Today is the spring equinox, and the first official day of spring in the Netherlands.
In this lovely Northern land, seasons have so much more meaning than in countries closer to the equator. You feel each new season with all your senses, in sharp contrast to the last one. The transition from one to another is [...]
This is for Tomas, and anyone else who hasn’t actually seen snow falling anywhere. The view is from our lounge window. The odd bicycle going by – everything becoming slowly and surely white. It has been a beautiful, crisp, white white winter, wonderful for us from Auckland, New Zealand.
It has not been so [...]
Continue reading about Snow Days for little people who haven’t yet experienced any
It is cold and miserable if you are a bird here in Haarlem right now, except if you are a smallish bird within 500 metres of this house.
The bird restaurant is very busy every day – yesterday saw visits from the blue & great tits, a tree creeper, a robin, 1 jay, black birds, rooks, [...]
Expat Voices: 25/01/10
ConnieLene Johnston on living in the Netherlands
Danish expat ConnieLene Johnston, who moved to the Netherlands from New Zealand, is ecstatic about Dutch bird life but cannot abide the way the Dutch simply park their bikes at any spot convenient to them. However, she has managed to join a group to continue spinning a [...]
Continue reading about Expatica.com article: 25/01/10, Expat Voices: ConnieLene Johnston
Want a ride?
Table for 4 sir?
Which bike is yours did you say?
Only a Netherlander would drive in an open convertible MGB and leave it open all day when there is snow all around and it could even rain – and then get into in the evening and drive away with it still open.
That is a positive view on life
In the Grote Markt – the Haarlem town square there lives a row of beautiful grey balls. They look very very cold in the early evening light. What can you do – you can knit, being a knitter – a ball cover, and hope that one ball is comforted by this.
See the ball [...]
Maybe the snow is really getting to us.
Last Sunday, John and the camera, me and 3 scarves, and a threaded needle went out into our park to a group of 3 trees that we had decided needed to be warmer. All the scarves were too narrow to be attached to the chosen three – so [...]
Nederland has a hell of a lot of rivers, canals and drains. Right now the rivers, canals and drains are mostly frozen over, and the snow lies on the ice like icing sugar. In the larger rivers and canals, there are still pools of water here and there – under the bridges, and where the [...]
Most of the time, the Netherlands has the most old-fart-friendly landscape on Earth. It’s flat, has wide footpaths and bicycle lanes, and easy access to everything urban and rural.
And then sometimes it snows and freezes…
My word, it is beautiful! And at first, the snow is easy walking. When you walk in fresh snow, the sound [...]
