This morning I got into the car at 7.45 A.M. and headed for Bergeijk, to bring to my brother the long-promised radio (see previous posting). The weather was very windy (6-7 Beaufort) and sometimes a shower. I have driven this route dozens of times, and I must say that I don’t hate it. At first there is the Frisian landscape with flat pusta-like plains, only these are much greener and also permeated with lakes and canals. Then one drives through an area which was sea-bottom only 40 years ago, and now “furbished” with a complete infrastructure of towns, trees, small woods, agriculture, roads, a railroad, and also very flat. Above this flat landscape an enormous sky overwhelms you, especially at this weather: dark grey and white clouds with silver brims against a bright turquoise. Sometimes the sun rays draw their clear lines from behind the clouds to the earth. At a given time, I wanted to make a photo just when the sky was at its most beautiful, and I parked my car at the first parking lot possible. But then the nice rays were gone, and I decided to wait until they would appear again, but all I could make was the picture shown here. 
Then after ten minutes I started driving again and yes, you guess it… there they were again, those fancy rays. During the trip I listened to the radio, there was an interview with two researchers. One of them had gone to an island group in the Pacific and the other to Alaska, both to study the effects of the climate change we are now experiencing. I felt the effects this year, and especially during this trip: nature was confused, birds behaved as if it was spring, plants started to blossom, etc. The storm had now been lasting for four days already, mostly it is one day or night and then it’s over. In Alaska and the Pacific islands the rise of the sea level was already noticeable and permafrost is thawing out. I had read that this process itself also enhances the greenhouse-effect because of the released gasses, in a positive feedback or vicious circle. I must not think of the effects on Holland, it would almost be reduced to half its size, and the country is already so small. I thought of all those people buying expensive houses located below sea-level, with long-lasting mortgages, and of all young people who had to cope with the enormous difficulties and problems that we can expect this century. Anyway, for the time being landscape and the sky were beautiful although my enjoyment was a bit spoiled by feelings of guilt because I was driving such a distance for only bringing a radio to my brother. We are really addicted to energy consumption, Janine and I had decided to abandon the laundry dryer and the dish washer, but so much more could be done. We also don’t eat chicken and pig meat anymore because of the polluting bio-industry, Janine is already a complete vegetarian. If the whole Western world and China would give up mass consumption of all these nice things you don’t really need then maybe it would help a bit but I’m afraid that’s just impossible. With these thoughts I now drive through the small sand hills covered with fir woods around Hilversum and Amersfoort, pushed up by the glaciers of the second latest Ice Age. It’s called the Utrechtse Heuvelrug (the Utrecht Hills Ridge). After another twenty minutes they are left behind and we drive along the city of Utrecht, one of the four “big cities” of the Netherlands (nothing compared to Paris or Shanghai, I think it has only around 350.000 inhabitants). Then the landscape gets picturesque again, with the crossing of the big rivers showing the atmosphere of our painter Jacob Ruysdael (see picture with the mill, now the sights are greater because they are from the highroad-bridges). They should make parking lots near the highway to let people enjoy the sights, but we Dutch find this all “too normal” and rather take the plane to see the Niagara Falls which we consider far more exciting. Crossing the rivers Waal en Maas means also crossing a cultural border. South of the rivers there is a Roman culture which is recognisable all the way to Gibraltar, North of them the culture is Protestant, recognisable all the way to Hammerfest in Norway. To describe the differences takes too much space here, maybe another time. It’s comparable to the differences between North and South America, although less sharp. Part of the Catholic Southern Netherlands has been allocated to the Dutch kingdom in 1832 AD, although culturally it belonged to the Southern Netherlands together with Flanders which is now the Northern part of Belgium. Since that time the Southern part of the Netherlands and the Northern part of Belgium have gone their own ways, so their inhabitants now feel themselves Dutch and Belgians, although the “Belgians” feel themselves more “Flemish” than “Belgians”and try to separate from the French-speaking Southern part of Belgium. (The Flemish speak an own kind of Dutch). I can imagine that Americans find this rather incomprehensible, but that’s the way it is. In the Balkan people have made war for these identity-issues on small areas of land. Then via Den Bosch and Eindhoven to Bergeijk where I arrived at 11.30, 3.5 hours after my departure in Hurdegaryp. It was on a Sunday morning so there was not much traffic. Of course my brother Wessel was very happy to see me, just like the other inhabitants of the house. They were just watching a video of a motor-biking event (see previous posting) and I could see our passed-away parents on it, rather touching because I saw these pictures for the first time. The radio was unwrapped and admired extensively by everybody. Then, during the welcome-coffee, Wessel started to ask: “We go where?”, because he is used to be taken somewhere each time a brother or sister visits him. One should consider that these people cannot go somewhere whenever they like it, they always need company, just like small children. We decided to go to Postel to have lunch, to a restaurant connected to an abbey in this small Belgian village, it’s only 15 minutes driving and Wessel likes the place very much because he also went there often with his parents when they were alive. There we visited the abbey garden where he caressed a pony (see picture) 
and the chapel. Although, or maybe just because it was a centre of Catholicism, they also had a shop which was open this Sunday (In the Netherlands with its protestant culture most shops are closed on Sundays), and we bought there cheese, bread, cookies and beer, all produced at the abbey. In the restaurant we enjoyed an “uitsmijter” (eggs and bacon with salad and abbey-bread). Wessel asked the waiter if they had caps for his caps-collection but we told him that monks didn’t have caps which he found a bit disappointing. I also like the place because of the memories it evokes and I decided to go there more often: when I leave earlier we could go to the Holy Mass which Wessel always appreciates very much, especially when it’s celebrated by a whole groups of monks. He finds it fascinating how these men pass their lives, praying and working, and doesn’t stop asking questions about it.
After a well spent day I brought him home and returned to Hurdegaryp, along the same route but now the other way. It was not only the radio I went for.
Then after ten minutes I started driving again and yes, you guess it… there they were again, those fancy rays. During the trip I listened to the radio, there was an interview with two researchers. One of them had gone to an island group in the Pacific and the other to Alaska, both to study the effects of the climate change we are now experiencing. I felt the effects this year, and especially during this trip: nature was confused, birds behaved as if it was spring, plants started to blossom, etc. The storm had now been lasting for four days already, mostly it is one day or night and then it’s over. In Alaska and the Pacific islands the rise of the sea level was already noticeable and permafrost is thawing out. I had read that this process itself also enhances the greenhouse-effect because of the released gasses, in a positive feedback or vicious circle. I must not think of the effects on Holland, it would almost be reduced to half its size, and the country is already so small. I thought of all those people buying expensive houses located below sea-level, with long-lasting mortgages, and of all young people who had to cope with the enormous difficulties and problems that we can expect this century. Anyway, for the time being landscape and the sky were beautiful although my enjoyment was a bit spoiled by feelings of guilt because I was driving such a distance for only bringing a radio to my brother. We are really addicted to energy consumption, Janine and I had decided to abandon the laundry dryer and the dish washer, but so much more could be done. We also don’t eat chicken and pig meat anymore because of the polluting bio-industry, Janine is already a complete vegetarian. If the whole Western world and China would give up mass consumption of all these nice things you don’t really need then maybe it would help a bit but I’m afraid that’s just impossible. With these thoughts I now drive through the small sand hills covered with fir woods around Hilversum and Amersfoort, pushed up by the glaciers of the second latest Ice Age. It’s called the Utrechtse Heuvelrug (the Utrecht Hills Ridge). After another twenty minutes they are left behind and we drive along the city of Utrecht, one of the four “big cities” of the Netherlands (nothing compared to Paris or Shanghai, I think it has only around 350.000 inhabitants). Then the landscape gets picturesque again, with the crossing of the big rivers showing the atmosphere of our painter Jacob Ruysdael (see picture with the mill, now the sights are greater because they are from the highroad-bridges). They should make parking lots near the highway to let people enjoy the sights, but we Dutch find this all “too normal” and rather take the plane to see the Niagara Falls which we consider far more exciting. Crossing the rivers Waal en Maas means also crossing a cultural border. South of the rivers there is a Roman culture which is recognisable all the way to Gibraltar, North of them the culture is Protestant, recognisable all the way to Hammerfest in Norway. To describe the differences takes too much space here, maybe another time. It’s comparable to the differences between North and South America, although less sharp. Part of the Catholic Southern Netherlands has been allocated to the Dutch kingdom in 1832 AD, although culturally it belonged to the Southern Netherlands together with Flanders which is now the Northern part of Belgium. Since that time the Southern part of the Netherlands and the Northern part of Belgium have gone their own ways, so their inhabitants now feel themselves Dutch and Belgians, although the “Belgians” feel themselves more “Flemish” than “Belgians”and try to separate from the French-speaking Southern part of Belgium. (The Flemish speak an own kind of Dutch). I can imagine that Americans find this rather incomprehensible, but that’s the way it is. In the Balkan people have made war for these identity-issues on small areas of land. Then via Den Bosch and Eindhoven to Bergeijk where I arrived at 11.30, 3.5 hours after my departure in Hurdegaryp. It was on a Sunday morning so there was not much traffic. Of course my brother Wessel was very happy to see me, just like the other inhabitants of the house. They were just watching a video of a motor-biking event (see previous posting) and I could see our passed-away parents on it, rather touching because I saw these pictures for the first time. The radio was unwrapped and admired extensively by everybody. Then, during the welcome-coffee, Wessel started to ask: “We go where?”, because he is used to be taken somewhere each time a brother or sister visits him. One should consider that these people cannot go somewhere whenever they like it, they always need company, just like small children. We decided to go to Postel to have lunch, to a restaurant connected to an abbey in this small Belgian village, it’s only 15 minutes driving and Wessel likes the place very much because he also went there often with his parents when they were alive. There we visited the abbey garden where he caressed a pony (see picture) 
and the chapel. Although, or maybe just because it was a centre of Catholicism, they also had a shop which was open this Sunday (In the Netherlands with its protestant culture most shops are closed on Sundays), and we bought there cheese, bread, cookies and beer, all produced at the abbey. In the restaurant we enjoyed an “uitsmijter” (eggs and bacon with salad and abbey-bread). Wessel asked the waiter if they had caps for his caps-collection but we told him that monks didn’t have caps which he found a bit disappointing. I also like the place because of the memories it evokes and I decided to go there more often: when I leave earlier we could go to the Holy Mass which Wessel always appreciates very much, especially when it’s celebrated by a whole groups of monks. He finds it fascinating how these men pass their lives, praying and working, and doesn’t stop asking questions about it.After a well spent day I brought him home and returned to Hurdegaryp, along the same route but now the other way. It was not only the radio I went for.
1 comment:
very well written Erik.. I enjoyed the post a lot.
Post a Comment