Week 39 De Stormruiter (Storm Rider)

Week 39 The Storm Rider

Ah,  Sunday Morning again!

Spoke to Alexander for his 18th Birthday. My, my... 18 already!

De Stormruiter

We're heading off to see it this afternoon... a live theatrical production about the centuries-long battle against the water here in Friesland. It also involves (more than 100!) Frisian horses...somehow...

(more next week). Of course, I will probably struggle with understanding it all, but from my little preparation, I gather that at least some of it is about building the dikes.

We once visited an old church/museum at Hogebeintum (Friesland). Dating from the 11th century, it is built on "the highest terp in the Netherlands", ie., on a man-made mound above the level of the incoming waters. Periodically, the land would become flooded and the people would head to the high ground of the terp - with their cattle and chooks - a place of physical and presumably spiritual safety.

From Google Translate:

A dike that defies the centuries

The Storm Rider is a captivating story about ambition, willpower and the fight against nature. A performance that engulfs the senses with unique experiences.

Der Schimmelreiter, the book on which De Stormruiter is based, was published in 1888. But in 2018, the story about the battle against water is more current than ever. 

Backgrounds

The battle of man against the water is as old as man himself. And although we Dutch are lord and master in the field of building dikes, building locks and other forms of water management, we are still facing major challenges. That makes De Stormruiter still a current story.

Capital of Water technology

Due to the warming of the earth, ice caps are melting and the sea water is rising. Regularly headlines about breaking ice floes or melted glaciers, and the threat that goes with it for humanity.

Fortunately, more and more companies and educational institutions are trying to do something against the threat of water. In Leeuwarden alone, numerous sustainable innovations are emerging. For example at the Wetsus institute, the leading knowledge center for water technology in Europe. It is not for nothing that Leeuwarden has been known for years as Capital of Water Technology.

Important role

Faderpaard Foundation, however, also wants to contribute. First of all, by organizing De Stormruiter, which emphasizes, among other things, the importance of dikes. The performance also shows the special role of horses in building dikes and in landscape development. But also what we owe to people who built dikes under the most severe conditions. Something to take the hat off.

Floor

In addition, there are events around De Stormruiter that provide a scientific floor on the subject of climate change. These events take place at various times in various locations in Friesland.

The foundation wants to make all people, tourists, but also the inhabitants of Friesland aware of global warming, sustainable developments and the importance of water management.

For my boating thoughts...

A ship crashed into a swinging bridge in Groningen this week...

A nearby house captured the actual event on it's security camera.

https://www.rtvnoord.nl/nieuws/199348/VIDEO-Bewakingsbeelden-van-aanvaring-Paddepoelsterbrug

Around the farm...

About 0730hrs. (I have to get up earlier these days to light the fire - chimney right of pic)

Getting strangely excited about the new roof. I've been wondering about just why that would be. I think it might be a combination of things: further progress and dealing with the problem. Even the Bank representative said that they are noticing that prospective buyers "want to take €300,000 off the asking price, even though the cost will only be €100,000". Insurance companies are also increasing their premiums as they expect more claims through people having fires as a way out, for example.

The roofing contractor has ordered the roofing and was here again during the week to measure up (again - measure twice, cut once!). I suspect that it is a very lucrative business at the moment, as evidenced by the huge BMW he was driving!. But...I was worried as he was moving the ladder around and flying over the roof... I couldn't help myself! I just had to move in and "foot the ladder". His lucrative business would mean nothing if his ladder slipped...oh well, old habits die hard, I guess. Even a more substantial ladder would be better in his line of work.

Taking the spouting off: (just after we got it all working again!)

Basic Plumbing 101

Small electric boiler

and it works!! (as does the drainage)!

I have to find and dig up the water supply - so that I can put a tap on it. Normally I just close everything off for the winter, but I have to keep water on to the Summer House - ha!, hadn't thought of that in the middle of our hot summer. I've started digging and am surprised to discover that it is more difficult to dig than the last time - about 10 years ago!

The Pumpkin Report

In fact, so many shops have them now, that I may well call it quits! I only started growing them because they were so difficult to come by. I'm sure I saw a Queensland Blue on display at the Jumbo Supermarket in Gorredijk - but only for decoration!

Had to fix both of these on Saturday morning!

 Oil leak on one, broken belt on the other...

One of the footballers on my team...😥

Ben heads to Australia on Tuesday...

Week 38 Swallows and Floating Horses

Week 38

Again, not much this week as my Persistent Pestilence...persists...

The title is that of a book that I have ordered (4 October). The Frisian language is supposed to be "closer to English" than any other language. Our Local Govt. run some Frisian classes; I may yet get there over the winter...

 From Google Translate:

Next month an English overview of Frisian texts will be published. "It is about the same size as our book about Norman,(another minority language from Northern France)" says the publisher.

Almost four hundred pages: "Swallows and Floating Horses", an overview of texts written in Frisian from the twelfth century up to and including today. The title comes from Faderpaard by Tsjêbbe Hettinga ( the swellen and / The sweeping hynders ''). The book contains not only literary prose and poetry, but also historical texts and even an excerpt from the Oera Linda Book , the famous nineteenth-century forgery that was considered a historical chronicle of Friesland.

The oldest text is about missionary Liudger, who, with the support of God, heals the Frisian bard Bernlef from his blindness. The last text is Myn lân by Elmar Kuiper, an elegiac poem about the bare Frisian landscape of today. "Together they tell a kind of history of Friesland," says Ernst Bruinsma, one of the compilers. At least that is the design. ''

Mission

The idea for this book arose when Clive Boutle from the London publishing house Francis Boutle came into contact with Alexandra Koch of the Dutch Foundation for Literature at a book fair. Boutle has been publishing anthologies of texts in European minority languages since 2006. ,, We have a kind of mission to make English speakers wiser, '' says the publisher.

There are very thin parts, like the book about the Manx, the language on the Isle of Man, and very thick, like that about the Welsh. The Frisian book, says Boutle, is about as thick as that of Norman, a regional language from the north-west of France.

Besides Bruinsma, Alpita de Jong and André Looijenga were also compilers. The texts were converted into English (via Dutch intermediary translations). The Frisian and English versions are next to each other. The province of Fryslân ensured that the Dutch interim translations could be made. The Letterenfonds (Literacy Fund) provided a translation grant for English translators. The main target group of these books are English-speaking readers, says Boutle. ,, But I also like to think that these anthologies are surprising for the speakers of the language themselves because they show something they have not thought of before, because of the combination of the familiar with the unusual and the uncomfortable. ''

The difficulty with such overviews is that you have to choose. The Frisian poet Cornelis van der Wal grumbled on his weblog that his work is lacking. ,, I can honestly say that it is not my fault '', says Boutle. "But with living writers you often run into it. At Welsh we had poets who did not want to, because they did not want to be translated into English. And perhaps Frisian has a thousand poets. They never all fit in. ''

Around the Farm

New Roof

We have decided on the form and colour (Terra Cotta) of the new roof.

The metal sheets will be in one length (8 metres) and have a condensation layer glued to the underside (that's a big problem over here with the hot (inside) and cold (outside). Without the layer, it would result in "rainfall" inside! (I wonder if they do that in Oz??).

We've gone for a few extras: boxed in eaves and new spouting for the courtyard apartments.

We still have to arrange for solar panels - at least providing the substructure for fastening.

The asbestos comes off from the 15th of October. The roofing contractor says that the asbestos removal guys are "pretty rough" so we have to keep an eye on them - and remove anything we want to keep ie., the spouting, for example.

So there's another job we can do almost immediately if only to stop all the jobs piling on top of each other!

A bit of plumbing in the Summer House. It's coming along slowly. Still doing it as cheaply as we can - using "leftovers" from previous works - even the little washbasin was on "special" at €4,50!!

A Tale of Two Fishing Expeditions...

Janny took the Day Clients fishing on Tuesday... nothing too special - just something different with the last of our good weather.

Then, on Wednesday, Janny also took the kids fishing - walking distance just up the road near the restaurant.

Towards the end, Janny heard a few "Phhts" and small splashes in the water. Wondering what was that? Somebody firing arrows? Then a few more - and then she realised that someone was shooting an air rifle (aka slug gun)!! Near the kids! So she rang the police (112) - they came and questioned a chap who had been sitting on his front porch - shooting at (or near) them! Still haven't heard the last of it yet from the Police - but Janny was quite shaken. Imagine if we had to explain that one of the kids had been shot! - it is a big deal that the kids are in our care. As it was, Janny went to each of the parents to explain what had happened, just in case the kids started talking about it.

Ben in China (still)

Last week, he found himself "in the middle of nowhere" up near the Mongolian border for a photo shoot - who knows why?... but the wonderful experience continues.

Week 37 Crook

Week 37

Taking a week off...

just a pernicious form of flu...

Mostly I'm too busy to get sick, but sometimes it's just nice to stay in bed! I did try to go to a party...but only lasted about half an hour!

We've started lighting the fire "out the back", which is normal for September.

I had some unused photos from last week. 

When we were traveling along the Prinses Margriet Kanaal near Wartena we saw a (non-powered) barge with huge semi-circular lock doors on it. It was being "pushed" by a ship from behind - but the skipper of that ship could not see past the load - and so there was another ship "pulling" at the front - and presumably doing the steering!

We later saw the construction site in Burgum, where they were busy making another set - handy to have the waterways for transport!

A fine spider's web - with rain!

Contemplating the new roof...I'm supposed to be helping with putting the new stuff on...oh well... (starts 15th of October)

Admiralty Day(s) In Dokkum

Admiraliteitsdagen 2018

It is now a very well-organised festival in the City of Dokkum, but it presumably derives it's name from the fact that one of five Dutch Republic Admiralties was based here for almost 200 years (1596 until 1795).

If interested, a Wikipedia article can be found here...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiralty_of_Friesland

Admiralty Wharf is still there...

as is Admiralty House (now a museum).

We arranged to leave work behind us on Wednesday and left Heerenveen at about 1830hrs - but in my haste, I had forgotten to check the water level (I had taken the filter off, but Sander had put it back together - so I just didn't think of it) - the end result being that we began to overheat after about 45 minutes. I dropped anchor and soon realised what I had (not) done! I added the coolant, but by that time it was nearly dark, so we tied up behind a few farm buildings...

I always sleep better on board for some reason, so up early and underway by 0700hrs. Our planned route had NO bridges that we had to wait for; even so, it took us another 7 hours to get to Dokkum.

0700 hrs about an hour from Heerenveen...

We were worried that all the moorings would be taken and it was in fact almost full - we saw an opening and went for it - one of those perfect "landings" that usually nobody sees - but this time we had a few onlookers!

Only to find in "the fine print" on the low side of the mooring a small sign that said, "only for sailboats with keels deeper than 1.5 metres". Damn! We waited for a while and then the money man came and said we would have to shift! - 100 metres closer to the city centre and on a mooring usually reserved for the handicapped! So, we didn't complain and very much enjoyed only having a 2-minute walk to the very new and good shower/toilet facilities! Three nights for €33,00 including water and electricity!

Shower facilities...

On Thursday, things were still being set up. It was plain to see that the whole city was participating in this open-air festival.

As Friday came around we had few gate-crashers (aka family) arrange to come and sleep on board - after enjoying the festivities! So, we ended up all going out together, enjoying the food, music, and atmosphere! 

As is the custom these days, I was first to bed at about 2230hrs - only to be roused by the rest at about 0230hrs - hard to imagine me sitting there in my undies enjoying myself with the party-goers. I would, of course, get my revenge with an early start in the morning!

Sleeping 6...

As is the custom in the Netherlands, it rained! Luckily, we had shelter under a tent where we could eat and drink. A radio station was one of the sponsors and we were asked to do an interview - Janny was ushered to the front and did the speaking. We saw the interviewer the next day. Apparently, her bosses were very happy that it had gone over so well - it was her first time out as a "live" interviewer.

Don't see many boats with a Japanese flag... this one had a lone sailor from Japan to America and back to England... and then with a few extra crew members over to the Netherlands.

We decided to break the return trip into two... leaving the boat in Drachten and being picked up by a brother-in-law.

So, back on Monday with Anneke as crew... we decided to try the new (for us) Polder Route through Nij Beets. This had recently been made navigable by raising all the bridges and installing a new lock at the Veenhoop end.

Very nice and peaceful... we only came across one other boat in the new part, as we near the end of the season.

It is definitely on our to-do list to spend a few nights at Nij Beets. They have also built new facilities, presumably with EU funding.

In Other News...

Famous last words on my part... I finished last week saying how much Ben liked Vietnam... his iPhone was stolen when two women rode up on a scooter - one of them grabbed Ben by the goolies and then they were gone... about 15 seconds later Ben realised that his phone was also gone!!

Janny had a phone call from the thieves the next day - I don't know iPhones, but apparently, they could get "in" far enough to find an "if found, ring this number" setting. So, they were asking for the login codes "and if we know for sure that you are the owner, we will return it". Yeah, right!

This continued for a few days until Ben had to return to Shanghai. He had done a complaint at the Vietnamese Police - just to make sure of his insurance. They weren't terribly interested. Nor was the Hostel - "happens all the time" - Ben was mightily pissed off that they hadn't said anything beforehand.

Janny sent a "hope you enjoy being locked out of the phone" message to end the matter as far as we are concerned.

Ben gets about a third of the value back on insurance.

... and lastly, the diesel tank is still leaking - so we'll have another go at fixing it. We have so much on our plates ATM that we have decided to take the boat out of the water for the winter - and do some more work on it when the pressure is off!!