Saturday 17 July 2010

Nederlands

Our first exposure to the high temperatures that have now become the daily norm was in Holland, at a sultry 36'c. I revised my packing before we left to leave behind two jumpers and the thermals, it just doesn't seem like we'll need them. Back home they're entering the monsoon season and the temperatures are nice and cool. In Holland we stayed in a lean-to shack and got feasted on by the super mosquitoes of Rockanje. 'The Mix' purchased on the internet for buy-one-get-one-free does not appear to be an effective insect repellent. Good to know these things before you expose yourself to less innocuous mosquitoes. In Wageningen we visited our great aunt and took her into the town. Lots of small children were playing in the orange water of the fountain in the square. Holland was preparing for the big and 'beautiful' game the following day. During a walk in a wood we found a balloon with a Belgian address on it.

On our last day in Holland we fought our way through the beach bound traffic to Scheveningen and Den Haag, where we perused the 'Wild Wonders of Europe' outdoor exhibition. Really beautiful pictures in nice surroundings. Jenny seemed to know where every photograph was taken and who the photographer was. Impressive skills. Reassuringly the Dutch seemed very interested in the photos.



In the evening Jenny got her way and we got some cheap seats for 'Mary Poppins'. Presumably due to the football match there were many empty seats, so we managed to find a better view. Despite thinking that I can understand a bit of Dutch I was rather clueless as to what was being said, but you can't really get that lost with Mary and I suppose I'll have to admit that I quite enjoyed it. As the audience left the theatre we were all handed a bunch of orange flowers. The Dutch had really embraced this world cup business.

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