Stet » The nether lands

Once more unto the intocht, dear friends

Ria — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 22:41:56 +0000

All of the Netherlands turned out yesterday to welcome the return of a pensionado (retiree) from Spain — Sinterklaas! And his merry band of pranksters, the Zwaartepieten (Black Peters), whose political incorrectness is tempered by the addition of fantasy Piets, such as the Elvis Piet.

Related posts: Thanks a lot, Voltaire Old habits The winter evening settles down

Future anterior

Ria — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:38:42 +0000

Here’s another neologism for you — premem — similar to my previous new word, and also triggered by one of my children. It means “pre-memory”, and while sounding like something out of a Philip K. Dick story, my meaning refers to a more intimate epiphany, one of those “golden moments” when you can already visualize,

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Hold the front page

Ria — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 22:30:01 +0000

Another place, another great headline. Whereas my previous favourite headline from Jamaica was a classic in understatement, the front page headline in our local paper in The Netherlands this week was a gem of a different sort:

Man falls off bike A 57-year-old man from E— was injured on Tuesday morning when he fell off

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Grimm times

Ria — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 22:13:38 +0000

The last few days have given us some beautiful misty mornings. I took this detour home after dropping the kids off at school this morning. Carved in the bark of the last tree were the words, “Dopey 4 Snow White”.

Hmmm … I wonder what will happen if I eat these mushrooms

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Getting away from it all?

Ria — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 00:18:48 +0000

We left Jamaica almost a month ago, leaving behind water and power shortages and the threat of hurricanes. We’re ending our break in Europe with other, unexpected hazards.

Groningen rocked by ‘record’ earthquake

8 August 2006

AMSTERDAM â€” An earthquake shook the north of the Netherlands early on Tuesday morning. Measuring 3.5 on the

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Nol in ‘t Bosch

Ria — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 18:22:51 +0000

One of many photos from BJ, before Jamaica. The stabs of lights on the ground make me think of the Mysterons from the TV show Captain Scarlet. Yes, it was one of the cornier series of the times, with the flying Angels and Scarlet talking like Cary Grant, but still, the spooky voice announcing

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Schiphol

Ria — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 13:27:00 +0000

We arrived at sunrise in a two-car convoy from the northern provinces. Laden with a multitude of luggage, we bore down on terminal two and yea there we wept when we saw the mighty snaking queue at British Airways. And so it was that fellow traveller smote fellow traveller and appendages were crushed under

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We zijn d’r bijna, we zijn d’r bijna

Ria — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 06:13:00 +0000

Maar nog niet helemaal!

Altogether now …

It’s a Dutch thing.

>>>The clock’s ticking, in three days we’ll be flying off to Funky Kingston.

Oh, but we haven’t got any tickets.

It was hard enough getting a booking through the office in Jamaica. Frantic emails shot across the Atlantic: “A BA traveller class counts

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Not quite a Jaguar

Ria — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 15:03:00 +0000

Listen loud while you read …

On the road again, to Schiphol to pick up Mr B. from Paris.

After accelerating to 130 km/hr, I noticed that the car didn’t slow when I eased off the gas.

I braked slightly and tried again.

It was barely noticeable since I was going

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Of all the gym joints (part 2)

Ria — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 16:32:00 +0000

While you’re reading …

Shortly after arriving in the Netherlands, I signed up at the local gym, determined to get my ass in shape for this year’s Bubbling Championships in Jamaica.

By a double coincidental quirk, the first time I went, I found that my “personal trainer” had the same name as the one

Continue reading Of all the gym joints (part 2)