This Week In Wijnjewoude 2021: Week 15 The Lockdown continues...

Week 15

In Wijnjewoude...and Amsterdam

One of the clients had a birthday party...

Another client picked up his new Volvo Hybrid - very nice! It only does 50kms before the diesel kicks in - but that's easily a round trip to us each day.

We had a Stone Marten in the chook shed - captured on a "wild" camera overnight.

We blocked up all the obvious holes - which must have worked because we also set a trap which remained empty. They are protected, so all we could have done is taken it away to annoy someone else.

Wood shed looking tidy again

Showing great dedication, Janny had to scrape the ice off the car before she could go swimming...in the outdoor pool!

We carved up the fallen tree from the week before...

Took the dog for a walk...

Chopped more firewood!

We were given an outside bench (This area might well become the new play area for the kids - Janny has ordered a new trampoline, so we'll try it here first).

And then we said goodbye to Boeke and headed off to Amsterdam - calling in to Heerenveen on the way to check on the boat. This would normally have been our first weekend out on the water - but we were so looking forward to having a couple of nights in Amsterdam.

Ben is still in Madrid and looks like staying longer as he has work and has started taking Spanish lessons! - so we might well use his apartment again!

Ben had it looking nice and welcoming when we arrived...

We parked the car at a Park & Ride Car Park about 4 trainstops from Central Station. It was advertised at €1,00 per 24 hours, but the meter first showed €50,00 until we put in our Public Transport tickets to show that we had in fact, used it. The meter then went down to €2,00 - a great way to not have any hassles about parking (and having to pay for it).

The red bag on the bed was a "mystery tour". containing sealed envelopes which had to be opened as we reached various destinations. The cards included photos and information about a few tourist spots. It was fun to do even though we had walked 15kms on Friday and another 17kms on the Saturday, including the tour.

The tour walk started at the Lindengracht (canal) with a story about the "Eel Riots" of 1886

The Eel Riot was a popular uprising in the Jordaan district of Amsterdam on July 25 and July 26, 1886. The riots started when the police tried to thwart the playing of the forbidden game of eel pulling on the Lindengracht. In the riot that followed, 26 were killed.

Apparently the aim of the game was to reach out and grab the eel which was hanging on a line - resulting in many people falling into the canal.

There was also an outdoor market when we started at about 0800hrs - when we got back at about 1200hrs it was just so busy - and hardly anyone wearing facemasks (except us!) or observing social distancing - it was as though the rules just didn't exist. People are not allowed to indulge in one of their favorite pasttimes - "sitting on the terrace" outside a pub, watching the world go by - so they just did it anyway, in the streets or on the sides of the canals.

I did manage to buy some pies...

I took a few photos of various means of transport...(there were also plenty of Tesla's and other electric cars - most of them too big for the parking spaces)

This first one costs about €14.000,00 to €16.000,00..

We took the free ferry across the Ij - part of the public transport system (behind Central Staion). Facemasks are compusory on Public Transport - and was mostly observed.