Last winter Best Beloved waited by the door to take photos of me as I returned after being caught in a snow storm. This year I returned the favour.

Best Beloved was out purchasing serious supplies – (I think wine), and returned in rather snowy conditions.

The photo was taken on 4th December.

4th Dec - surprise snow

The effect of this unseasonal and early snow was to halt train travel in many parts of the Netherlands.

On Sunday 5th December we travelled by train into Amsterdam to see Cirque de Soleil “Totem” – the trip took nearly 3 times the time anticipated and included being stuck on a train 250 metres from Amsterdam Station. We did get to the show but rather late.

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 so fast it makes you blink with disbelief.

Only three weeks ago, night temperatures (and even some daytime ones) were still below zero.  Ice still covered the drains in the fields and part of the canals, and frost sparkled on the morning pavements and railway tracks.  Rain in the evenings sometimes reverted to snow, which lightly coated the rooftops and bare branches on the trees in our lane.  On the canals and rivers, ducks and coots still flocked together.

But even then, something was happening.  The snow no longer lay for days – it quietly melted away.  The bare branches began to quicken, blushing faint pink as the sap flowed.  Buds formed.  Blackberry bushes lining the pathways had been cut back to ground level in the autumn by council workers – now they sprouted long barbed tendrils.  The browned off grasses began to green, slowly at first and then with a rush.  Bulbs forced their green leaf-spears through the turf.  And the birds’ behaviour began to change.  They had behaved politely, with perfect manners, in the winter freeze.   A colourful mix of great tits, blue tits, sparrows, jays, red robins, tree-creepers and chaffinches had shared the seeds, nuts and fat-balls we put out for them.  A harmonious multi-racial, multi-species society feeding together at the expats bird cafe.  Until three weeks ago, that is, when we saw the first signs of bickering, the odd flash of temper.

Three weeks – that’s all it takes.  Now, daytime temperatures are in double figures (seventeen Celsius on Friday) and the last two nights lows were thirteen degrees.  The buds on the branches are showing leaves.  Rabbits feast on the grasses.  The bulb spears that emerged three weeks ago, like timid green pennants on a battlefield, now wave the multi-coloured flags of their flowers – snowdrops and crocuses are the first, but the daffodils and tulips will not be too far behind them.

The change in the birds is just as abrupt.  Gone are the table manners – gone indeed are any manners other than those of courtship.  There is inter-species total war.  The tits drive the tree-creeper off the insect block, the blue tits scrap with the great tits, and the robin no longer dines with the others.  On the water, the great flocks have dispersed as ducks and coots seek their own little piece of the river.  Against their own kind, all species battle for dominance in the pecking-order, seeking the prizes of the best mate and the best territory.  Winners are already courting, dancing and pairing up.  It’s spring.  It’s the mating season.

Game on!

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 wonderful for those who have slipped on the icy paths, or those who have fallen off their bikes because they hit black ice. Best Beloved’s boss did that. A youngish fit Man – crashed off his bike and made a bit of a mess of his face. The hospitals have had a huge increase in injuries caused by accidents on the icy footpaths, bicycle lanes and roads.

The photos are in colour and if you click on them they will be much clearer – it is a trick of the wintery light.

We have loved the winter season, the white, crisp snow and the gluhwein, soups, stews, and walking in the park, looking at trees with scarves on them. (well one tree with one scarf). We have loved the lights that have lit up the town so beautifully, and having a Christmas that looked like all those Christmas cards we have seen every year since we were very young. Being here you can understand better the celebrations that occurs in the dark of a winter. All that food has a relevance here in the extreme cold, all the candles, all the decorations – it has been a wonderful experience.

The shops (winkels) have really interesting Christmas windows, and before that windows for Sinter Klaas and Zwarte Piet.

We have loved every bit of this winter season here in the Netherlands apart from the slippery icy paths.

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, and jackdaws.

The rooks and jackdaws – fly away if they sense our movement in the house or if we roar out the window or rush through the door. The little birds seem to know that it is not them we are shouting at – and they stay and big birds rush away. I have just seen off 5 jackdaws. I don’t know how they manage to all be in our flimsy scrubby little trees at one time, because they are so big. What generally attracts my attention is the movement outside the window – the little birds do not make the branches wave about.

We think the rooks and jackdaws are okay because they scavenge everywhere and we feed them at the park and at the canals as well, when we are feeding the ducks, geese, swans, sea gulls etc.

We have tried feeding the wood pigeons in the park – but they are very shy and don’t come down to eat the grain until we leave. That’s okay. On Sunday we came back around the corner to a huge number of wood pigeons on the ground – so they are eating the seeds.

We think they love us – or they would if they knew we were the food source. We are delighted that our neighbours here have said they will take over the restaurant once we wend our way back to New Zealand.

We buy bird food at a stall at the Saturday market – and there are always people buying. On Saturday there were more people crowding around the Bird Food stall holder than ever before. It is even on the news that we should feed the birds and the people are feeding the birds on the bridges over the canals, in the parks, everywhere.

Bird food however is not tuppence a bag.

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 good yarn or two…

Name: ConnieLene Johnston
Nationality: Danish
City of residence: Haarlem, Netherlands
Occupation: Designer, Knitter, artist
Reason for moving to the Netherlands: My husband has a position here
Lived in the Netherlands for: 17 months

What was your first impression of the Netherlands?

Grey, drab and I hated the hotel – but after a few days the sun came out and we had a place to live and it all got very much better from that point.

What do you think of the food?

Traditional Dutch food – very over processed and the source can be unrecognisable. There are many deep fried foods which are not to my taste. But there is great access to many foods from many lands and I absolutely love that.

What do you think of the shopping in the Netherlands?

Great – I love the fact that the Netherlands are not succumbing to the great mindless American Mall syndrome that New Zealand – where we come from, has. Why would anyone want to spend a day out at a mall? They do that in New Zealand.

There are not enough yarn choices here. I buy yarns in every country I visit if at all possible. But then it would not matter how many places there were that sold yarns – it would still not be enough for me.

What do you appreciate about living in the Netherlands?

I love the great public transport and my bicycle and the fact that we do not need a car–ever. Who would have thought that at my age I would be riding a bicycle? (I didn’t ride a bicycle between 15 and 61 years.) I love the terrain. I absolutely love the birds, and now that it is winter our garden is a bird restaurant. Currently–just outside our door – we’ve spotted jays, magpies, tits (Great, blue, long-tailed), Blackbirds, thrushes, red robin, wood pigeons, doves. My husband John has seen a Curlew (I am jealous of that), and I have seen two types of tree creepers. There are Dutch people at John’s work who have not even seen this bird. We feed swans, coots, ducks, jackdaws, rooks and sea-gulls. There are many birds in New Zealand but they are not common on your door-step.

I love the architecture – new and old, canals, polders, windmills, art, museums, bike tracks, and train travel, and the flowers everywhere. I appreciate Skype, the internet, and email in a way I didn’t before coming here.

What do you find most frustrating about living in the Netherlands?

The language. There are a lot of discussions about expats needing to learn the language, and yes they should. It is not an easy language to learn and it is very difficult to practice because when you attempt to use it – the Dutch person you are speaking with replies in English. But then you also meet people in shops in particular who carry on speaking Dutch to you even though you have said that you do not know the language well enough. They can be very rude. We have met marvellous people who are exceptions and will have fun with you and the language – us speaking English and them answering in Dutch, and us trying in Dutch or a mix of Dutch and Danish and English and so on.

The other frustrating thing is that I cannot read the food labels –everything appears so altered that you cannot be certain of what you are ingesting – so we make most of our meals from scratch. If we go out and eat John always ends up with a breakfast or a lunch – the meals here are for mountain men not ordinary people who do not work in a physical way. Thank goodness people here do lots of bike riding – otherwise there could be a real health issue.

What puzzles you about the Netherlands and what do you miss since you’ve moved here?

Why are they so rude? The Dutch park their bikes close to where they are – that could be on pedestrian crossing, on the footpath, even where the snow has been cleared to make narrow safe walking area for pedestrians. They have no sense that they should move to one side if they are in hearty discussion with others on the footpath – you can just go out onto the road or onto the bike path were you can be called things like piss pot – can you believe a woman maybe in her 40’s calling us that.

Because I do not go to work – I miss general contact with people speaking in English. I was born in Denmark, but English is the language I have been using for most of my life. I have slogged through snow in icy conditions to go to the doctor in Amsterdam – to pick up a prescription which could have been faxed – just so I can speak with someone in English without having to apologise for my poor Dutch. How sad is that?

How does the quality of life in the Netherlands compare to the quality of life in other countries that you’ve lived in?

The quality of life here is excellent, but the houses are sooo tiny, we would call them a flat in New Zealand. Everything is handy for us, living as we do within Haarlem – walking distance to everything and close to parks, the canals, the windswept beaches and the bikeways. There is great access either to places within the Netherlands or to Europe and all things artistic and creative. It is great for the soul. New Zealand has a great quality of life as well – it is just different, less history, bigger houses and gardens, great country side– just no real seasons in the North – I love the seasonal changes here – although I have had enough of the snow and ice and am glad of the respite.

Here is much more expensive.

If you could change anything about the Netherlands, what would it be?

I would teach all school children good manners so that when they are adults they will actually consider others when they go about their daily business.

I would also encourage people working in the food industry to learn to wash their hands and use tongs and gloves when preparing food for others to eat. Food regulations in other countries do not allow a person to pick up food with their bare hands where it is to be served to another person. I have seen some appalling food handling here. I watched a woman clearing tables – moving food from one plate to another on a stack, putting it down and then go and make a sandwich for another person without washing her hands.

What advice would you give to a newcomer?

Join as many groups as you can either one where they speak in the same language as you do and any Dutch groups where you have a common interest. For instance I now belong to the local Stitch ‘n Bitch Group in Haarlem. I waited far too long and would have benefited from doing so much earlier. All Dutch people are educated in English – if you have a common interest, like knitting, then the language will not be a major problem and your language skills will develop more quickly.

Would you like to add anything?

I am a passionate knitter, designer and artist. I have recently at the tender age of 62 created and installed my first art graffiti piece here in the centre of Haarlem – The Haarlem Ball Warmer.

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 story here

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 we walked around the park and found a slender young tree and I sewed a scarf lengthwise to it. The tree had looked really cold – like really really cold. It looks cosy now and not at all startled by this new event.

I don’t know that this is knitted graffiti – and it was a bit stressful, and fun, and very odd. I am thinking about that – maybe it wasn’t really odd – maybe we are a bit odd – I don’t know. One young couple came to check on us and seemed quite happy that the tree was now warmer. They hail from Australia and live virtually around the corner from us. The locals (I am presuming Dutch) just walked by.

Because it was a bit stressful I asked my very odd friends and family if I should go and retrieve the scarf before I am taken away – unanimously the answer was no.

So bowing to public pressure the tree still has the scarf on it and it looks great.

One thing we had not considered when we carried out this act is that we can actually see the tree from our house.

And I watch and noone pauses, rushes over, or even does a sideways glance as they go by. Maybe there are other trees in the Netherlands wearing their own scarves so that the locals think it is quite normal.

I have been back to talk to my tree – you can see how our relationship has changed – now it my tree, and I can tell you that the dogs consider a tree wearing a fashion scarf unusual. How do I know this – the snow around the tree is pristine white – no yellow snow here.

But of course this scarf is free for the taking by anyone who wishes it. Just like those that I hung on the railing outside our little steeg.

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 canals join and the water flows more swiftly.

Ice does funny things to wildlife.  Winter is a social time for the water birds.  Normally they are either solitary or in pairs, but now the ducks, geese, swans and coots all gather together in flocks.  They stand around on the ice, but seem to tire of that, so head for the shrinking pools of water to rest.  The coots, looking like hybrid pukekos, walk confidently on the iced-up canals toward the water.  About a foot short of the water, the ice breaks under their weight.  They look very surprised and utterly undignified!  They swim through the thin ice, breaking a little passage until they reach the open water.

The ducks, waddling along the canal with less grace and much less confidence, have a very different approach.  One after the other, about twenty feet short of the water, they suddenly take off, flying low over the ice and landing with dignity and aplomb in the water, where they immediately swim to the left or right, clearing the landing path for the following ducks.  That strategy never seems to occur to the coots, even though they are skilful flyers who usually land elegantly in water.

Neither species likes landing on the ice from the air, so they avoid doing that unless they have no choice.  They slide completely out of control when they land on it, and we see the skid-marks.  So their strategy on leaving the water to return to the ice is to swim toward the edge of the ice and right into it, like feathered ice-breakers.  When the ice no longer yields, they climb on to it – a little clumsily but with much less drama than when landing on it.

But ice does even funnier things to scared rabbits in a hurry. At least, it did funny things to one rabbit that I scared without meaning to do so.  I approached the edge of a frozen canal to get a closer look.  The land around was six inches deep in snow, the frozen vegetation on the edge of the ice dripping with the thick icing.  So I crunkled towards it.  I did not see the rabbit concealed right on the edge of the vegetation, and as my boots fell right beside it, it finally panicked, bolting from beside my feet straight onto the ice, in two bounds.  Normally, rabbits cross frozen water as easily as any other animal.  But a frightened rabbit tries to keep on bounding.  Heh heh – that’s impossible!  The hind legs have no purchase on ice, so instead of bounding, the rabbit slithered, about six inches at a time.

My laughter didn’t help – it just terrified the poor scared rabbit even more.  I think it took twenty slithering bounds to travel ten feet along the canal.  At last, it climbed out onto the bank, and stood panting and exhausted, in full view, until it regained its breath enough to slip under cover.

There is one species to which the ice does even funnier things.  Humans, of course.  It makes all of them insanely happy!