Week 29 Sitting On the Dock of the Bay

Around the farm

We put in an extra bed inside the glasshouse...

The first zucchini

A round or "bol" courgette (zucchini) - this wasn't bad, baked with pepper and salt. And they are so easy to grow - the BBC has heaps of recipes at this time of the year.

We woke early on Friday morning and were away on the boat by 0900hrs. Arrrived in Boornzwaag at 1130hrs.

Settled in and then walked to Langweer for lunch at the bakery.

Janny caught up with Sjoukje - they live in Boornzwaag, but were away the last time we were here.

I did a three-burner meal on board, which included some Langweer sausages - so good that we bought some more to take home. (Of course, there was one extra for Boeke).

I wrote some stuff on Saturday morning as I was "Sitting on the dock of the bay" - well, the dock of the haven at Boornzwaag (again).

I was thinking about pottering, but that's more something I do at home...so boat-watching seemed more appropriate.

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay

(just the first verse)

Sittin' in the mornin' sun
I'll be sittin' when the evenin' comes
Watching the ships roll in
Then I watch 'em roll away again, yeah
I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
Watchin' the tide roll away, ooh
I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time

So, a day on the boat...

0600hrs Lucky to sleep the whole night through - happens a bit on the boat.

Use Frank's "Emergency Relief" Bottle For Old Men, and get Boeke out of his bed.

0700hrs take Boeke for a walk

0745hrs On some mornings, the boat is covered with condensation. It is somewhat of a ritual to wipe it off and in so doing clean off all the grime and spider poop, without having to use a bucket of water. In the realm of pottering, I have a microfibre polishing cloth here somewhere. I give it a try - it seems to work OK and I get a nod of approval from the First Mate.

Boeke looks on with little interest, still trying to figure out if he likes the boat, or not. Sleeping on the jetty is OK, but it is not really "my territory" to defend.

0830hrs Time to make a cuppa. More than 2 years without coffee - who would have thought?

I make coffee for Janny and greet her with the thought "we need to have a talk"...

Sounds a bit ominous... She walks to the local bakery for croissants which we have with another cuppa.

Now, Janny had all but arranged for us to leave the boat in Boornzwaag for 4 weeks. I woke up with the feeling that we should do something else, like going to Blokzijl or...anything.

It turned out that I needn't have worried because Janny had awoken with exactly the same thought. We might instead, leave the boat in Dokkum for a few weeks and encourage other family members to use it as a holiday cabin. We shall see. 

I also have a "volunteer" crew member if I take the boat to Dokkum without Janny - Tjeerd, our real volunteer, has never been to Dokkum - so it would be great for him to see it. He has helped with the boat before and seems to like it.

There is also a cheap rate for electricity in Dokkum if we find the right spot - using an app to register and only pay for what we use. Normally, the electricity is"included" but then you have to pay even if you are not using it. The "Chief Negotiator" will no doubt work out a price with the Havenmeester - for 4 weeks.

We're also thinking of extending our year by going to Dokkum in November - now that we have a heater on board. Have to wait and see what is really happening with the weather - if anybody knows, these days. (On Sunday morning Friesland had quite a lot of rain - heaps in Dokkum and our own rain gauge in Wijnjewoude showed 50mm!!)

It was also raining in Boornzwaag, but I had to keep up my walking "habit" and take Boeke out in any case.

So, I donned my trusty raincoat (from 1986)...(Janny hates it - but it comes in handy, sometimes).

The resident Fisherman in Boornzwaag (Klaas) has 4 weeks holiday, but he is only going to do what he normally does - fishing -  without the interruption of having to go to work for 4 days a week.

Boeke is soaking up the sun on the jetty, but expecting a change later in the day...

Have a chat with the sailor from the boat next door- the wind is picking up so he is full of high expectations for the day.

One boat has three dogs of Boeke's size and breeding. Another dog from another boat came to say hello and jumped straight into our wheelhouse - just to check it out.

The passing parade of boats large and small...

We had to help some first-time Germans with mooring. They disappeared on their bikes and didn't come back - maybe they know someone nearby? (It seems that they had come back but had left their bikes somewhere else).

Their departure was much worse...oh well!

1200hrs Walk to Langweer again, for lunch at the bakery!

Ever closer to getting electric bikes. Probably going for normal, non-folding type and making a rack for them, aft. The nav-light and flag will have to be relocated and a rectangular bracket welded from the railing. Our boat man, Sander, will know the best practical way to fit it. 

In a fitting use of funds, I'm planning to use our solar panel income to pay for the bikes! I wonder if they can also be claimed as a tax deduction...?

We've been reversing the boat into position quite a bit lately. It just seems to be getting so much easier.  I am reminded of my boating exam almost 10 years ago - a lot of the Course material was devoted to "steering the stern" of the boat (ie, even when going forwards!).

It is also handy in strong winds when leaving a mooring...we have a "rudder-direction" indicator in the instrument panel - it helps with working out what "should" happen...more practice required.

So, the end of my mental meanderings - we spent most of the day watching the boats and playing games. Sjoukje came to say hello. We went for lunch at the bakery in Langweer, again!

On Sunday, I got the boat ready and headed off while Janny was still in bed! It was raining, so not much point in staying put - we were home by 1130hrs - Janny went swimming and I finished this off - before thinking about maybe doing some paperwork.

Heaps of boats making use of the free moorings...

Odd spot

(a few weeks ago)

An (old) man aged 67 was killed when his lawnmower was hit by a car...at 2230 hrs.
I used to laugh at the idea of my ride on mower having a headlight. There was no way that I could imagine mowing in the dark...i.e. after 2200 - 2300 hours in summer.

But, there it is

 

House prices in the Netherlands

The average price paid for a home in the second quarter of this year hit €410,000, a rise of almost 20% on 2020 and the biggest increase since real estate agents association NVM began monitoring the figures in 1985. 

The average price of an apartment has hit €344,000, a rise of 20%. A detached property, meanwhile, will set homebuyers back an average of €618,000, and that is an increase of over 23%. NVM chairman Onno Hoes called on the government to take action to stop the market overheating. ‘Supply is shrinking and buyers are doing all they can to get a house,’ he said. ‘As long as the political agenda does not deal with the reality on the ground there will be no change.’ 

NVM estate agents sold 34,000 existing homes in the second quarter of the year, down 12% on the same period in 2020. The number of new homes sold rose by 25% at around 9,000. Homes are now changing hands within an average of 24 days, and that is the shortest period ever, the NVM said. House prices rose the most in the northern three provinces (Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe), with 30% recorded in eastern parts of Friesland, Groningen and the north of Overijssel. Prices also rose over 20% in The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht, but by 14% in Amsterdam.

RS Virus (Respiratory Syncytial virus types A and B) hospitalisations 

In a totally unexpected turn of events - A TV News program on Wednesday night explained the rapid increase in the number of RS - Virus patients - babies under the age of 2.

The experts said that it normally occurs in winter each year in about 100 cases. This year it is happening in summer, with much larger numbers. They think that it has come about because the mothers were isolating or at least social distancing during the lockdown months of their pregnancies. This meant that the mothers were not exposed to this virus (and others) and so they didn't build up any antibodies which would have been passed on to the unborn babies.

This has caused an increase in admissions to hospitals, on top of the increases in Covid cases...al ot of the child care nurses and staff had been redirected to other areas but were now needed for the RS Virus admissions.

This from the Algemeen Dagblad (wednesday)

The RS virus is spreading so fast that all the beds in the children's ICs were full yesterday. At least one patient had to move to a hospital in Antwerp. Several hospitals have had to postpone planned operations because there are not enough children's beds.

The outbreak started about three weeks ago in Rotterdam, but spread to Amsterdam and the surrounding area, the Nijmegen region and Limburg. Meanwhile, there are seriously ill children all over the country. Yesterday afternoon all ninety beds in the children's ICs were occupied and a first child had to go to a hospital across the border.

Wednesday Coronavirus.

This from Dutch News .nl

A total of 6,945 new coronavirus cases were reported to public health institute RIVM in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning. That is 142 more than on Tuesday and means the average number of positive tests in the past week is up 13% on the previous seven day period. The RIVM also said coronavirus had now been identified at 73 different nursing homes, up from 33 a week ago. Ministers had said the rise in infections, which is currently dominated by the under-30s, would spread through to older generations. In total, 428 people are now being treated in hospital, with 65 overnight admissions. Of them 106 are in an intensive care ward. Hospital admissions have now risen by more than 50 a day for the past three days.

Ben is back from Madrid and Valencia. He gets his 2nd vaccination tomorrow, in Amsterdam.