Week 38

 

Week 38

Reminder to myself came in the form of this cartoon - done by a retired police chief who decided to write, read and paint instead. I often feel some kinship with his service-oriented background. His Dad was a Judge who worked until he was 79 - but never found the time to write in the journal given to him by his son.

Perhaps I just have too much time, but Lizzie's letters (my great-grandmother writing to her husband in the late 1800's to early 1900's) show that there is something to be gained by writing even the mundane things that fill one's days.

I suppose that I am always thinking of my kids and grandkids as I think to take a photo just to show them what I am doing after having had to reconstruct my life - so far away in another country, no less! (Lizzie was only as far away as Linton - during a Depression - but it probably felt like it was as far away as another country).

House price increases

Another month, another record-breaking increase in Dutch house prices. August saw the cost of housing in the Netherlands rise by a whopping 17,8 percent - the largest increase since September 2000.

Dutch house prices continue to rise at shocking rates

Throughout the course of the year, CBS (statistics) has continued to announce record-breaking increases in house prices, bringing an endless wave of discouraging news to anyone looking to  buy a house in the not-too-distant future. Last month, CBS reported that the price of an existing home (i.e. not a new build) had risen by 16,3 percent between July 2020 and July 2021.

There seems to have been an extraordinary number of houses for sale in our own village - most lasting only days before they are snapped up - if they actually make it to the market in the first place - quite often they are sold to people in the know. (In a small village people are always "in the know").

Walking in the forest..

For my brain, but it does help to loosen up the stiff muscles!

I'm usually up early so that I can fit everything in before going to get Lucas at about 0810hrs.

On Tuesday, at 0630hrs, the doorbell sounded - had to be something wrong at that time - Boeke started barking - he hears the doorbell before I do - it was a motorist saying that he had nearly run into two donkeys! - did they belong to us? No, but  I wished him well and said I would get them off the road if I could!

So, I armed myself with a few apples and headed off into the darkness - it's getting darker in the mornings - I've had to push my walking back a bit later.  I found the donkeys on our own  driveway, but it took some coaxing to get them into the paddock with the sheep - the sheep wanted to get out, of course, so I had to juggle the gate as well!

It all ended well - it's not the first time that neighbouring animals have escaped...

The donkeys wanted to inspect the sheep but they weren't having it - so it was everybody doing circles around the paddock for a while.

Janny put out a notice on the Neighbourhood WhatsApp and the owner came to get them - she later brought me a bunch of flowers to say "thanks".

Read an article in Medium, written by an American now living in Denmark. She said that living in Denmark is much more peaceful...

This paragraph could have been about the Netherlands - many of the readers' comments suggested that other Scandinavian or Northern European countries are also similar.

The opposite of this rat race is Denmark. Historically, greater emphasis there was put on community rather than piling up personal achievements. Danes believe in social equality and don’t mind paying their high taxes because, they say, no one should have too much as long as anyone has too little. Just enough is good enough for most. And before you dismiss this mindset as socialism, think for a second how peaceful it is to know that everyone in your country is taken care of instead of competing to outdo each other.

Dodged a bullet...

The federal government handed off the responsibilty for Care (our business) to Local Government - around 2016/17. It brought about quite a few changes, including computerised payment models - Janny is slowly getting that under control - sometimes it takes months to get organised, but the care continues and we end up with a tidy lump sum.

But I digress. A government organisation in Friesland seemed to take over the administrative role which included much stricter arrangements for Youth Care (which we have on weekends). They put up a proposal which would have eliminated smaller places (like ours) in preference for the much larger institutional-like concerns. It made the news and quite a few of us protested on the grounds of more personalised and quality care.

It went to court and the Judge was quite scathing in his remarks (against the proposal), including that the youth will be much better served by smaller facilities (like ours).

I'm not sure what they had in mind - it may have been purely administrative in that they would have to deal with fewer businesses - in any case, it seems to me that they lost sight of the quality of the care provided.

Just as an aside, we had a visit from "our" twins - they came to our place for almost 10 years - they are now quite grown up - one is working (paid work! ) as a chef (assistant) and living in an assited living apartment. The other is at a Care business working with timber (including firewood). He used to chop firewood at our place for hours on end. 

Their Mum was with them - she is so pleased that things are working out and still grateful for our role in their upbringing. I told them we were proud of them...and meant it!

Around the farm...

About 5 years ago! (already) we built the extension for Janny's parents. Part of it included a patch of ground - I put a small fence up to create a boundary of sorts. I had to cut the bottom third of  pre-made panels off - and stored the bottom bits in the garage - and forgot about them...

...until we cleaned up the garage (again) in preparation for the winter - to put the cars inside.

I spotted the leftover bits and thought "we can use that". So  on Thursday morning Tjeerd and I replaced the temporary (2 years already!) fence for Boeke.

I often joke with Tjeerd about how "every day is a surprise" for him, as I think of things to do, quite often on the spur of the moment - aka "pottering".

We had exactly enough leftover materials, including a gate with hinges so that I can get the ride-on mower in.

On Tuesday, I had tested my back by lifting these heavy paving slabs - they get set into the ground but grass can still grow through. We're making a less muddy path to Daniels "hokje". (little shed as in kippen hok = chook shed). Did I mention stiff muscles...?

Things that go rusty...etc.

The garage door has become unuseable because the bottom section and the lifting cables have rusted. (after nearly 50 years). We have ordered a replacement - made of aluminium with an automatic open/close - for almost the same price as the repairs would have been. But it won't be installed until December - the cars will have to stay outside which means that we will have to scrape the windows before we go anywhere!

Waterstofproductie op zee

Hydrogen production at sea.

This article was included in one of my boating emails...

My Summary

The North Sea is slowly being filled with electricity windmills. Apart from the aesthetics and complaints from various quarters, there is a greater problem in that there are no users out there at sea. The electricity has to be "transported"  by undersea cables over long distances (which results in losses).

It is also true that peak production doesn't always match peak useage.

In the near future windmill parks will be built further out to sea as demand increases.  The loss of electricity will be even greater and prices will also be higher.

With this in mind, various parties have come up with the idea of using the generated electricity to produce hydrogen which could be transported more easily via the existing gas pipelines which already serve the production platforms.

13 Kilometres off the coast of Scheveningen, platform Q13-A is to be used for the first experimental production of hydrogen at sea. - "green" hydrogen.

Note: Hydrogen is being seriously considered as an alternative fuel for cars.

Langzaam aan wordt de Noordzee volgebouwd met windmolenparken. Afgezien van de diverse esthetische bezwaren die er tegen dergelijke parken zijn in te brengen is het vooral lastig dat midden op zee geen verbruikers zitten voor de opgewekte stroom en dat energie verloren gaat door de stroom over lange afstanden per onderzeese kabel te transporteren. En er is ook nog een verschil tussen momenten dat het waait en de momenten dat de verbruikers stroom nodig hebben. En naarmate de parken de komende jaren steeds verder uit de kust komen te staan nemen de afstandsverliezen dus ook toe en wordt het aansluiten van de parken ook steeds duurder.

Vandaar dat partijen nu komen met het idee om met de opgewekte stroom op zee waterstof te produceren. Om waterstof te maken is water en energie nodig. Beiden zijn bij een windmolenpark op zee voorhanden. En voor het transport naar de wal kan gebruik worden gemaakt van de gasleidingen die nu al naar productieplatformen lopen.

Zo'n 13 kilometer voor de kust van Scheveningen ligt het olie- en gasplatform Q13-A. Hier wordt binnenkort voor het eerst geëxperimenteerd met de productie van waterstof op zee. Deze groene waterstof wordt gemaakt van duurzaam opgewekte elektriciteit en zeewater.

Failures...

My pumpkins were a dismal failure (again!). We went to a local grower yesterday and he said that he also had little success this year. With the relatively poor summer, they "just stopped growing", he said.

No Hire-boat in France...

I went as far as "reserve this booking" but too many things started to appear. The roof repair people are coming in the week that we would be away; a new client is also coming and in both cases we couldn't simply not be here. Things might all go smoothly (yeah, right) in which case we can just hop in the car and drive to spend a few days with Frank and Pam...we shall see...