as a practical joke on their French occupiers. Some examples are:

Suikerbuik (Sugarbelly)
Spring in t Veld (Jump in the Field)
Uiekruier (Onion-crier)
Naaktgeboren (Born naked)
Poepjes (Little shit)
Schooier (Beggar)
Scheefnek (Crooked-neck)
Rotmensen (Rotten people)
Zeldenthuis (Rarely at home)
Zondervan (without a surname)
Borst (breast)
Piest (to urinate)

Imagine the Dutch standing in line to register and having a few laughs at the expense of the French officials, only to have the name stick to them and their descendants for centuries.

I digress. After the "Cultural Afternoon," we all gathered at our place. The idea was to let everyone think we were going to eat and party here:

 In walked the Police! to explain that there has been a murder at our local restaurant De Stripe.

And so, we headed off to De Stripe for a "Murder Dinner"!

We had to step over "the body" to get in...

and then solve the mystery... where was the crime committed, by whom, with what and why?

Despite my protests that it was too obvious, we went ahead and won the prize! I did establish that "The Butler Did It" is not a Dutch thing...

More from Ben

He visited us for one night... (yeah, it's like that).

He spent a fair bit of time preparing a scholarship request to study in China next year. All to fit in with his work in Singapore, travel to Australia and then direct to Shanghai...

ha!, I can't even plan what I'm doing next week!

Next week he is off to Malta with his University Club!

He has also had his "Loneliness in Amsterdam" report published in England, America and Canada. It was also translated into Romanian.

Ben and I also found time for a walk in the forest...with Zoey.

From the Newspaper...

No Smoking

Hospitality businesses no longer allowed to have "smoking rooms". Pubs, restaurants, hotels all affected. At Smaller inner-city pubs, it will be more noticeable that people have to stand outside to smoke.
In the so-called "coffee shops", it is legal to smoke marijuana but not tobacco...

Earthquakes and subsidence...

Gas

Gas extraction on Ameland has also caused subsidence. This is affecting brooding water birds with higher water levels. Risen by 33 to 38 cm since 1986. (ie the traditional brooding places are now under water). 

"kwelder" = salt marshes

Translation:

Salt marshes are grounds that have arisen outside the dyke by deposition of sand and silt with a spontaneously established vegetation. The plants, such as Lamsoor, samphire and sea aster, are resistant to the regular flooding by salt tidal water. Salt marshes are one of the few Dutch landscapes of very great international significance.
The Wadden Sea has salt marshes along large parts of the mainland coast and on the Wadden Sea side of the islands in the lee of drift dykes and sometimes as a green beach on the North Sea side. In the past, the salt marshes remained more or less inhabited by nature, but after many embankments in recent centuries, many salt marshes have been protected.

Salt Extraction

Has been approved in Harlingen with the proviso that there should be no subsidence or problems similar to Groningen where the gas extraction has caused extensive damage to buildings.

Birdwatchers

Building a Birdwatchers Academy at Lauwersoog. Information and Meeting place for birdwatchers. Excursions, tourism, an attraction for Germans and Belgians in particular.

Tobacco

Taking on the tobacco industry. 25 % of Nederlanders smoke. Approx 400 per local doctor! Many organisations (including doctors) have joined a legal battle against the Tobacco Industry.

Whitewashing

76 yo man gets 3 years gaol for whitewashing money (6m euros)... Packed in rolled pork roasts and smuggled to the Antilles.

Medicine prices

Ireland has joined NL, Belgium, Luxembourg in a group advocating lower pharmaceutical prices. They hope for more to join. Currently representing 40 million people.

IKEA coming to Sneek.

Janny tells me they are forming a partnership to sell "tiny houses". When the time is right" we are going to sell up, live on the boat and in the tiny house AND spend more time in Australia..." Oh well...dream on...that I should live so long...

(Edit: this one turned out to be Fakebook News - someone had hacked the Sneek website and announced that a new IKEA would be coming to Sneek!)

Wind Power

2100 wind turbines... Would theoretically be enough to meet Friesland's current electricity needs. So says a report looking to future needs. 300 turbines at present. The report also looks at solar panels - theoretically, 18000 hectares needed. At present 15 hectares with 40 hectares in development. Geothermal energy also under consideration.

Norwegian Prison

There is a Norwegian prison in Veenhuizen. (about 15 minutes drive from us). 250 Netherlanders employed. 10. Norwegian personnel including Director. English is spoken. All the guards have to take classes to learn Norwegian and English. Not all of the prisoners have Norwegian nationality. They have minimum 3-year sentences and are flown into the airport at Groningen.