Sunday

Utrecht the old city, on a cold sunny Sunday


Downtown with townhall and the Dom

Being tired to keep on blogging, having a writers block. It's certain that February 23 was the last day I wrote.
In the past day's I worked a lot. That means more than I'm used to.
Also I had that feeling that the snow was coming. I'm always nervous, I look up to the sky, follow the news bulletins, watch the weatherchannel (if we had one)
Everytime it makes me anxious for the moment the first snow falls.

But today we had a few showers, nothing much left on the ground and on the roofs. It was cold though and with a strong North Eastern wind the air was clean.
I made some pictures of boats on the cannel, went to town to do the Dom The highest building in Utrecht

And tonight I'm gonna make myself a couscous meal.

Update

My colleague (B.) who was hospitalized is back home and will be working half days from next Tuesday.
In fact at 11 am she was at work for a while and tomorrow night she'll be at a party in Lage Vuursche. She doesn't feel sick.
My opinion is that you aren't then. Your body is sick and that needs treatment. However without a body the soul can't live.

B. will be at work but if it will be work is the question, B. has to take some rest. The wound has healed after almost a week. Within a few weeks they start the radiation. And depending how much energy it'll cost B. will try to work.
This can mean several things; Escapism from home, (B. admits that home means everyone asks her how she's doing), feeling at home at work (she's very work driven)

But whatever may be, there might the ice on the Marsian equator according to ESA.

A leaflet

First day at the office again. It was a day to be in the center and to work. I did enjoy it. My colleague made a picture while I tried to put up a working face.




There was much to do and after work we had much fun about a leaflet about the new organisation my employer tries to be.
In it was a picture of me and a co worker discussing something on paper. Actually we weren't discussing but suddenly we saw a photographer making a picture so we just said to each other "speak Dutch, ja ja ja ja" and that translated in English.
With the leaflet went something wrong. Phone numbers seem to be incorrect and the information provided is multi interpretable according to the number of questions we get.

But all together it was a perfect day.

Birthday

My first birthday since writing in a blog.
My mother and her friend Be came over from The Hague. And we had a pleasant chat about life, death, cancer, dead cats, politics and so on.
Also we talked about possible removal to France.

Be has had cancer and had an operation some years ago. happily it all seems to be okay. Every 6 months he must visit his doctor who checks some indicators like the PSA blood value.
But now when B. (my colleague,I talked about her last Friday) has an agressive form of cancer I asked Be what's going to happen next. It seems that all doctors have the same protocol. In the case of my colleague there are a lot of buts.

In fact life is hard. The counter is going up and every year is one year closer to the appointment with mr. Death. I just speak for my self. Sometimes people miss the appointment. Maybe they become the old soldiers from whom is said they never die.

Not amused

The mayor and her deputies as well as the local representatives are planning to create a fly-over.
They think that there will be less or even no traffic congestion.
On the other hand the local government will close one slip road to mayor highway A2, destination Amsterdam. All the traffic destined for Amsterdam has to go to the other slip road. This means they take the lane I'm living at.

This weekend we've a kind of test. From 9 am to 8 pm there is a traffic jam in front of my house. I think about inviting the mayor to my house to let her experience the problems.
I want a noise prove house. No, suddenly I want to emigrate to a place were nothing happens at all. On the foot of the Rocky mountains, a place called Horburg in Canada.

Today I cycled a bit earlier. That means I had only one instead of more rain and hail showers. I've been to one of the big rivers which form the delta The Netherlands really is. It appeared that the old bridge is out of use.


The 2 bridges.


The church on a Sunday in Lexmond, taken from the dike.

Tulips

I went to the city to buy some tulips. So the weekend is a little bit positive after the negative week.
Also my birthday is on Monday and flowers put a smile on anyone's face.


On a bridge in the city

Today was not really a special Saturday.
After 12 pm I watched some ice speedskating.
I couldn't motivate myself to cycle for an hour or more. So I didn't.

The whole day there is a traffic jam in front of my house. I got photo's of it taken from my balcony.
See for this my other page.

When I came home from the city I stopped on the pavement for pedestrians to shoot a photo of a men like statue on the grass. The 3 statues on the grass represent monks I believe. Once there was a middleageous monastery on the border of the river Vecht. On the foot of the statues the first crocuses of the year.

Taking the photo 2 men came to me, they wore a police like uniform and are employed with the local government. A kind of colleagues. They asked me to get off my bike I was sitting on taking a picture. I didn't do what they said.
Then first man let me know that I had to do what he said. So in the end I was forced to get off my bike.
I said to the men they were very narrow minded. They were just teasing an unaware citizen. But this day I didn't want to have any problems so I got off my bike and made the photo.
Now I'm full of anger. Stupid me. Those can't be colleagues. They aren't.

Cancer, a sledge hammer

Yesterday we got bad information about a colleague. I call her B.
The past two years she struggling against cancer in B.'s body.

It's worse than I expected. In fact I never knew how bad it is.
Actually both breasts are amputated some years ago. The cancer cells came back. Two years ago B. had chemotherapy.

B. never showed how hard it is and kept working just days after the therapy's.
In November she felt a certain pain in her shoulder and neck.
Doctors didn't make a checkup but send B. for some physio-massage.

B., a very emancipated woman, didn't ask for a immediate checkup. For a while the therapy worked but in December the pain came back. And when the doctors finally understood the seriousness B. had to wait weeks.
This altogether took 3 precious months, which might be decisive for B.'s life.

The cancer has grown and on scans it's not visible. Samples showed new cancer cells.
It's worse now. And B. thought that yesterday she would undergo her final operation to get the cancerous tumor out of her body.

Now it has to be radiated and after that operated. Bus first B. has to wait several week for the wound to heel. Then she has to undergo the whole process again.
It's a horror.
When cancer comes back it is like a sledge hammer and destroys everything on its path.

sun collectors

The house with sun collectors, told about yesterday.

A BBC report told about the universal dimming effect. It is about dust particals and air pollution by for example airplanes (what about the people in it). This effect makes sunlight less intense and there goes your eventual sun collector profit.
A windmill on top of the house would insure a more constant energy supply.
Yeah I know, cynism kills the world.

Wednesday

I just woke up, went to work and did the things I got to do.
I still got to make my tax-return before the end of next month. My desk is a mess, my livingroom is a mess as well as the kitchen, my wardrobe is the same.

I just take a to heavy burden on my shoulders. If I want to cycle with the club I have to make relevant choices. It's this or that. Not and this and that, and work and cycling and blogging. So blogging will be less. And because I got nothing to say :), it might be beneficiary for my blogging career, because I can reload my thoughts and restyle my writing.

I saw an old house in my neighboorboor with multiple sun collectors attached on the roof. That's good. At least some one shows initiative.
The photographs of the trainee are okay but with my analog camera I could make them better.

surprized

I was a little surpized yesterday when I read my mothers email with the attached scanned photo. She doesn't need a digital camera yet. It's only before next summer holiday in Croatia she'll buy one. It's only six months.
Last year I had a week off next week. This year I'll spread it more. So I think about not working on monday's. This brings me almost back to the summertime, on the end of March.
My summer vacation will be in a warm country. Because as I can spend some money why shouldn't I stay, before the real season starts, on the Canary Islands, or on Malta. Bikes are for rent there. And a week is more than enough.
O o, here starts my problem with cash flow again.

A sunset at my mother's

The color black

This color black we like while working.
It promises so much; There could be snow, hail, rain and even lightning in it.

Today we had a treat of a colleague who had her birthday this weekend: a home made cake, with rum, butter, biscuit and chocolate. Very tasty.

Top day

I had a wonderful day. It started with snow. So I stayed a little longer in my bedroom. reading newspapers and listen to some discussions on the radio. After my almost traditional political television show at lunch time. I took my bike and cycled for an hour.
Also I ordered some photoprints. It's very easy. Just make an account, select the digital pictures. Send them to the printshop and within days I can get them together with my grocery stuff.

Now I write this but there is still much to do.

Some pictures

a small florist's shop


again the shopping mall





The other side of the canal looking in the direction of my house.


One daily reader, Sallie, googled on Utrecht and found this about Utrecht.
It's a very good impression about Utrecht.
I asked myself if those pictures of the glorious past show how Utrecht is today.
In a certain way they do.
The sites on the photo's, they're used in the past and will be used still. And the bikes, you see them all over the city, all over the country.

last day

Today we had at 11 am a coffee break on behalf of the 25th years anniversary of the employment of one of our new colleagues. The colleague only changed department, a kind of job rotation.
In the afternoon we had the periodical meeting and after that a farewell dinner of our trainee. She made for us real couscous. I alway thought it must be eaten with a strong mix of herbs. This wasn't hot al all, actually just after midday it felt like a light meal.

She is the girl with the head-scarf I wrote about earlier. When she started (20 weeks ago) I asked myself how long it would take before she would un-scarf her head.
She didn't. She persisted in wearing it. I don't blame her, she has character.
She's trendy and has many colorful kerchiefs. However the black one made me sad.
It's good to know you, Fatima.

membership

This month I became a member of the trade union. The largest union in the Netherlands. This present government thought the unions were not vital anymore.
They thought that employers would not unite against them when the government came with plans about pensions and retirement. On the day of the mass demo in Amsterdam in November 04 I really confronted myself with being a member or not. Actually I've been thinking about it for years now but the demo was the trigger.

Also I'm a member of a politic party. That's to know what's going on in the party I'll probably vote in the national election year.
When we can vote local I had the idea this week to vote enviromentally. Which will be a green party with some influence.

You must know that I live close to one of the busiest road of the country and that the exposure to small dust particles here is worse than any other place in Europe. Knowing that traffic is going to explode in the future I can do 2 things. Move to another place just further away, 20 k or so. Or fight against windmills, also known as cars, automobiles, planes, trains.
This area isn't very good for heart, lungs and health in general. People here live 2 years less than Dutch in better situated area's

people

Working with people is often very pleasant. But when pleasure gets out of hand we are a bunch of scholars, girls and boys mixed together which will lead to an explosive mixture. Some day it will react and people will be hurt. Just mentally, not physically.
Hopefully it won't and this prophesy will turn out to be false, like most prophesies are.

One colleague of me is in love with a Turkish girl. She is the sister of another colleague.
That Turkish girl lives in Vienna and wants to go back to Turkey, to the Mediterranean coast. He likes to join her there.
He got to build up a complete new living, learn the language. And at an age of 50 that's hard. It's wishful thinking. I think he got no chance.

Who got a chance are people like my mother and her friend. They plan when they're both are pensionada's to buy a house in France. Prices are very low and one can get a house in the countryside.
A colleague of mine already did buy a house in France. An apartment with a view to Lac de Geneve. He likes to ski in winter.
Not my choice, actually. But when you can afford it and know how to ski, why not?

I heard something on the radio last night. It was about the new project of Christo in Central Park

Cookie

It was a beautiful day, even better than yesterday. At work we stayed warm and laughed about almost anything.
It was a day of the 40 laughs. A day to compete with the cliniclowns. But the patients are our clients as we call them and they get old, disabled, in despair of whatever requirement they need and at the end they die. Those people just die. And everything just goes on. The requirements are withdrawn and within days or weeks provided to another client. That's our life, that's your life.
Often those people are very fragile. But a man of 80 years old almost knows how to find the illegal way to get money out of the system. But it appears that he just cut his fingers, jauwwz!

At 16:45 I was home and could see a beautiful sunset. At 17:15 the sun was down.
But looking to the north you could see what's on the picture.

I almost forgot to tell that a colleague asked me if I wanted a homemade cookie.
Why not I thought. But then she showed me the cookies in a small bread bag. I had the feeling she would trick me and asked her if it were real cookies. Yes she said and I believed her on her big blue eyes and tried one.
It was very hard and had no taste. I knew it was wrong but broke the cookie between my teeth and started to chew. Well on this moment the colleagues who were there started to laugh. It's a dog cookie, she told me and started to bark like a dog.
Jauwwz!

Steamy water

Time for a sunny Sunday. The sun was warm enough to sit comfortably on my balcony. So I did. This was the weather I need to go for a ride on my new bike.
It felt like a very fast luxerious car if you're used to an old Mexican Beetle.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a bidon fresh water with me so the trip didn't last for long. After an hour I was back home.
However I enjoyed the top speed of 50 k/hr and the average of almost 30 wasn't important. The gear and the acceleration was so easy. I felt it cost no energy, only water.

By the way, in the morning I heard something about a project in California to concentrate sunlight to make water steam. This idea is used in a power station in CA.
Unfortunately the world is doing nothing with the idea for a decade now. If the world could go on water, how clean would it then be?
The answer is as clean as my bike ride of today.

riding around

It's 7 pm now, I rode through the province today and made a few pictures.
Typical Dutch is the windmill. What the Japanese red spots are doing on the cotton, stetched over the wings, I don't know.
Snowdrops alongside the road, the rooster and his chickens, sheeps and lambs (note that this is a silence area), a view towards IJsselsteijn and Lopik, famous for the broadcasting tower, possibly the largest Cristmass tree in the world.
And after that I caught a vision of the Lek. Still 15 kilometers to go.
It's a roundabout of 40 kilometers.

You can view the pictures of course, but leave a comment in return.


At Monfoort, the townhall








how living can be in a small town

Handsfree and stocking

Finally this week is over. There is a lot to say about this week; about my work, the stockmarket, about pensions to secure an income at an old age.

This week I did some work I normally don't do. Then I nose around in other people's financial business.
Most of them are 65 years or older.
I can see the difference between people who didn't do anything about securing their income position when they stopped working.
A lot of the pensionada's who are 70, 80 years old have a relatively small income., while they could have saved a lot more. After the second World War our nation started to save money for pensions. Some people have bigger, not to say huge pensions. They worked mainly for the government.
But to build up an income for retirement wasn't common till the sixties.
The hight what people get as a state pension doesn't depend on other income or not.
So in many cases people get twice as much as other people of the same age, education but differently employed.

One can save money and stock it on a savings account, but that doesn't really pay off. You better invest your money. In the long term it's one of the best ways to make your money grow.

But you got to be lucky to beat the constitutional investors in terms of ratio's.
I think it is unwise for people with a small amount to invest to do it all by themselves. In many cases it turns out to be a good choice but a bad era can destroy people's life.
Institutional investors with an active board and a government who controls them will make no mistakes like private persons do.

This week the stockmarket went very well. The European indices did about 3 % this week. That's not wrong. The highest level of 2004 has been broken. What this means I don't know, which tells you that I got no magical bowl.

okay, I feel like a tourist

A photo for today. Since January 1 we need an identity card with us and since that moment I feel like I'm a tourist in my own country.
F*ck this government with that America like policy. This is Europe, fools.

It's incredible what a few nights good sleep can do for a person. And when you're fresh life is good.
Tomorrow it's friday and then weekend!!! Time for a long trip by bike.

Sick of fish

At 8 was working. I haven't been so early lately. But it felt good. I slept well the last 2 nights.

My co worker didn't appear on his work this morning. I was a little worried. I asked our boss if she knew where he was, but she didn't. Well this was the moment to congratulate her being in office for 40 years now.
40 years, and she still looks young, hahaha, laughing out loud, no of course not.
She started working when she was 19 or something and still works in the same organisation. Rare in these days. February 24 it's time to celebrate this.
Reminds me that I got to extend my garderobe, hahaha.

At 11 am I learned that my co worker had sent an email to a colleague who was late too in which he said that he had a bad dinner in a fish restaurant.
Why didn't he sent an email to me. He knows my email address so what's the point sending a copy?

My last 10 visitors:

1. 2 February 05:55 Pac-West Telecomm, INC., United States
2. 2 February 19:36 Chello, Netherlands, The
3. 2 February 19:50 UPC Nederland, Amsterdam, Netherlands, The
4. 2 February 20:10 E.spire Communications, Inc., United States
5. 2 February 20:11 Canada (theedge.ca)
6. 2 February 20:12 SingNet Pte Ltd, Singapore
7. 2 February 20:12 RIMA Telefonica, Spain
8. 2 February 20:39 Planet Internet, Netherlands, The
9. 2 February 21:40 Planet Internet, Netherlands, The
10. 2 February 21:44 @Home, Netherlands, The

50% Dutch is too much for a blog oriented on the United States.
Help, Sarah, Caren, Wendy, don't forget to mention Ocean, Sallie and others............

sky

The sky was illuminated. 17:01 pm